Business Overview
Electrical Contacts Limited (www.e-c-l.com) is a manufacturing enterprise that produces engineered materials for customers who build electrical switching devices such as circuit breakers, switchgear, and control devices in the low, medium, and high voltage ranges. We employ two core technologies: powder metallurgy by unit compaction and metal cladding by hot bonding.
ECL was founded in 1970 with venture capital money, the owner’s limited private capital, and with the assistance of the Ontario government. Today, we are a company of approximately 120 people running a three-shift operation, producing millions of pieces per week for our customers in NAFTA and Asia. We are located in Hanover, Ontario and we share a vision to remain in the community forever.
Our goals are to grow output by 30% in 2017 and again by 20% in 2018. Revenues are dependent on the price of silver, which presents both opportunities and challenges to operating a growing enterprise, particularly as it relates to managing fixed costs.
Our Target Markets
Our core customers are circuit breaker manufacturers in NAFTA and Asia. Typically, these are large industrial companies with a focus on product quality. In that sense, we are an extension (albeit more nimble and more cost efficient) of a Siemens, an Eaton, or an ABB.
At this time, we have an export capability focused on India. We see that market growing and electrification influencing demand for breakers as well as medium and high voltage products.
What Differentiates Us
Our products’ quality and the technical support we provide to our customers have enabled us to successfully hold market share from low cost countries.
We are currently investing in engineering to build more technical support capabilities and ensure we maintain the highest product quality. We want to win business on being the first to solve problems and the first to implement solutions.
How Innovators Alliance Assists Us on Our Innovation Journey
I’ve been with Innovators Alliance since 1999. My first meeting was in Milton, ON where a founder, Dave Boulanger, was making wheelbarrows. I listened to these guys (Dave Boulanger, Murray Gamble, Brad Hillis, and Doug Skinner all come to mind) talk about their businesses and walked out with my heart pumping and my head tingling.
I’m currently a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo chapter. My fellow members have become friends, and in some cases, business partners as we nurture start-ups in the Waterloo region together.
IA’s Innovation Journey tool absolutely helped me shape my organization. It gave me clarity about how we were going to drive improvement into ECL, gain traction with customers, and distance ourselves from competitors.
