Sweeping success

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Henryk Koch says he and partner Mirek Byczynski moved Challenger to Winnipeg because Calgary was so expensive and workers were tough to find. (COLE BREILAND / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

Here's a story about the confluence of ingenuity and opportunity that probably would not have worked if it wasn't set in Winnipeg.

Henryk Koch and Mirek Byczynski, engineers and friends from their hometown of Wroclaw, Poland, moved to Calgary and established careers in the sale and service of municipal sweepers -- those large trucks equipped with massive brooms that clean streets.

After 15 years in the business, they understood there was a bit of a gap in the product selection on the market. While still in Calgary, they quit their jobs and designed and built their own sweeper, but decided to move to Winnipeg six years ago to set up their company.

"Because of the oil industry, Calgary was so expensive to lease space and too hard to find workers," Koch said. "We thought it would be easier in Winnipeg."

This month, Challenger (which is changing its name to Odra because of a trademark conflict) struck an alliance with the much larger Elgin Sweeper Company. Elgin will market and distribute Challenger/Odra's mechanical street sweepers under the Elgin Sweeper brand name through its large dealer network throughout North America.

The alliance is almost certain to result in a dramatic increase in sales, which means a dramatic increase in production. And that means an increase in the company's economic footprint in Winnipeg.

U.S.-based Elgin, a division of $800-million-a-year Federal Signal Corp., is the dominant player in the North American sweeper market and was the brand the two partners worked with at the dealership in Calgary for 15 years.

The new arrangement takes Challenger/Odra from seven or eight solid dealers selling its municipal sweepers to more than 50.

Koch said the annual production rate of about 40 units is expected to double. (Elgin moves more than 1,000 units a year.)

"We don't know how quickly that will happen, but we know we are going to have to grow."

The company operates out of about 6,000 square feet of space in an Inkster Industrial Park facility with about 15 employees.

Koch said they will have to hire more people and likely need more space.

Brian Giles, sweeper products manager for Elgin Sweeper, based in Elgin, Ill., just west of Chicago, said, "Odra is not alone. It has two primary competitors. But we saw Odra as being the largest and most sophisticated of the three."

Giles said the Winnipeg-made economical, compact sweeper is ideal for Elgin's municipal and contractor customers who need powerful cleaning without a full-size sweeper.

"The Broom Badger (the name Elgin will use to market the Challenger/Odra machine) offers the same efficient cleaning system as our larger models, but is suitable for smaller sweeping applications," Giles said.

The alliance is a testament to how a little innovation can take hold.

After struggling in the early years like any new company -- especially those with products selling for about $150,000 -- Challenger/Odra's smaller-profile vehicle started to get traction in the market and a niche began to emerge.

"We have made some inroads into some areas where we got noticed, and that is why the alliance," said Charles Hunt, Challenger/Odra's sales manager. "What happened is we started selling our sweepers into areas where there were nothing but Elgins for decades."

Meanwhile, emission-control regulations in the U.S. are making Elgin's larger sweepers more expensive and the financial crisis that caused American municipalities to trim their budgets may make Challenger/Odra's smaller units more attractive.

"Municipalities are struggling. The market is difficult, no question," Giles said. "But it's not that demand is not there. Some are saying that their budgets are cut and it will be years before they can buy another one."

Not to say they'll all turn to the smaller, slightly less expensive versions made by Challenger/Odra, but the small company has been given a massive leg up in its efforts to grow.

After outsourcing to a U.S. final assembly plant for a few years, Challenger/Odra purchased production space in Grand Forks a month ago.

Because of cross-border issues with its truck chassis supplier -- automobile manufacturer Isuzu -- Challenger/Odra does final assembly on its U.S. sales in the United States, not unlike New Flyer and Motor Coach Industries.

Now that Elgin will be responsible for North American sales, Challenger/Odra's people can concentrate on overseas sales. There are already a few units in Europe and one in India.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

Broom Badger numbers

Some features of the Elgin Broom Badger, made in Winnipeg by Challenger/Odra:

standard dual-camera and seven-inch colour monitor system provides views to the side broom or rear;

sweeper features dual gutter brooms with up to a 300-centimetre sweep path;

equipped with a 830-litre water tank for dust suppression;

a direct drive squeegee-type elevator design to handle heavy-duty sweeping applications, while the 150-centimetre-wide elevator on the Broom Badger sweeper eliminates the need for curtains and provides increased productivity.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 27, 2012 B4