Canam Celebrates 60 Years

St. Georges (Québec), August 11, 2020 — Canam celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2020. On August 15, 1960, Roger Dutil, Gilberte Lacroix-Dutil, and two Boston partners incorporated Canam’s first entity in equal parts.

 

Construction of the 34-foot by 400-foot (10.4-metre by 122-metre) St. Gédéon plant began in the fall of 1960 and was completed in the spring of 1961. The plant officially began operations on May 5, 1961 and at that time employed about ten seasonal employees.

 

“A big thank you to our past and present employees for their contribution to Canam’s development. They have been and are our most valuable asset,” says Mr. Marcel Dutil, Chairman of the Board, who started in May 1961 as a fitter at the St. Gédéon plant. “It is thanks to our employees’ commitment to our values of integrity, customer satisfaction, manufacturing quality products and on-time delivery that we have built a company that today employs between 700 and 800 people in St. Gédéon, in an industrial complex of approximately 600,000 square feet (55,740 square metres).”

 

In 1972, Manac, owned by Mr. Marcel Dutil, acquired 100% of Canam. In 1984, the company went public and was privatized 33 years later, in July 2017, with an American partner, American Industrial Partners (AIP). In February 2020, a Québec group, made up of equal shares (33.3%) by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), the Fonds de solidarité FTQ (FSFTQ) and the Marcel Dutil family, acquired 100% of the Canadian operations, the bridge business in the United States, as well as all of the operations in Romania and India. The Québec group still owns close to 40% of the U.S. operations, i.e. 17 plants.

 

“Since the beginning of Canam, improvement has been part of our culture. We have continually modernized our equipment and expanded our plants to better meet customer needs. Acquisitions in Canada and the United States have allowed us to grow the business,” notes Marc Dutil, President and Chief Executive Officer. Major investments of approximately $15 million will be completed during the year at the St. Gédéon plant. This amount includes the purchase of several pieces of equipment as well as an expansion. 

 

Canam is proud to have been a part of the Beauce community and its economic development for 60 years. With its employees from around the world, Canam has participated in the construction of more than 350,000 buildings in North America and elsewhere.

 

About Canam Group

 

Canam Group specializes in designing and fabricating metal components for the North American construction industry. The Company is active in the sectors of buildings and infrastructure. Canam Group operates eight plants in Canada and the United States, as well as engineering offices in Canada, Romania and India has over 2,675 employees and holds an interest in the U.S. operations of 17 plants.