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It’s been 10 years since Barrie Forbes and Erkki Rautiainen purchased the Surrey, B.C.–headquartered Allied Blower and Sheet Metal Ltd. from its original owners—and the business partners have been going full steam ahead ever since. The 32-year-old environmental air technologies company has grown under the duo’s leadership, from three to five locations, four in western Canada and one location in Quebec, co-owned with sister firm ABGG Technologies Inc.

Funny thing is, neither Forbes nor Rautiainen had direct experience with the types of products Allied Blower had built its reputation on—namely, particulate extraction and pneumatic conveying systems that remove process waste and keep the air clear of dust in industrial plants.

Forbes had been in the agricultural chemical business and was working as a consultant; Rautiainen, an engineer, was president of a company that manufactured machinery for making plywood. “I was looking for a company to buy, and so was Erkki at the time,” says Forbes.

They decided to pool their talents and resources, purchased the company and learned the specifics of the industrial air cleaning business together—from designing and manufacturing, to installing and servicing Allied products.

“Whenever dust is made in an industrial process, it has to be collected in order to keep the process going and the environment pure or workable,” explains Rautiainen. “We manufacture the pick-up and ducting systems, the fans for suction, and the collection devices, either cyclones or bag house filters. That’s the dust collection side. At the end the dust is separated from air and clean air returned to the atmosphere. Then we move the dust to another side of plant, conveying material pneumatically (using air flow).”

Forbes adds: “We like to say we’re our customers’ partner in environmental air technologies. It’s all about cleaning up the air and the environment.” And there are, of course, emissions regulations that plants have to understand and comply with. “Our equipment ensures that our customers meet these standards and people can work safely in that environment. Our baghouses exceed 99.9 percent efficiency in separating dust.”

The scope of clients who use Allied’s environmentally-friendly equipment is quite broad, going beyond Canada into the United States. “It could be for a plant making any kind of product, most often in natural resources and forestry,” says Rautiainen, “anyone making lumber or panel products, like oriented strandboard (OSB), medium-
density fibreboard (MDF) and plywood.”

“It could also be a cement plant, grain elevator or mining company, but the forestry sector is probably the biggest user,” agrees Forbes. “No one should be breathing dust. Dust in a plant can also create a fire hazard and it can affect the environment outside, too.”

Some of the company’s most recent projects include a new Canfor-Louisiana Pacific OSB plant in Fort St. John, B.C., Canfor’s sawmill/planer mill upgrade in Vanderhoof, B.C and improvements for Saskatchewan Wheat Pool grain elevator in Vancouver.

“We’re busy year-round and currently have a contract to do a major expansion for Ainsworth in Alberta, doubling the size of their OSB mill.” adds Forbes.

With a staff of 120 to 150 in B.C. and Alberta, Forbes and Rautiainen say they’ve been very fortunate in maintaining many outstanding, long-term employees.

Finding and retaining really good people can be a challenge in the competitive labour market, however, Forbes says. “We definitely try very hard to find people that we can train and work with. We have a number of success stories of people who came through our apprenticeship program, became journeymen and have worked with Allied for over 20 years.”

He adds that they strive to treat their employees well, ensure their safety, show them respect, and recognize their efforts and contributions. The company’s membership in SMACNA helps them accomplish this. “The association does a lot of training and development of our people. They provide very strong support to us in everything we do.”

In addition to treating their employees right, other secrets to Allied’s success is listening to and meeting their clients’ needs. “I guess the real key is to work closely with customers, identify their needs and be there to help them,” Rautiainen says. “Our business is about service and our employees go the extra mile to give the service our customers deserve.”

Forbes adds: “Plants operate 24 hours, seven days a week, so we try to support them. Canfor had a fire in its OSB mill in Fort Nelson a few weeks ago, and they asked us to rebuild some equipment over a two-week period. We knew it was important for them to get up and running, so we had our people work the extra hours, and they worked very, very hard.”

Allied’s success in its traditional business has opened doors for expansion into new fields in air pollution control. Partnering with Eisenmann, Allied offers exhaust gas cleaning for furnaces, dryers and presses using electrostatic precipitators and thermal oxidizers. Eisenmann has special technologies for gas cleaning and we will work as their local partner to make and install the equipment,” says Forbes.

But, despite the company’s growth, one thing likely won’t change: “Everything we do is made of sheet metal,” says Forbes, with a chuckle.

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