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A & R Metal Industries is a multifaceted metal processing and steel fabricating company located in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Being minutes from the Vancouver International Airport and the port of Vancouver, A & R’s 90 000 square foot manufacturing facility is desirably located near one of North America’s largest transportation hubs.

Written by Ryan Cartner

Founded in 1969, A & R Metal Industries has grown

steadily to become a leader in the metal processing and

steel fabrication industry. As a result of this long and

successful history, the company was purchased in December

2014 by Equicapita, a private equity firm which provides A & R

Metal Industries with the capital support to further expand its

current services and grow into new industries.

““A&R has a long-dated history of consistent profitability and cash

flows, strong customer and supplier relationships and, perhaps

most importantly, is led by a highly experienced and capable

management team. These factors represent cornerstones of our

investment strategy,” says Greg Tooth, co-founder of Equicapita.

Approaching its 50th anniversary next year, A & R Metal is poised

for explosive growth and is committed to maintaining its reputa-

tion for impeccable quality and service in the years to come.

A & R Metal Industries believes that the secret to its success lies

in a culture that is one hundred percent people-focussed. “I

have always believed that people were, are, and always will be

our biggest asset,” says Sudhir Lamba, A&R’s General Manager.

“We have a very encouraging environment; we work as a team

and promote a healthy culture.” Indeed, the company’s long-

standing success can be directly linked to its people and the

amount of energy, time, and resources the company invests in

those people. A & R is proud to have a very high retention rate,

and its workforce is motivated towards excellence in the job

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they do for a company that has earned their trust. A&R’s core

values are accountability, customer-care and excellence.

Although A & R Metal Industries has the support and invest-

ment of its new owners, the company’s signature foundational

strength lies in its quality products and impeccable service to

everyone the team deals with: vendors, suppliers, clients, and

customers. Due to the firm’s strategic location along the West

Coast of Canada, A & R is able to source the best raw materials of

the highest quality from all across the globe. Sourcing materials

in this way has the additional benefit of being able to compete

on price in the marketplace. A & R puts these materials to use

in its products which include various tubing products, muffler

guards, fuel tank straps, clamps and bands, steps, screens, safety

handles and all sorts of polished decorative parts, used in various

industries including heavy trucking, tube processing/safety,

commercial finishings, architecture, agriculture, and automotive.

A & R is proud to be able to say that its powder-paint lines are

certified by key clients, providing increased security in knowing

that any and all projects undertaken in those facilities will be

completed to the exact specifications of the customers. A & R

places a lot of focus and emphasis on training its technicians

in-house, and on always increasing the team’s breadth and

depth of knowledge as it pertains to its ever-evolving industry.

A & R’s commitment to quality control is evident through-

out every aspect of the business. The firm is currently ISO

9001 and ISO/TS 16949 certified, while also actively pursuing

additional accreditations.

ISO 9001 is granted when a company demonstrates an ability

to consistently meet customer and regulatory requirements

and TS 16949 is granted when a company develops a quality

management system that meets certain criteria. A & R meets

these requirements by continuously providing products

that not only pass, but exceed customer expectations with

quality products and timely deliveries. These aspects of A & R’s

business are only possible as a result of a sophisticated quality

management system that includes the use of the Production

Part Approval Process (PPAP), which is a standardized process

in the automotive industry that helps manufacturers and sup-

pliers communicate and approve production designs before,

during and after manufacture. Its purpose is to ensure that the

procedures used during manufacture of automotive parts will

result in consistent production rates. A & R stays innovative and

ahead of the competition by working hard to keep all of its cer-

tifications active and providing a superior quality management

system that results in products that are reliable, affordable, and

provide a competitive edge to customers.

An in-house Quality Assurance/Control team has allowed A & R

to continuously innovate by being early embracers of new tech-

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nology and advanced machinery, and adopting collaborative,

streamlined advanced manufacturing methodologies such as

Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a methodology applied to manufactur-

ing processes to reduce waste and variability. It is a disciplined,

data-driven approach for minimizing defects in manu-

facturing processes and is a measure of quality

that strives for near perfection, resulting in

increased efficiency and consistency in

product output. Employees regularly

undergo training on best practice

techniques that decrease human

error such as advanced comput-

ing methods in machine opera-

tions and the use of Standard

Operating Procedures.

A & R has recently upgraded its

welding processes and other oper-

ations, providing a safer work environ-

ment for its employees and increasing

the efficiency of the overall manufacturing

process. A & R’s services are expansive and compre-

hensive; its steel machining fabrication offerings include CNC

machining, laser cutting, robotic welding, punch presses, sheet

rolling, and in-house tool and die, as well as the ability to work

with individual clients’ design teams to ensure that the client

receives exactly what they are looking for. A & R’s agility in being

able to provide this personalized, unique experience to clients

is paramount to its high client-retention rate and the influx of

new customers from across the globe. A & R’s clients hail from

Canada, the United States, Australia, Mexico, and Europe, and

they are expanding rapidly.

The purchase of A & R Metal Industries in 2014 has brought

about an exciting time for the company, and its status as a

debt-free corporation has positioned it perfectly to expand

and grow. A & R’s new capital plan includes updating its

assets and a plan to move into previously unexplored indus-

tries, all while expanding its current customer base. “It’s kind

of a two-pronged approach: excel and grow with our

existing customers, and use that expertise and

foundation to expand into new indus-

tries and customers,” says Lamba.

“We have aggressive growth plans,

a strong management team, and

union employees who are very

highly engaged, trained and

motivated to accomplish those

aggressive plans over the next

few years.” A & R’s signature

foundational strength has been

defined by five decades of con-

sistent and continuous growth,

and the team is well poised to use

that existing knowledge and strength

to expand while keeping its core values in

place: accountability, customer-care and excellence.

A & R understands the value of the relationships it holds with

its employees, its customers, and its partners in industry. The

company recognizes that its success is a direct result of these

relationships and putting in the effort to maintain these relation-

ships is a guiding principle for the way the firm does business.

With such impressive growth, the general management team

at A & R knows that its people are the key, and that it is those

people that will drive the business forward in the future.

“You can’t take people for granted,” says Lamba. “I’ve always

believed that the success of any organization is directly related

to the quality of its people.”

We have aggressive growth plans, a strong

management team, and union employees who

are very highly engaged, trained and motivated.

2020 No. 6 Rd.

Richmond, B.C. V6V 1P1

P: 604-276-2838

F: 604-276-8560

E: info@armetal.net

www.armetal.net

As featured in July 2017