During its 26 year life span, Sudbury-based MPI - Mobile Parts Inc. has grown from a modest distributor of truck parts for tractor trailers into a major supplier of parts, equipment and land cruisers modified for underground mining environments.
The company’s website boasts an expansive array of brand name and generic parts for underground mobile equipment. Hoists, drivelines, electrical components, valves and pumps are some of the product lines available. But Mobile Parts Inc., explained company spokesperson, Bob Morin, initially earned its reputation as a brake specialist, rebuilding and modifying them to industry standards. “Three years after the company opened we began supplying the mining industry with brakes only, so that’s how we got to be known as the brake specialists.”
Today the company continues to live up to that reputation, evidenced by ongoing research into the development of brakes, particularly in underground environments where high levels of acidity accelerate corrosion. Mobile Parts Inc. has been supplying mining companies with Sealed Integrated Braking Systems (SIBS) for the past six years. The enclosed system reduces exposure to contaminants, thereby prolonging the brakes' life cycle.
The company continues to pursue further research into brake development. Mobile Parts Inc. partnered with the South African manufacturer and engineering firm, NCS, to refine a Sealed Braking System (SBS). “We have one of their brakes in the testing phase of development. It is a new system but not yet proven. So it won’t be on the market until it meets all the standards of approval,” explained Morin. The hydraulically applied system is distinguished by its ability to create reverse modulation.
As its name implies, Mobile Parts generates most of its sales revenues as a provider to mining companies in both Canada and abroad. “About 40 per cent of our sales come from our export activities,” Morin said.
Ten years ago they were a newcomer to the export market. Today they ship regularly to at least a dozen countries on most continents, with the most rapid growth in the last five years showing no signs of abating. A multi-pronged marketing approach supported with hard work are the reasons Bob Morin attributes the firm’s export success.
“We go to trade shows all over the world to make sure people know about us.” Advertising in trade journals and updating websites play supporting and significant roles in an overall marketing strategy. But challenges to the export business are ever-present. Corrupt governments, stifling bureaucratic ordinances and complex tax and duty policies are some of the formidable barriers to overcome. Others are simply due to the diversity of regulations in each country.
“National standards are different everywhere, and it’s incumbent upon us to ensure those standards of emission controls, braking and other regulations are met,” Morin said. To help navigate a surfeit of regulations, Mobile Parts relies on Sudbury’s George Gray Customs Brokers and a sales department equipped with two representatives who deal strictly with export markets.
Other challenges are more localized, arising from the strain of growth. Mobile Parts houses literally thousands of parts at its multi unit location in Valley East, a suburb of Sudbury. Product lines are available in several models from various manufacturers, thus forming a complex matrix of supplies in an inventory supply chain that has grown five fold in the last five years. Technology has played a significant role in maintaining healthy and relevant supplies.
“We have a min-max setting in our computer system that lets us know what kinds of inventories we have to stock. The more turnover in the system, the more inventory is required.”
While brakes, axles, power train components and sundry parts drive about 70 per cent of corporate revenues, a significant portion is derived from a line of mobile carriers retrofitted to underground mining environments. Chassis supplied by Toyota form the skeletal structures around which Mobile Parts constructs personnel carriers, scissor lifts, man lift trucks, flat decks and other carriers required for underground transport activity. Bob Morin says the Toyota Land Cruisers have proven applications in the industrial and mining sectors. But little is left of the original vehicles that enter the shop for serious makeovers. “We will strip the vehicles down completely; sometimes changing the brakes, joints, axles, and even suspension. Many times the cab will be cut off at the windshield level to provide a complete, open design,” he explained.
Customer orders must be completed before the expensive vehicle-modification procedure begins. So far, land cruiser carrier sales occur only in Canada, at least until the problems of exorbitant export duties and government approval from host countries are overcome.
For Bob Morin, who oversees a staff of 50 employees and a significant expansion of the company’s industrial site this Spring, the near future looks bright, and it's the result of sound management practices and elevated mineral prices. “My feeling is that we can look forward to another seven to ten years of solid growth in the mining industry,” he mused.
Asked about expanding into other sectors, Morin concluded with a cautionary refrain. “We have no plans to diversify into other industries. We want to stick with what we know best – and that’s mining!”
