Page 64 B y F r a nk Giorno I f y ou w an t t o e xper ienc e the r eal hea v y metal tur n of the M etallica Y ou T ube video r emo v e the head phones and head do wn t o Lake head I r on w or ks 29000 squar e f oot shop sta t e of the ar t fabr ica tion fa cilit y in T hunder Ba y On tar io Lakehead I r on w or ks I nc w as f ound ed b y Josef Q uast in 1976 I n 1990 the business w as taken o v er b y his son U w e Q uast who is still P r esiden t of the C ompan y W hen m y dad star t ed the c ompan y it w as k no wn as Lakehead Or namen tal I r on w or ks r ecalls U w e Q uast M y dad w as a br ick la y er b y tr ade fr om the old c oun tr y U w e Q uast said O v er the y ears Lakehead I r on w or ks has g r o wn fr om a 2500 squar e f oot shop t o a 29000 squar e f oot sta t e of the ar t fabr ica tion facilit y and no w car r ies 1000 t ons of S t eel I n v en t o r y U w e Q uast the P r esiden t of the c ompan y said U w e Q uast star t ed w or k ing a t his dad s c ompan y par t time when he w as 14 af t er school and dur ing sum mer holida y s On c ompleting high school in 1979 U w e became a full time emplo y ee in a family business in v olving his fa ther and mother I t s main line of w or k w as st eel stairs and r ailings and w e w er e good a t it sta t ed Q uast I n 1990 Josef Q uast r etir ed and sold the equipmen t f or 20000 U w e Q uast decided t o f ocus on the mor e c ommer cial struc tur al business and metal fabr ica tions Lakehead I r on w or ks had been inc or por a t ed and emer ged out Josef s Lakehead Or na men tal I r on w or ks F r om the 1990 s all the w a y t o 2010 w e had a cr ew of no mor e than 10 people and 7000 sq f t t o w or k in r ecalled U w e Q uast But man the things w e pr oduc ed with the in cr edible people w or k ing f or us w er e amazing st eelw or k f or c ommer cial buildings univ ersit y buildings schools and hospitals One pr ojec t tha t stands out f or U w e Q uast t ook plac e in 2006 far fr om his T hunder Ba y shop I had a local ar chit ec t who had mo v ed t o Bar bados he calls me hey y ou in t er est ed in a job on Bar ba dos Q uast r et ells the st or y B eing in the st eel manufac tur ing business has alw a y s had its challenges I said wh y not wha t s in v olv ed Q uast had t o pr o vide a set of dr a w ings of the st eel par ts he w ould supply T he r eal challenge is tha t he must supply stainless st eel I v e done a bit of stainless nothing L ak ehead I r on w or ks H ea v y metal fabric a t ors getting the job done Page 64 Page 65 big but wh y not Q uast decided t o take on the pr ojec t Sur e enough w e ended up in Bar bados and w e lear ned ho w t o et ch stainless ship in t er na tionally and all tha t M an back then w e all w or ked har d and par tied just as har d but w e got the w or k done Q uast sta t ed T w o y ears came another r equest f or st eel this time fr om the C a yman Is lands I n 2008 af t er hur r icane I v an dev as ta t ed the C a yman Islands and they w er e r e building A local c on tr ac t or calls us hey y ou ha v e done w or k in the C ar ibbean bef or e do y ou w an t t o pr ic e w or k on Gr and C a yman said Q uast W ha t w as in v olv ed w as building hur r icane r esistan t r oof struc tur es Lakehead I r on w or ks bid w as ac c ept ed and they star t ed building Q uast hir ed an eng ineer who is still with Lakehead I r on w or ks and built the r oof s tha t disassembled and ft in t o sea cans W e built one of the most c omple x pr ojec ts t o this da y and w e did it on one of the smallest islands in the C ar ibbean said Q uast W e ev en tu ally did 2 c ondo dev elopmen ts and a school T he w or k dr ied up when the US f ell on r ough times and they w er e just ne x t door A t ar ound end of 2008 2009 Lake head I r on w or k r ec eiv ed a call fr om one of the sur r ounding mines near T hunder Ba y T hey w an t ed Lakehead I r on w or ks t o r ebuild one of their buckets A ppar en tly t w o of the pr evious fab r ica t ors did not meet their e xpec ta tions A c c or ding t o Q uast a lot goes in t o r epair ing a mining bucket sho v el or dump bo x Y ou need an understanding of the str ains on the equipmen t pr oper ma t er ials w elding c onsumables t emper a tur e c on tr ol and w ear c om ponen ts Q uast poin t ed out I t all ma tt ers T he clien t w as impr essed with the r est or ed bucket and Lakehead I r on w or ks star t ed r epair ing mor e mining buckets and dump bo x es T he c ompan y f ound it t ougher and t ougher t o c ompet e ar ound 2010 M y guy s w or ked har d w e w er e w or k ing out of an old w ar ehouse a ttached t o a g r ain elev a t or and the mining division w as done out of the tr ainshed of tha t elev a t or nonin sula t ed no o v er head cr anes but w e had a good st er eo with subs Q uast r ecalled I t w as ob vious Lakehead I r on w or k had t o adapt or shr iv el up and fade E v en our struc tur al and misc ella neous side w as f eeling it M a t er ial handling w as time c onsuming and w e c ompensa t ed b y lo w w ages no benefts and no futur e I t w as time f or a change I n 2012 I had a c ouple of bucks sa v ed up nothing big but some thing I needed t o upg r ade Q uast said A t tha t time C anada C ust om and R ev enue A genc y under t ook an audit of the c ompan y T he audit or scru tiniz ed the books and t old Q uast he had a g r ea t c ompan y and he should be look ing a t go v er nmen t funding pr og r ams T he On tar io Her itage F und w as in t er est ed in tak ing a chanc e A 14 million bank loan a t 4 w as negotia t ed with one of the banks and plans w er e dev eloped on a new building f or Lakehead I r on w or ks W ith the new facilit y the en vir on men t has changed T he air qualit y impr o v ed benefts happened pen sions w er e inc or por a t ed w ages in cr eased W e ev en ha v e 6 o v er head gan tr y cr anes and along with those changes other changes hap pened such as r esear ch and dev el opmen t saf et y impr o v ed ma t er ial t esting pr oduc t analy sis join t de v elopmen ts and r esear ch with the mines c ompanies such as S andvik and Har do x ha v e par tner ed up with Lakehead I r on w or ks W e adapt ed and w e ar e her e t o sta y Q uast said W e ha v e bec ome one of the biggest fabr ica tion facilities in Nor th w est er n On tar io with 56 emplo y ees both in house and mobile c ommitt ed t o pr o viding t op not ch cr af tsmanship O ne of N or th w est ern O n tario s lar gest fabric a tion shops her e t o sta y Page 65