A trusted partner for all your projects
By Leah Kellar
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More than 50 years since its beginning in 1963, Groupe LML continues to grow as a one-stop-shop for specialized electrical services. Customers can find one solution in its five state-of-the-art core service areas of specialization in: electricity, industrial and commercial power, automation and robotics, excavation, industrial mechanics, and now, green energy.
“At Groupe LML, one call will do the trick. We will set a general schedule within our own company and present it to the customer. The big advantage for the customers is that if there are any changes or if anything should go wrong there is no finger pointing, there is no discussion about who should be responsible. Everything is taken care of internally when dealing with a company like Groupe LML,” said company president, Mr. Réjean Quintal.
“Our moto is ‘Follow-up with rigor to make sure of the results’.”
LML is one of the largest private companies specializing in electricity in Montérégie, an administrative region of southwest Quebec. This is an exciting time in the evolutionary growth of the company. The 25th anniversary of ACQ (Association de la Construction du Quebec (Quebec Construction Association)), of which LML is a proud and long-standing member, coincides with the company’s announcement of the birth of a new company: 9212-0377 Quebec Inc. This new company is dedicated to the future of bringing new green energy products to the world.
The company has grown steadily to reach this point with more than a half-century of impressive milestone projects. Its unique approach of offering a multitude of services as a part of one single contract allows clients to deal with one contractor who is in control of all of the facets of their project, and this is what sets it apart in the industry.
“If you settle all of the minor problems as they occur, you can often avoid the major problems that follow and avoid unreasonable delays,” he told Business Elite Canada of the company’s winning strategy. Any time several contractors are involved in a project the coordination and timing can become difficult due to the different priorities of the different parties involved.
LML took care of this problem early on in the development of the company by making a variety of technical courses available to their employees in an attempt to establish a clear advantage over any other competitors in the market. Originally the company was mainly involved in electrical maintenance for large industrial customers. Most of the controls at that time were some form of mechanical/electrical component, but as time wore on, new controls were introduced, first with electronic components then quickly followed by equipment with programmed electronics or automated systems.
Recognizing that this type of control and automation was the wave of the future, LML aimed to master the new systems and controls. In 2005, LML Automation was created to accommodate the fast growing markets of Automation and Robotics. Employees in that new company received continuous training to achieve expertise in these ever-changing new systems. This division is also able to keep up with customer demands for lower cost and improved productivity through new and innovative solutions designed to meet the client’s needs.
The following year LML’s civil engineering department was created in response to company growth and customer demand to install wiring systems underground, and to respond to the province’s call for renewed infrastructure and street lighting. Once again in 2010, in response to a growing demand, a new mechanical division was also added. This additional division saved time and cost for the maintenance required to support their own equipment. From the start LML was formed with a simple goal of providing the best service in their field and home region.
“We started with the simple intent to be the best electrical contractor on the south shore of Montreal,” recalled Mr. Réjean Quintal who was hired on in 1981 as an apprentice for what was then known as LML Electric Company.
This intent was one of the primary tenets at the original formation of LML. The company originated in 1963 with its founders whose surname initials form the acronym LML. They were a group of three friends in the electrical world at the time: Raoûl Lord, who specialized in large industry maintenance, Jean Charles Manny, who looked after maintenance for quarries and mines, and Réal Landry, a specialist in high voltage maintenance. They offered outstanding 24/7 service to their customers while carrying a huge inventory of only the best material available on the market and demonstrating the expertise to solve any of their customer’s problems.
The business was bought by a group of eight employees, including Réjean Quintal and another key partner, Fernand Raymond, after the death of Réal Landry. The company name was then modified to LML Electric. After buying out Fernand Raymond who retired last year, Réjean Quintal introduced a new name for the company: Groupe LML
All of the former divisions were now regrouped under one name.
Since winning its first major project—a reprocessing plant in St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu of approximately $4-million in 1995, LML has been involved in many other varied and challenging projects such as:
-Automation of all the old boilers of the heating system for the Armed Forces Base located in St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu.
-Installation of the highway lighting for 5 km on route 132, and the interchange for auto route 20 on the south shore of Montreal.
-The synchronisation, for the Hydro Quebec grid, of all the 6 fuel power generators, each with a capacity of 3.5 Mw, in the Waste Water Filtering Plant of J.R. Marcotte in Montreal.
(LML is one of the very few existing companies that can actually synchronise fuel power generators on or off grid so they can run simultaneously at the same time and the same speed to make sure that the power, is even on all generators.)
-The complete change of the main electrical entrance of the Charles Lemoyne Hospital from 3000 Amp. To 5000 Amp, (a $2.5-million project) including switchgear and switchboard on the south shore of Montreal.
Current and pending projects include the installation of the telemetry controls in the water filtration plant in St. Calixe, change of all of the automation hardware in the water filtration plant in Rougemont, and analysis of the Arc Flash Protection and maintenance of the Military Academy in St. Jean-Sur-Richeleau, to list just a few.
In 2000, LML Electric applied for and received their ISO (International Standards Organization) Certification, another important step in adapting to the changing demands of the marketplace. ISO certification requires a very strict code of management—but it was well worth it. Business has since shifted for LML to bigger and better contracts with less competition. Today more than 60% of the business of LML is performed for customers that require ISO Certification.
Growth and expansion continued steadily over the years as LML kept pace with regulatory and technological changes and advancements. In 2002, the company moved into a larger complex in St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, acquiring a building of 265,000 square feet on a lot of 900,00 square feet, in which they took 25,000 square feet of new office space, and warehousing to accommodate an increase of 90 employees and a variety of tools and equipment.
LML strongly believes in doing its share in sustainable development as a pioneer in developing various forms of clean energy technologies. Among other initiatives, Réjean Quintal has been developing a new type of wind turbine that can be installed on a flat rooftop or on the ground, and can be combined with multiple sources for green power.
“This revolutionary new product, called the wind turbine, could become a viable solution with the growing need for green electricity, on or off the grid. It could be installed on a flat roof or the ground, and can be combined with a solar and/or a solar thermal liquid installation,” said Mr. Réjean Quintal.
In 2009, after more than six years of research, Mr. Réjean Quintal was able to request a patent for his product. The demand for sustainable solutions is not going away, and combining sustainability with new technological advancements is critical to stay competitive. Mr. Réjean Quintal’s introduction of 9212-0377 Quebec Inc. this year caters specifically to this market demand.
“New products play a very large part of the evolution in the market. There is not a day that passes without the introduction of a new automated product or a new version of the software for existing products. The field of robotics automation in particular are making remarkable advances in a short period of time,” said Mr. Réjean Quintal.
Through their 50 years of experience in the industry, Groupe LML believes that listening to its customers will also keep them ahead of the crowd.
“With the objective of providing our customers with the best service, we have learned through the years to listen to them and asked them where they think they will be or what they will require in the future. This way we can focus on what we need to do to respond to their needs and what must be done in order to accomplish our goal of providing the best service possible to our clients.” said Mr. Réjean Quintal.
