Commercial-door firm expands

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This article was published 23/04/2011 (5257 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A commercial-door distributor is expanding its operations here and elsewhere on the Prairies as it rides the construction boom to a new level of growth and prosperity.

Penner Doors & Hardware Ltd.’s expansion plans include construction of a 40,000-square-foot assembly and distribution centre in Winnipeg, which will be nearly triple the size of its existing one. The new building should be ready for occupancy in July.

It’s also opening a distribution centre in Saskatoon within the next week or two, and in Calgary within the next year or two, said Winnipeg branch manager David Rae.

“And if the market accepts us, we’ll keep growing,” Rae said, adding the firm would like to establish a nationwide network of distribution centres.

Businessman Henry Penner founded Penner Doors in Winnipeg 25 years ago. Although it was sold two years ago to a Saskatoon company — the Riverbend Group of Companies — Rae said the main branch is still here “and this is where all of our key people are located.”

Rae said two factors are helping to fuel the company’s growth — the ongoing construction boom on the Prairies and Penner’s ability to provide contractors and construction companies with the kinds of products and services they want.

The executive vice-president of the Winnipeg Construction Association said Penner Doors’ expansion is a good example of the kind of spinoff benefits a construction boom creates.

Ron Hambley said when there are a lot of projects on the go, construction firms prefer to buy their building materials, particularly bulky ones, locally to save on time and shipping costs. And that means more business for local manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers.

“Windows, doors, cabinets, millwork — all of those folks are busy,” he said. “Suppliers that are stocking fixtures such as plumbing, lighting, flooring, and tile, have all expanded in recent years.”

Penner Doors buys doors and components separately, and then assembles according to its customers’ needs. The types of buildings in which its products have been installed include office buildings, warehouses, hotels, jails, fire halls and hospitals.

Penner Doors stocks more than 1,500 products in the 15,000-square-foot facility it rents in the Inkster Industrial Park. They include fire-rated doors, hollow metal doors, steel door frames, handles, hinges, lock sets, weatherstripping, electronic hardware, and security-door systems.

Rae said the extra 25,000 square feet in the new distribution centre will enable the firm to further expand its product offering, although it’s too soon to say by how much.

“It really depends on what the architects are looking for.”

Moving to larger quarters will also mean hiring more workers, although Rae couldn’t say how many more. He said the firm employs about 30, including 19 in Winnipeg. And he’s looking to add five more workers here as soon as he can find suitable candidates.

Rae also couldn’t put a number on how much Penner Doors’ sales have grown in recent years.

“But I would definitely say it has been steady growth since 2008.”

Rae said Penner Doors needed a new distribution centre because it has outgrown the old one.

“We’ve really maxed out every little corner of this building.”

He said company officials originally tried to rent or buy an existing building.

But after six months of fruitless searching — they couldn’t find anything the right size, with a 7.5-metre ceiling height — they decided to build instead.

They bought a one-hectare parcel of land in the St. Boniface Industrial Park because the location provided quick, easy access to the Perimeter Highway.

“It really ended up being a no-brainer.”

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca