New Capability

Tripar has just purchased a new 4-axis CNC Milling machine. As we bring this on-line, it will add to Tripar’s capabilities by allowing us to:

• Reduce die manufacture time, allowing for parts to get into production sooner.
• Advancing our ability to make more complex dies, allowing the parts to be made in one die, instead of multiple operations, potentially lowering the unit price.
• Offer value added production machining of our metal stampings if/where required, allowing the customer to get parts fully manufactured at Tripar, shortening lead time.

Safety Award

In December 2016 Tripar were finalists in a Quebec ‘CNESST’ (the Quebec equivalent of OHSHA) safety award. Tripar developed a concept whereby a factory worker can hitch a heavy metal components storage container to one of our electric pallet trucks to safely relocate it to our required manufacturing cell.

It was proposed by an factory worker through ‘Tripar’s Suggestion Program’. Its success has greatly reduced the chance of injury and sped up the task for the worker.

L-Bar™ Success

Tripar’s #1487 L-Bars (Patents pending) were launched in September 2016 and have been a real success. With multiple customers adding them to their product line and over 500,000 ordered in four months, this product has the potential to become the ‘Standard’ in the commercial bar market.

Customer testimonials include:

• Congratulations. The bar hangers are real winners!!!
• We like the universal aspect of both sides of the hanger bar being the same unit
• Awesome, these are strong and indeed feature packed
• What a great idea, these will become standard on all our fixtures

To view the product, please click here.

If you would like any more information on these new products, please contact Connie Muro at Connie@TriparInc.com.

New Products

Plaster frame

Our  new 1483 series plaster frame, as an upgrade to our 1283 large plaster frames. The same 12-1/8” width remains the same, but improvements include;

• Bent edges on all four sides (two of which have integral bar hanger pockets), making the frame much more rigid, as well as eliminating the need to purchase and rivet our 1280 Bar Hanger Brackets on.
• Available in almost any length; from  8” to 120” long!

Torsion Spring & Bracket

Suspending lighting trims using torsion springs has been around for decades, but with the anchoring means integrally designed into the light fixture. Tripar is pleased to offer two types of torsion spring brackets & the torsion spring, permitting this proven suspension system to be easily incorporated into almost any light fixture.

• # 1450-1, Bent foot Torsion Spring Bracket
• # 1450-2, Straight Torsion Spring Bracket
• # PP398, Torsion Spring

To read the New product Bulletin, please click here.

If you would like any more information on these new products, please contact Connie Muro at Connie@TriparInc.com

Charity – Montreal Childrens Hospital

Tripar proudly sponsored Andrew, our Sales & Marketing Manager, for the 2^nd year of his Cycling challenge to raise money for the Montreal Children’s Hospital. In 2015 he cycled 160 km from Mont Tremblant to the Montreal Children’s Hospital, this year he just completed an extended 215 km ride from Parliament hill in Ottawa to the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

The reason Andrew founded this ride is because both of his sons, James and Oscar, (who are the grandchildren of Lloyd Sevack, President of Tripar), went through the Montreal Children’s Hospital. James was born 8 weeks premature and Oscar had meningitis. Both boys had to go through a range of X-rays, MRI’s and spinal taps. All in all, they were both very stressful and worrying times for Andrew, his wife Alexine, James, Oscar and extended families. However, both boys are perfectly healthy now and over the last 2 years the rides have raised $9000 which has gone towards new equipment and support for other children that need it in the Neonatal Unit.

To view Andrew’s fundraising page to find out more about this amazing Hospital please click on the link https://childrenfoundation.com/en/fundraiser/210kmcycle/

1254/1287K & 1254K    

1054/1287K & 1054K

Charity

Tripar is proudly sponsoring Andrew, our Sales & Marketing Manager, who will be doing a 160km charity ride to raise money for The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. The route follows the the historic P’tit Train du Nord from Mont Tremblant and will climb over 2200ft through the Laurentian mountains before ending at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

The reason Andrew has decided to do this ride is because his son, James, (who is also the grandson of Lloyd Sevack, President of Tripar), was born 8 weeks premature. James then spent the next 5 weeks having difficulties breathing and surviving. He had multiple MRI’s and X-rays, and spinal taps, and there was the possibility of brain surgery. All in all, a very stressful and worrying time for Andrew, his wife Alexine, James, and extended families. Andrew is hoping to raise as much money as he can for the The Montreal Children’s Hospital, as it is an incredible place, last year treating over 230,000 children.
To view Andrew’s fundraising page and to make a donation, please click on the link below.

https://childrenfoundation.com/fundraiser/160km-tremblant-childrens/

Lightfair 2015

Tripar exhibited at Lightfair for the 12th straight year, located on our US Reps booth, Bill Brown Sales. Every year is always enjoyable seeing the new trends in the industry but undoubtedly it is the face to face time we have with both old and new customers that we look forward to the most.  We are already signed up for Lightfair 2016 in San Diego  and look forward to seeing everyone again.

