Brunswick Steel focuses on service Company a full-service general line steel production centre serving Manitoba, Saskatchewan and northwestern Ontario Made in Manitoba
By: Aaron Epp Posted: 4:26 PM CST Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/02/2025 (573 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ground beef, diced onions and secret ingredients that employees remain tightlipped about were all part of the solution when leadership at Brunswick Steel wanted to improve interdepartmental collegiality.

In 2018, general manager Adam Plouffe launched the first annual chili cook-off at the steel supplier, located at 125 Bismarck St. in the RM of Springfield.

Held every November, the contest sees each department produce a chili. As employees chow down, the entries are assessed by a rotating team of judges made up of suppliers, customers and retired employees.

The winner walks away with a trophy depicting an angel flanked by two spoons, plus bragging rights for the next 12 months.

The first cook-off had an immediate impact on the division between departments that Plouffe observed when he started working at the company almost nine years ago.

“That invisible wall that was always there, it evaporated right in front of my face,” Plouffe says. “It was the most unbelievable thing.”

It was another step forward for the company, which opened in April 1971.

Founded by brothers Walter, Grant and Stanley Copp as a demolition and resale business, Brunswick Steel has evolved into a full-service general line steel production centre serving Manitoba, Saskatchewan and northwestern Ontario.

The company carries sheet, plate and long products used by manufacturing companies, construction companies and a range of sectors including agriculture, mining, forestry, farming, and oil and gas.

“We have lots of offerings that differentiate us from our competition, but really, they’re all tied up into service.”–co-owner Justin Copp

Today, Brunswick Steel employs 85 people who operate on three different shifts.

On any given day there are 4,000 tonnes of steel on the property, which includes a 90,000 square foot warehouse and a 40,000 square foot outdoor craneway. A fleet of about a dozen trucks delivers goods daily.

Brunswick Steel’s focus on service makes the company unique, says Justin Copp, Walter’s son, who owns the company with his sister, Christine Dockter.

“We have lots of offerings that differentiate us from our competition, but really, they’re all tied up into service,” he says.

In 2021, the company launched an online platform that allows customers to place orders 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Known as the Brunswick Ordering System, the platform gives customers a real-time picture of the company’s inventory and personalized pricing. There’s no wait for replies from emails on quote requests.

The business is considering licensing the system to other companies.

“It’s like Amazon except easier and it’s been very, very well received,” Copp says. “A lot of customers enjoy using that platform.”

That includes Derek Peters, production manager at Imperial Metal Industries in Blumenort, Man., a construction company that purchases 90 per cent of its steel from Brunswick.

“It makes a huge difference,” Peters says. “Even if we just need to check a price on something, it’s at our fingertips.”

In 2022, Copp and Dockter reinvested in the business by adding 32,000 square feet to its manufacturing space and purchasing five new state-of-the-art pieces of equipment: a tube laser, a flatbed laser and three press brakes.

“As our business has evolved in the last few years, there’s been more and more parts production,” Copp says. “So it was the next logical step. It was very much a continued evolution of our business.”

“You need to be open and collaborative and willing to try new and different things to have true, lasting, long term success, and that really comes from other people’s perspectives.”–Justin Copp

When reflecting on how Brunswick Steel has evolved, particularly in the last 40 years, Copp gives special credit to three of the company’s general managers: Dave Williamson, Jerry Brown and Plouffe.

In the 1980s and ‘90s, Williamson guided the company into providing processed parts rather than selling only raw goods.

Brown helped stabilize the company by further improving its structure and hiring key staff members, Copp says. Plouffe has helped the company “push through the next level” by bringing his operational expertise to bear and helping to build a positive company culture.

“The major changes and improvements in our business have always come from the outside,” Copp says. “Whenever we’ve hired good people who weren’t family members, that’s where most of our growth came from over the years.”

Copp started working at Brunswick Steel full-time when he was 18. In the 30 years since then, two of the biggest things he’s learned is that no person can do everything alone.

“Often as an individual you’re going to have maybe tunnel vision or a bias to doing things a certain way, which is incorrect,” he says. “You need to be open and collaborative and willing to try new and different things to have true, lasting, long term success, and that really comes from other people’s perspectives.”

That approach is especially important as the company faces the 25 per cent tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will impose on all imported steel and aluminum starting March 4.

Brunswick Steel is better positioned today than it was in 2018 when Trump introduced a 25 per cent tariff on steel. The company’s supply chain is more mature and diversified than it was then, Copp says, so it has access to products that are not just solely produced in the U.S.

“It’s certainly very concerning but at the same time, you can only deal with what you know at that given time,” Copp says.

“We’ve done a good job of making sure that we’re ready for the potential tariffs. We’ve really put an effort into beefing up our inventories a little bit over the last couple of months to make sure that if there are any supply disruptions, we’re as prepared as we can be.”

Brunswick Steel will mark its 55th anniversary next year, and Copp attributes that longevity to the company’s employees.

“It’s a family-owned business and you can feel that when you walk through the door.”–Derek Peters

“It’s a pleasure to come to work every day to work with such a great group of people who are committed to the business and committed to improving the business,” he says. “They’re fun and they work hard and we’re just very blessed to have them around.”

Brunswick Steel’s staff members are top-notch, says Peters from Imperial Metal Industries.

“Everyone in that building is pleasant and helpful,” he says. “It’s a family-owned business and you can feel that when you walk through the door.”

Management has worked hard to create a culture where employees don’t dread showing up for work on Monday morning, according to Plouffe. People care about what they do and have some fun along the way.

“We have bad days, but… we work through those things and support each other,” Plouffe says.

And one of the things that has helped build that culture, he likes to tell other companies, is a friendly food competition that happens one lunch hour every November.

“Don’t underestimate a chili contest,” Plouffe says.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca