A long-standing business in northeastern Ontario now has a national partner backing it up.
Soucie Salo Safety Inc. has partnered Source Atlantic, which provides maintenance, repair and operations products and services and solutions to the industrial, government, commercial and residential contractor markets. The partnership came about by Source Atlantic buying the majority of the shares
Pat Heaphy, owner of Soucie Salo, said this partnership does not mean the end of the company.
“This is going to give us more buying power in the future,” he said in an interview. “Soucie Salo is not going to disappear, it's a partnership that allows it to have access to a national market.”
Heaphy explained he is still the majority single person shareholder in the company. There are several partners that also hold shares, he explained, including his father, Don, and Paul Vilgren. Both sold their shares to Source Atlantic.
“Don is getting ready to retire, he's 76 years old, and Paul wanted me to have a strong partner going forward, he was hopeful I'd have a strong partner to continue our excellence in supply and service of safety supplies,” he said. “So he (Paul) agreed to sell his shares as well.”
He explained this is a win-win for both companies. It gives Source Atlantic a national footprint, which already has operations in Atlantic Canada, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan though a partnership with Moore Industrial. He stressed Soucie Salo will remain the same in Sudbury and Timmins. It will remain an entity on its own with assistance and he remains owner and team lead.
“The largeness of a company like Source Atlantic behind it, now it can have access to support and systems that are already in place.”
Source Atlantic offers a wide variety of supports and services, such as naval and marine services and supplies. While they have access to those supply chains, Heaphy said Soucie Salo isn't looking at getting into all the services Source Atlantic offers. The company is a safety specialist and are concentrating on product lines that make sense for them to offer.
“We made our mark at being good at what we do,” he said. “In order for us to grow we may consider expanding some of our product lines, but those have to make sense. There are a lot of companies in town that do a good job with the product lines they have. We'd be foolish to go against some of these companies and try to sell a product we don't have any expertise or foothold with.”
He said the company can draw on Source Atlantic to leverage its buying power and take advantage of deals and special pricing they may not have had access to in the past.
Steve Drummond, president of Source Atlantic said “the fit between Source Atlantic and Soucie Salo Safety is undeniable. Both companies believe in proactively identifying ways to resolve customer issues and creating quantifiable value in both process and supply.”
In operation since 1955, Soucie Salo Safety Inc. serves northeastern Ontario’s mining, construction, forestry, government, health care, manufacturing, and service industries. Specializing in safety protection products, respiratory fit testing, safety training, customized hearing protection services, and gas detection equipment and services.
Source Atlantic Ltd., has been in operation since 1867 and has 25 branches in Canada with 13 specialized product and service divisions and more than 400 employees. It earned a Canada’s Best Managed Companies award earlier this year.