New Product Bulletins

Completed Video Library

Please click here to watch more Tripar’s videos on our YouTube channel.

Canadian Metalworking Magazine

Over four days in early November 2014, Montreal- based Tripar Inc. opened its doors to customers and suppliers to celebrate the metal stamping company’s 65th anniversary. This event was made doubly special when 91-year-old Ben Sevack, the company’s founder and chairman, made an appearance.

The well-attended open house was symbolic of the company’s core strength of building long-term relationships with its customers, one dating back since its inception, while also maintaining strong family values and a willingness to share the expertise the company has acquired over three generations.

Tripar’s specialty lies in metal stamping (mainly progressive, draw & deep draw), with an international reputation for its work in the commercial and architectural lighting industry. The business originally started in 1949 by three partners, thus the Tripar name. It was brothers Ben and David Sevack, who were recent immigrants from England following the Second World War, and a local man who was connected to the die making trade. Before long it was just the Sevack brothers who were running the metal stamping business, but the Tripar name stuck.

Initially located in a 4,500 sq. ft. building on Hays Avenue in Montreal, the company moved to a 10,000 sq. ft. space in northeast end of Montreal Island after its 10th anniversary in 1960. Now after four rounds of expansion Tripar occupies a 65,000 sq. ft. plant. “We have enough space for now,” says current company President, Lloyd Sevack, Ben’s son, although he doesn’t discount potential expansion in the future.

An engineer by training, Lloyd worked for two companies over 15 years prior to joining the family business as vice president in 2001 after his uncle had retired.

Since its earliest days Tripar has been well known to the lighting fixture industry. Lloyd notes that today around 80 per cent of its business comes from lighting OEMs. “We’re very responsive to that market. We can modify tooling, often giving customers exactly what they want with little or no tooling cost,” he says.

Tripar does resists competing in the high-volume, low- end, residential lighting space, the products typically found in the big box hardware stores where deals like a six-pack of recessed lights run for $50, with light bulbs included. “It’s all made in China and of terrible quality,” says Lloyd. “But that’s not our market. That’s practically a throw-away market.”

Metal stamping in North America is a challenging business and a lot of work has moved overseas, but Lloyd does see some work coming back. “It’s not a tidal wave, but it is happening.”

Lauren Sevack, Lloyd’s daughter, joined the company in a sales and marketing role in 2013. She relates the story of one local customer who had shifted its manufacturing to China years ago and recently rediscovered Tripar. “They called us because they were in a pickle and knew we were always there to help them,” she says.

Tripar was able to quickly turn around their request, and Lauren followed up by asking for the opportunity to quote on the bulk of their work. “I wanted to see how close we were to the pricing from China. I know we are competitive, and we’re constantly innovating.

“Well, their mouths were on the floor when we quoted, and they said, you’ve won our business back.”

It’s a combination of being local and a focus on quality that works in their favour. “The reason we got the opportunity to regain their business was because they had ordered a thousand parts from China and more than half were scrap,” notes Lloyd.

The company is not only winning back business from local customers but is also growing its relationships with European lighting clients. “We have customers from France, England and Belgium and we’re in discussions with firms in Denmark and Germany. All for the same reason, they’re eyeing the North American market,” says Lauren.

As the European economy remains stalled these OEMs see the North American market ripe for expansion. The firms find Tripar, often through referrals, and take advantage of their expertise with North American construction and electrical codes, and the company’s ready supply of existing parts. “Initially we may be shipping components to Europe, where they assemble them and ship them back to North America, but more and more the European firms are setting up shop somewhere in North America to assemble and deliver from here,” says Lloyd.

Although modest in their Canadian way, the Sevacks are convinced they are the largest firm in North America specializing in the lighting market “We get told that all of the time,” says Lauren. “We don’t know if we’re always safe to make that claim, but then we have customers who tell us that we’re the only ones who do what we do.”

“I know of a few others that do other aspects of lighting, but we’re the biggest,” says Lloyd. And with 65 years in operation the company’s knowledge is valued.

“The number one feedback I get from our customers is that they love our expertise,” says Lauren. “They know that at any point they can come down, sit with our team of engineers and work out their problems. We care about finding solutions, and for the lowest possible cost.”

“As much as we try to diversify out of lighting—which we do—we still continue to get more customers within lighting,” says Lloyd, “particularly now with the evo- lution of LED lighting which has taken place with such rapid speed over the last three to four years. New companies keep popping up.”

The company certainly handles jobs outside of lighting as well, listing off projects including air purifiers, gar- dening tools, and project supplies such as xylophone kits and blind shelf supports. The company’s largest single contract was to manufacture a racking system for a massive (500,000 sq. ft.) grocery chain’s automated storage & retrieval system.

On the factory floor, Lloyd insists they are constantly trying to modernize to meet new demands and requirements. The company has over 100 presses, CNC laser & press brakes, shears and metal assembly including spot welding.

