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business elite canada 203
erly,” he said. “We implemented a quality sys-
tem so that we could track and regulate how
well we’re performing and that gives us a lot of
return business.” Some of their processes are
more complex, namely the implementation
of a program to set up automated dispatch
throughout the company. But other changes
were simple yet effective enough to impact
the bottom line.
“We’re in a muddy industry,” Mr. Stewart
said. “We got new trucks, bettered our equip-
ment, hired better people and uniformed
our people… did all the things (our competi-
tors) weren’t doing. Obviously in the electrical
trades that’s pretty common, but in our trade
we didn’t do that. They’d be running around in
second hand trucks with guys in leather jack-
ets…it made quite a big difference.”
That difference is evident not only in the
number of satisfied and often repeat custom-
ers but in the eyes of the industry as well.
Wilcox Door has received several prestigious
awards over the years, including the Interna-
tional Door Association’s (IDA) Distinguished
Service and International Dealer awards in
2005, along with several other service awards
over the years. In a continually evolving in-
dustry, the recognition is nice but there’s little
time to rest if an organization wants to stay
ahead of the competition. Mr. Stewart and his
management team are constantly adapting to
changes in both the construction and property
management industries.
“During the recession companies were mak-
ing decisions based on cost, not on foresight
or safety, so we were sliding a little bit dur-
ing that period because they were just going
to whoever,” Mr. Stewart said. “Now there’s a
very large direction for … all these large multi-
national property management companies
coming in and they have a hierarchy of many
different companies that do quality measure-
ments, safety measurements and you have
to get approved by that and it costs a lot of
money.”
Many smaller companies can’t afford to go
“I think it’s probably our processes, how we get return business by doing
the jobs properly.”
