Dinner Meeting and Workshops
Highlights
Posted below is the tentative schedule of events for the upcoming 2004/2005 season. More details will be added as events and speakers are firmed up. Please contact our Director of Programs, Warren Hurlen (email [email protected] or view the contact us page) if you require more details.
Upcoming Events
click on hyperlinks for details
| Date | Event | Presentation | Speaker |
| Wed, March 16, 2005 | Plant Tour – Vitrum Industries | Details below | |
| Wed, Apr 20, 2005 | Dinner Meeting/AGM | Theory of Constraints | Steve Jackson |
| Fri, Apr 22, 2005 | Workshop – tentative | Theory of Constraints | TBD |
| Thurs, Jun 16, 2005 | AES (Vancouver) 25th anniversary | AES (Vancouver) 25th anniversary | TBA |
- The Workshop for April is not yet confirmed. We are looking to see how much interest there would be in something like this. Please contact Warren for details.
- Events will resume in September after the Summer Break
Tour Overview – Vitrum Industries Ltd.
When Vitrum Industries Ltd was founded in 1996, Thomas and Gemma Martini had one goal in mind: To be the most sophisticated insulated glass facility in Western Canada. Oh, and they wanted to be the biggest too…
With that idea in mind, they embarked on a venture that started with constructing a 25,000 sq ft building in Langley, buying used machinery at auctions, and educating themselves on the products and the industry. Their initial challenge was to overcome the obstacle of their youth…you aren’t taken too seriously at the age of 19 and 21 respectively.
With the same level of hard work, long hours and dedication that is required to start any business, they manufactured their first insulated glass units in March of 1997 with only a handful of new employees. The industry was in shock. The same old players who had been in the market for decades without interruption now had a worthy opponent. Vitrum’s automated machinery set them apart from the rest and allowed them to break into the tight market with decreased labour costs.
Slowly, and with many challenges (most related to lack of experience of the ever growing number of employees and of the founders), they grew their commercial business over the next year. By January of 1998 they had decided to set themselves apart from their commercial competitors and target the residential industry. By May of 1998 they had acquired more machinery, more employees (these ones experienced) and had added a 25,000 sq ft addition to the building.
From there, Vitrum grew…in their building space (the building is now 130,000 sq ft), in their product lines (they added tempering, fabrication, roll coating spandrel, automated laminated cutting lines, more insulated glass lines, more glass cutters, a true divided lite automated manufacturing line), in their number of employees (last count 215), in their territory (they sell into Washington) and in the market – they met their goal and now manufacture more units on a daily basis than all of their competitors combined.
Vitrum has now raised the bar. They have plans to add more product types, target more industries, build another building, and of course, make more units. To make this happen, they are aggressively working on improving their quality program, their training program, their management structure, and plant efficiencies. As in any business, there are constant challenges, but never without a learning opportunity hiding behind them.
Tour Information
- Where: Vitrum is located at 9739 – 201 St. in Langley (North of the Freeway on the 200 St. Exit)
- When: Wednesday, March 16, 2005, Tours will start at 4 PM and will run every 30 minutes or so based on turnout.
- Light refreshments will be served.
- Cost: $5 per person (all proceeds go to support the Fraser Valley Chapter)
- We regret No Photography or Video will be allowed inside the building
- Please Register Online
