Eliminating outsourcing at CDN Buildings

The owners of CDN Buildings also operate CDN Mechanical and CDN Concrete so that they can manage construction timelines and keep efficiencies high.

CDN Buildings designs, manufactures, and installs steel buildings for Canadian residential, commercial, and agricultural applications. Most of its production work was managed in-house but for a few select items it continued to outsource – until recently. When lead times for certain parts became untenable, the company invested in a new folder and shear to create a new department that could eliminate that bottleneck.

History

CDN Buildings is a family business founded in 2015 in Delhi, Ont., by Bill Dendekker and sons Will and Joel.

“We started the business making small carport structures, and over a very few years we grew from there,” said Joel Dendekker, who serves as the company’s plant manager. “We are now building anything from a 30- by 30-ft. building in your backyard up to 60,000-sq.-ft. commercial-scale buildings.”

The family also operates CDN Mechanical and CDN Concrete so that it can manage construction timelines and keep efficiencies high. The company started with five employees and now manages a team of 50.

Joel Dendekker explained that what makes CDN Buildings competitive is that the majority of its smaller scale structures are built with tube trusses and posts rather than heavy steel beams and columns. This gives them a special advantage in the smaller scale building market.

“We have fully automatic saws that cut our angles so we can produce trusses very efficiently,” he said. “We can produce buildings very quickly. And because of their lighter footprint, we are less expensive. We are fairly competitive to your average wood pole barn structure."

If a customer needs to accommodate unique structural designs in its building requiring heavy steel construction, CDN remains comparable to its competitors, but it’s the buildings with lighter structures and the thinking-outside-the-box projects where they shine.

“Our buildings are also made to look like traditional wood buildings, which people like aesthetically,” said Dendekker. “People don’t want a commercial-looking building in their backyard. And if someone wants a fancy entryway using cedar posts, for instance, we can do that as well.”

Flash Adaptation

CDN is set up with roll forming machines to produce its C and Z purlins, as well as a sheet metal rolling line for fabricating the sides of its structures.

Trims and specialty flashings, however, were being outsourced to another company.

Here we see the same building after completion of construction.

“But it got to a point where we were having issues with delivery times and errors on products,” said Dendekker. “It was costing us because we do work all over North America. We have installation crews on-site, and if there was an issue with trim or something didn’t quite fit, we couldn’t react quickly enough. If I needed a flashing made, we wouldn’t see it for a week.”

To remedy this, CDN created a new department in its manufacturing facilities equipped with a folder and shear dedicated to trim and flashing work of light-gauge materials. Both CNC machines are from Jouanel in France, a company that has been designing and manufacturing metal fabrication equipment since 1948. Empire Machinery is the company’s Canadian distributor.

“The folder is remarkable,” said Dendekker. “It has a screen on which you can draw the parts you want with your finger and it basically does much of the work for you, helping you determine your angles properly and running through all the steps you are going to have to do. In the end, it’s just a matter of pressing a pedal and following those instructions.”

Both the shear and folder are equipped to handle parts of up to 10 ft. long.

Inevitably, this investment is making CDN more efficient.

“For a while we were manually bending flashings if we got stuck on a job, so it’s a great benefit not to have to do that in rush situations,” said Dendekker. “But from day to day, using the folder it’s also a lot simpler. We no longer have to determine what order we need to sequence bends in – the machine figures that out. We no longer have to measure and mark because the machine manages that also. As long as the operator can look at the screen and follow what to do, the machine handles the rest.”

Continued Growth

Like everyone right now, CDN is affected by supply chain crunches, but it’s not having an impact on the company’s growth.

“It can be difficult to get steel coil,” said Dendekker. “Also, garage doors and windows have long lead times. But we’re busy, and we aren’t seeing any lulls in the work. Most of our customers understand the situation and we work with them to manage installations.” With control of more of its processes, managing that growth has been easier.

CDN Buildings, cdnbuildings.com

Empire Machinery, www.empire-machinery.com

Jouanel Industrie, jouanel.business.site

Slide Show | 6 Images