HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-05-30, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013.
Bylaw causes outrage in M-T
New Concept Doors reunites former MDL staffers
After the Jan. 23 fire at MDL
Doors, two former employees have
created New Concept Quality Doors
with hopes of eventually reuniting
the entire MDL staff in Morris-
Turnberry, just north of Wingham.
Larry Fraser and Dennis
Kupferschmidt banded together
shortly after the fire, after they were
told that owner Mervin Lichty would
not rebuild MDL Doors.
“We stayed with Merv for a few
weeks after the fire and helped to
clean up the mess,” Fraser said in an
interview with The Citizen. “We
tossed around the idea and decided
to start [the business] up and get
people back to work.”
Fraser said that the closure of
MDL Doors left a huge void in the
market. He said the company that
was set to take over MDL’s market
share “failed miserably” and there
was a need for a quality door
company and customers needed that
service.
So Fraser, who had spent the last
seven years of his life working for
MDL, finishing his tenure working
in purchasing, consulted with
Kupferschmidt, who had been
MDL’s plant manager, and they
decided to start New Concept.
They began by reaching out to a
“core group” of former MDL
employees, which, including Fraser
and Kupferschmidt, and consisted of
about eight or nine people,
formed the backbone of the new
business.
Now, however, the business has
grown to employ 22 people, but the
goal, Fraser says, is to eventually
employ the vast majority of MDL’s
former employees. Of the 22
employees, Fraser says, 21 of themare former MDL employees.The company was given a handfulof early boosts from local companieseager to help out. The building,which sits just south of the RoyalHomes plant in Morris-Turnberry, isbeing leased to New Concept forfree for its first three months, a giftto the company from Royal Homes.
In addition, all of the office
supplies were donated by atWork
Office Furniture in Cambridge.
Fraser says that several other local
companies were very helpful during
the company’s start-up as well.
Presently the company can
produce as many as 35 high-end
doors per day. Later this week,
however, the company will have its
“line” delivered, which should
increase its production substantially.
The line, Fraser says, can produce
130 economy doors per day on its
own, which will help the company’s
production going forward.
Fraser says he is looking forward
to hiring more and more former
MDL employees as the business
continues to grow, not just because
of the relationships that were formed
over the years, but for the skill the
employees possess.
“This is very much a craftsman
industry,” Fraser said. “You needthose people to build the doors,they’re built from expertise.”After the MDL Doors fire, Frasersays, there were over 100 employeesout on the street just one day afterhaving gainful, full-timeemployment. That sudden jolt ofchange, Fraser said, was hard for alot of people.
With New Concept, Fraser says,
he and Kupferschmidt were happy to
help out former MDL employees by
giving them a place to work and
welcoming them back into the fold.
On the business side of things,
with the exception of one large
customer, New Concept has retained
the vast majority of MDL’s customer
base, which has been great news,
Fraser says.
In future weeks Fraser says he
hopes to have made contact with
even more potential customers
across the entire province of
Ontario.
Since opening in mid-April, New
Concept has been growing by
approximately 40 per cent every
week, and Fraser hopes they will
continue to grow.
The company will be holding a
grand opening ceremony on Friday,
June 21 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Continued from page 1
understanding of the many areas this
bylaw governs would be great value
in producing a bylaw that is
proactive in addressing safety
concerns with the community while
not allowing personal rights and
freedoms to be unreasonably
infringed,” Clarke said
While council voted to receive
the petition, councillors did not
support the idea of the committee.
Mayor Paul Gowing pointed out that
council only has seven members and
sometimes has a hard time reaching
agreement. “You talk of 12
individuals – that number of
individuals [on a committee] would
be very difficult,” he said.
The discussion was kicked off
with comments from Bob Trick,
animal control officer, on this fourth
draft of the bylaw. He said the bylaw
now allows people to keep some of
the species listed if they buy a
permit and prove they can properly
care for the animal.
But Clarke wasn’t sure the
wording made the circumstances
under which people could keep
these exotic species was made clear
and several councillors agreed the
wording needs to be clarified.
“I firmly believe that the amended
draft is not ready to be passed,”
Clarke said.
Two things stood out for him as he
reviewed the latest draft, Clarke
said. One was the need for the
citizen committee to review the
draft. The second was the need to
reduce the control list “to species
that are actually dangerous”.
That tied in with a complaint
Councillor John Smuck has
repeatedly made. “Farm animals
have injured a lot more people than
some of this stuff,” he said.
“You’ve got a whale on this list,”
shouted Myron Schwadchuck of
Bluevale, who said he was
undertaking an act of civil
disobedience by speaking when he
wasn’t given permission. Despite
Gowing ruling him out of order and
trying to get him to sit down,
Schwadchuck completed two
different outbursts. He accused
council of sneaking through the
bylaw that is “totally against
Canadian law”. He said the animal
control officer would have more
power than the police if he could
enter a house without a warrant to
inspect for prohibited species.
He threatened to campaign against
the councillors in the next election if
60th
Wedding Anniversary
The family of
Ross and Mary Procter
would like to invite you
to a
Come and Go
Celebration
of their
60th Wedding
Anniversary
Sunday, June 9, 2013
2:00 - 4:00 pm
Wingham Golf & Curling Club
Best Wishes Only
Love from the Coultes and Souch families
Happy 25th Anniversary
Kevin & Karen Coultes
June 4
Evelyn & Jim
Blake
Love your family
Happy 40th
Anniversary
Happy 25th
Anniversary
Mom & Dad
May 28, 2013
Love from
Tyler, Morgan
& Tiffany
Happy
35th
Anniversary
May 27
John
&
Ivonne
Albers
Love Theresa, Shane,
Ethan, Owen, Jackson & Logan
Mike & Mary-Lou
Adam, Kim & Aiden
Laura
Back to work
New Concept Quality Doors, which will host its grand opening in June, currently employs over
20 former MDL Doors employees and is looking to hire more in the near future. Hard at work
last week were, from left: Owner Larry Fraser and employees Chris Sebastian, Jared Machan,
Dawn Hastings, Tammy Ashley, Megan Taylor, Melinda Bell, Lindsay Watson, Shawn Woods,
Jack Ohm, Peggy Atchinson and Bryan Miller. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 24