The History of Vicwest
It is very important to celebrate our history of success, and acknowledge the many milestones and achievements, only a small fraction in which are listed here.
It is equally exciting to look forward. Vicwest is focused on building strength internally in the organization with our employees, externally in terms of enhancing our relationships with our customers, and of course in the products we sell.
Vicwest is focused on delivering superior value to customers, and creating a work environment for employees in which their opinions and ideas are respected, and they freely embrace teamwork, innovation and continuous improvement. We have an incredible history which we all take pride in.
- 1905 Winnipeg Ceiling and Roofing Company began business manufacturing ornate ceiling, wall and roofing tiles and sheet metal products. The company changed its name to Western Steel Products Ltd. in the 1920s and became known as « Westeel » during the 1930s.
- 1930 Thomas Grégoire Inc. was founded in Victoriaville, Québec to manufacture steel farm cladding, and later changed its name to Vic Métal Corporation in 1953.
- 1945 Western Steel Products Ltd. changed its name to Westeel Products Ltd. After having contracted all production in service of the Canadian military in WWII, manufacturing facilites were re-converted to fabricate steel products for a variety of non-military industries.
- 1960 Westeel acquired Columbia Metal Rolling Mill Ltd. and began producing metal wall panel and steel deck products in Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver, thereby competing with Vic Métal.
- 1970 Vic Métal started producing metal roofing and cladding for industrial and commercial projects, adding to the competition with Westeel.
- 1981 Vic Métal purchases Corib Operating in Stratford, Ontario
- 1987 Vicwest Steel Inc. was created through the combination of Westeel's building products division and Vic Métal.
- 1994 Northern Steel began production in Tisdale, Saskatchewan.
- 1995 The Building Products Group rebrands, changing the name from Vicwest Steel to Vicwest
- 2000 Vicwest and Westeel's storage products group were joined to form Vicwest Corporation.
- 2004 Vicwest Corporation became a publicly traded company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
- 2005 Vicwest Corporation was converted to an income fund and celebrates 100 year Anniversary
- 2006 Vicwest Income Fund acquired Mercury Metals, Northern Steel Industries, and Valley Truss & Metal. The first Insulated Metal Panel manufacturing facility also opens in Hamilton, Ontario
- 2008 Vicwest Income Fund acquired RCA Metals Inc. of Memramcook New Brunswick
- 2009 Expansion of Vicwest continues with a new Saskatoon facility set to open summer of 2009