They do a lot of high-volume press work that start from coils, and for smaller volume jobs they have sheet metal fabrication equipment. For a lot of lighting components they work with galvanized steel, but for jobs that require a better aesthetic they use cold rolled steel that can be coated or plated.

“We also work with aluminum, copper, brass, stainless steel, and some pre-finished materials, like pre-painted steels or pre-plated—both of those can be formed to a degree without flaking and if that works for the customer, it’s way more cost competitive than post finishing (painting or plating),” says Lloyd.

Shortly after the economic collapse in the fall of 2008, Tripar installed its Amada LC 1212 CO2 laser cutter. “We were responding to what customers were telling us,” says Lloyd. “I was the one who resisted it for the longest time.”

He adds that the laser has allowed the company to start small with a lot of new and even existing customers. “Customers told us, ‘When we have high volume and can justify tooling you guys are great. If we don’t have high volume and you can modify an existing die, you guys are pretty good. But for lower volume you don’t have any option and we have to go somewhere else.’”

So Tripar will often start out with the laser option with new clients or projects that are in their infancy and may need to be market proven before moving to larger runs.

“The difference with us is, unlike a laser-only shop, once a customers’ volumes increase we’ll be the first to say, ‘You’re tying up our laser doing high-volume work, so instead of paying $4 a part, if you spend x-thousand dollars on tooling, your price will drop to $2 per part.” And the numbers speak for themselves,” explains Lloyd.

“That takes the load off our laser and keeps it available to do what it’s really best at which is our lower run work.”

Last year Tripar installed its newest stamping press,   a 200-ton Minster press, up from the 150-ton which was their previous top end. “Since installation in late 2014, we have several jobs that we had won, the dies of which are being designed and would have been difficult to put on a 150-ton press,” says Lloyd.

The company is very vertically integrated, with all of its tooling done in-house. “Lately our tool room has been working overtime, 50 to 60 hours a week for the past three months because we have won orders for many new dies,” says Lloyd, adding the company has over 1,500 dies in stock.

“The only process we subcontract is wire cutting and CNC profiling, the whole die design and build cycle is done in house,” says Lloyd. “The next project we’re going to be evaluating is whether or not it makes sense to acquire CNC milling capability to speed up the machining of various blocks that we have to make for the dies.”

He explains that it would possibly speed up the tooling process, but it wouldn’t be a big change to the business, explaining, “Our objective is to make profit on the stamped parts, not the tooling.”

As the company enters its 66th year, the benefits of experience and staying responsive to the market are propelling it ahead. “It’s no walk in the park,” says Lloyd. “Yes we have our reputation and yes we have customers coming to us, but Asia is out there, it’s a reality. We have lost some business to people who say they have to save money and move their manufacturing to China; some of them have come back to us.

“It’s two steps forward, and 1.5 steps backward, and we slowly progress. We quote on a lot of things and we don’t win them all, but we win enough to keep moving forward.”

Remembrance Day – Ben’s Story

As part of Tripar’s 65th Anniversary celebrations, we recently hosted an open house for our local customers and suppliers to thank them for the years of successful business and many more to come. The highlight of the open house was when Ben Sevack, Founder & Chairman of the Board, came in as it was very special for him to see our customers and suppliers, some of     over 45 years! He was asked many times during the day, “How did you go from a British Army solider fighting in the Second World War to starting a metal stamping shop in Montreal?”

In honour of Remembrance Day we would like to share Ben’s story….

Ben was born in London England in 1923. After school and on weekends, he would often help in his father’s photographic studio. When the war started, a teenage Ben turned his technical eye to helping manufacture surgical instruments for the war effort as well as joining the Home Guard. His most vivid and frightening memories were during “the Blitz”, where over a period of 267 days his home town of London was attacked 71 times. One evening he returned from the air raid shelter to find his home destroyed.

In 1942 Ben was “called up” and due to his technical background, he was recruited by the Royal Engineers, with their haunting motto “Honi soit qui mal y pense” (evil be to him who evil thinketh). After his 6 weeks basic training, he began his specialized training in the maintenance of field surveying instruments.

Ben travelled to Naples by boat to start his duty. At the time, the army was looking for bodies for the front lines. Luckily the Brigadier on shore noted Ben’s experience as a tradesman and let him continue through to Naples! Ben was stationed throughout Italy. There he found his love of travel and also took advantage of every opportunity from assisting the army medic, learning to ride horses, to learning Italian,German and French. Upon being discharged his Commanding Officer commented how he was always successful with every task he was given, no matter how difficult it was or whether it was outside his remit.

After the war, Ben decided to make a new life for himself by immigrating to Montreal. There, he capitalized on his wartime experiences and his innate drive for success to set up Tripar. The first press that was bought still contained the die to manufacture ammunition shells. As they say, the rest is history.