Riverside Brass and Aluminum Foundry’s low turnover is a result of “getting qualified people and holding on to them,” Co-President David Seyler says.

Riverside Brass and Aluminum Foundry Ltd. is a leader in many areas. Specializing in non-ferrous industrial castings made of copper, zinc and aluminum alloys, the family owned company is backed by more than 40-year history. Riverside primarily serves the water, electrical and fire protection markets in Canada and the United States.

Based in New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada, Riverside has experienced tremendous growth through the years, and co-presidents Lynn Yantzi and David Seyler are a big part of the company’s success. The duo joined Riverside in 1980 when the company’s revenues were $1 million. After expanding its headquarters to Hamilton Road in 1995, it closed its 2000 fiscal year with $22 million. For 2007, the company projects approximately $50 million in revenues.

To adapt to this growth, it is upgrading its second and its initial plant at Waterloo Street. By the end of this year, the foundry, which occupies 30,000 square feet, will be totally automated. The cost of the upgrades is $3 million and will increase capacity at the plant by 35 percent. “We continue to be challenged in meeting the demands of our customers,” Yantzi says, “and to fully modernize [the company] and to increase our capacity, we’re upgrading our facility.”

Seyler notes that the strengths of the company include the quality of its people, equipment and processes, on-time delivery and its ability to remain up to speed with government regulations.

Constant Improvement
What sets Riverside apart from the competition is its ability to remain innovative. “We’re on the cutting edge in a lot of areas,” Seyler states. For example, the company opened its own tool and die department in 1999.

“[It is] exclusively used for our own internal use,” he continues. “By making patterns and tooling on the CNC equipment, tolerances can be kept to within thousandths of an inch.”

It also added robotic equipment  in 2003 in the core department. 

Robotics increased the capacity and decreased labor costs, Seyler says, making the department more efficient.
    
Retaining Employees
Despite a labor shortage in Canada, Riverside has a stable work force. Seyler says more than 10 percent of its 165 employees have been with the company for 20 years, while at least 30 percent have been employed for 10 years. “It’s about getting qualified people and holding on to them,” Seyler says. “If you have the best equipment and processes, but you don’t have the people, then so what?”

Riverside encourages its employees to continue their education, even if it is not directly related to the company or the industry, and covers the cost. “If they want to upgrade their education, we support them,” Seyler says.

In addition, the company goes above and beyond with its communication processes. An ISO consultant recently told Seyler that Riverside has the best communication processes in the industry that she has seen, Seyler says. “She was amazed,” he states.

‘Superior’ Quality
Competing with China is a challenge for everyone in the metals industry, Seyler notes, and it’s no different for Riverside.

“We had lost some business to China before because of [their lower cost], but because we do a superior job in quality, we’ve [won] them back,” he says.