Nisku’s signs don’t tell whole job story.
While job boards outside some businesses are shouting no to employment opportunities, they’re not telling the whole story of Nisku and the downturn.
Empty spaces in company parking lots and a decline in commuter traffic don’t tell the entire story, either.
“We have seen a lot of layoffs in the Nisku region,” says Barbara McKenzie, executive director of the Leduc-Nisku Economic Development Association.
“There are companies that have closed. There have been significant number of layoffs from large companies all the way down to the small ones — people downsizing their operations, going from 80 employees down to 15.
“We don’t want to downplay that. (But) one of really interesting things we’re hearing is that the lower oil prices, though it’s affecting some of our companies quite dramatically, other companies aren’t really affected at all.”
There’s no question the downturn is being felt in some corners of the Nisku Industrial Park and adjoining Leduc Business Park.
From April 28 to May 1 in Nisku, Ritchie Bros. will hold what it calls its largest Canadian auction yet. More than 8,000 equipment items and trucks will be on the block.
“Right now, there is an increase in selling activity in Alberta because of a lower amount of work in general,” Ritchie Bros. Canada president Randy Wall said. But he predicted that Canadian and international buyers will be plentiful and selling prices will be strong.
Among large local employers making changes, Esco Corp. is closing its Nisku foundry in August, resulting in job losses for 110 workers. The plant manufactures steel parts for oilsands mining equipment.
Calgary-based Enerflex Ltd. is closing its Nisku naturalgas production and processing facility later this year and discontinuing its oilsands module fabrication business, also in Nisku. The company hasn’t said how many workers are affected.
McKenzie said some Nisku and Leduc businesses are sheltered from the effects of the energy downturn because they are not directly involved in the sector or have successfully diversified into other areas.
Some companies are hiring welders, machinists and other tradespeople who have lost jobs in oil and gas businesses, she said.
Other companies are looking at mergers and acquisitions or using the downturn as an opportunity to find new markets for their products and services.
Wally Taschuk, president of Camex Equipment Sales and Rentals, which manufactures and sells specialized trucks and other equipment, said lessons learned in the 2008 downturn have been invaluable.
The company started in 1992 with a focus on oilfield transportation, but after 2008 broadened its offerings to equipment for construction and other industries. A rental-purchase program introduced in 2009 is proving a good fit for the current business climate, Taschuk said.
“As you’ve seen in the news over the last four months, lots of corporations have slashed their capital expenditures. They’ve chopped their capital budgets in half or even worse.
“All of a sudden they may get a contract, but they don’t have the capital budget to buy the equipment to fulfil the needs of that contract. So they’ll come to us and they’ll do the rental-purchase option, and when they slip into the next fiscal year, then they’ll act on the purchase option.”
Camex sales have recently fallen 10 to 20 per cent. The company has had to trim its workforce, from 130 employees to 115. But at the same time, it’s building a 72,000 sq.-ft. sales and service centre beside the QEII Highway.
“These buildings are put up with long-term goals in mind,” Taschuk said. “We’re thinking about Camex for the next 10 or 20 years.”
At the economic development association, McKenzie said that after several years of “going down the highway at 200 km/h,” the downturn is allowing businesses to carefully think about future plans.
“Now that we’re doing 100, we actually feel really slow,” she said. “But that 100 is an opportunity to look at things, reassess them, figure out what your business model is, deal with your cashflow situation, control your debt, look at other industries to go in, refocus on your key business.” dhowell@edmontonjournal.com Twitter.com/HowellEJ