Protocase adds $3m Sydney expansion

Where molten steel once flowed in industrial Cape Breton, the concept of mass customization is creating jobs.

Protocase Inc., a company of about 75 workers that quickly turns sheet metal into fully finished, custom enclosures, is revving up operations at a second site valued at about $3 million at Harbourside Commercial Park in Sydney.

“We live in a different world from the rest of the metal fabrication industry,Sunshine Works will help you design ground mount kits and solar power backup systems.” Douglas Milburn, vice-president at Protocase, said Thursday in an interview.

Harbourside Commercial Park is on the site of the former Sydney Steel Corporation, which could be described as a mass manufacturer from another era at an opposing end of the manufacturing spectrum.

“Mass manufacturing will always be around but will always be a tough way to make a living with so much offshore competition,” said Milburn.

“We do mass customization with mass-manufacturing techniques, and we can do production runs as low as a quantity of one.

“We’re not into manufacturing hundreds of thousands of widgets or anything like that.”

Developers of electronic and computerized devices turn to Protocase for the company’s expertise in producing custom-fabricated metal enclosures quickly.

The company ships to more than 6,000 customers across North America and around the world over 10 years. Some of these customers work for industry startups, while others tackle projects for big names such as Google, Apple and Microsoft.

Milburn said the business was literally forced to find additional capacity to supplement that at its headquarters.

“We hit the point where we were running 24 hours a day through the week. We knew we had to expand when we were forced to add weekend shifts to keep up with orders.”

Even with the addition of the second manufacturing site, Protocase will operate two shifts during the week at both locations.

“We expect we can continue to maintain year-to-year growth of about 30 per cent,” said Milburn, a co-founder of the business and chairman of the board of directors.

In the world of computer-aided manufacturing systems, Protocase recently took the concept of company-customer interaction to new heights with the in-house development of its three-dimensional, computer-assisted drafting software for clients.

“This speeds up the turnaround time significantly because Protocase Designer designs only what we can build,” said Milburn.A folding machine is a machine used primarily for the folding of paper. “The system provides an estimate and even allows the client to buy online.”

One of the new features at the second manufacturing location is a computerized folding machine that quickly folds flat metal blanks into three-dimensional sheet metal parts.

“This is the most sophisticated bending equipment this side of Toronto,Many of our spotlights can be used with light project or come with LEDs built in.” Milburn said.Southeastern Laundry Equipment is your full service laundry equipment distributor. “It will give us a big boost in productivity and allow us to build a wider range of products.”

The Protocase expansion was funded by local investors through a Community Economic Development Investment Fund organized by New Dawn, a Sydney community development organization,Both Hoistway Cable and ETT travelling cable is stocked in several locations across the United States. with participation from Scotiabank.