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Ontario shop auction mills/surface grinders

Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
this was a BIG guy... 1982.. many years.
I'm pretty sure I've done fixture work for them at some point in the past. The name sounds very familiar. We often work for their customers, but sometimes deal with the die shops directly. Just checked and we last did some repair work for them in 2018.

I know the auto industry is changing, and sometimes bigger/older places are slow to implement change that would help them innovate/renovate to stay alive stave off overseas competition. I also know 40 years is a long time, and there had to be a handoff of ownership/leadership at some point along the way, and that often never goes as plan. Real estate prices is a another big kicker in the gta, and a possible source of failure there a few different ways depending on how leveraged they are. Could also have been the original owner/founder decided to pack it in and didn't have a buyer. Who knows.

I'm always curious about how and why business' like this fail. I love analyzing the failures of everything, and fortunately/unfortunately have rode with a few companies into the ground over the past 20 years.
 

DavidR8

Scrap maker
Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
A few years back I bought a whack of machines from a tool and die shop that closed down. According to the owner they lost a lucrative contract which was the backbone of their business. So sort of a one basket of eggs situation.
 

Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
A few years back I bought a whack of machines from a tool and die shop that closed down. According to the owner they lost a lucrative contract which was the backbone of their business. So sort of a one basket of eggs situation.
It's all too easy to fall into that trap and become a captive shop.....Especially in the auto industry. Over the past 3 years a large portion of our work has only been spread over 3 customers.

One of the past shops I worked at that went down was in part due to becoming a captive shop of someone that was too big to fail.....Too late to start treading water when your biggest customer decides not to pay money owed over the past year+. That wasn't the only reason they failed, but it was a big one.
 

Shoprat

Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure I've done fixture work for them at some point in the past. The name sounds very familiar. We often work for their customers, but sometimes deal with the die shops directly. Just checked and we last did some repair work for them in 2018.

I know the auto industry is changing, and sometimes bigger/older places are slow to implement change that would help them innovate/renovate to stay alive stave off overseas competition. I also know 40 years is a long time, and there had to be a handoff of ownership/leadership at some point along the way, and that often never goes as plan. Real estate prices is a another big kicker in the gta, and a possible source of failure there a few different ways depending on how leveraged they are. Could also have been the original owner/founder decided to pack it in and didn't have a buyer. Who knows.

I'm always curious about how and why business' like this fail. I love analyzing the failures of everything, and fortunately/unfortunately have rode with a few companies into the ground over the past 20 years.
Yup. Could be many reasons, but without looking at the P&L report, it’s all speculation. One thing is for sure the , politicians aren’t making small business any easier. Don’t get me started!!!!!!!!!
 

Rauce

Ultra Member
I didn’t see this post originally but that G.S auction is where I got that big granite square. Going to go pick it up Monday.
 
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