Industry Sectors in Manitoba: Diverse, Dynamic & Energetic

Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

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Sector Highlights
Capabilities
Competitive Strengths
Trends
Key Players
Related Links
Contacts

Bus manufacturing Click to enlarge 50 KB

Sector Structure

Size: The value of 2006 shipments was approximately $2.4 billion. Total employment is approximately 9,177. (This does not include aerospace manufacturing, which is summarized in a separate document.)

Dominant Activities:

Bus manufacture (inter-city coaches and transit vehicles) is the predominant activity, followed by the manufacture of other vehicle types including: motorhomes, fire engines, step vans and a wide range of semi-trailers. All these products are sold on a North American-wide basis.
The industry is complemented by a wide range of component manufacturing operations that supply original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s).

Structure & Concentration:

A large amount of the economic activity in the sector is concentrated in the two large bus manufacturers (Motor Coach Industries Ltd., and New Flyer Industries Ltd.) which produce buses for the North American market. An additional 38 highly successful companies round out the sector. Twenty-one of these firms are smaller companies, employing fewer than 100 persons.
The industry is supported by a well-diversified infrastructure of suppliers of raw materials, parts, component assemblies and services to the OEMs.

Highlights

Over a third of the bus market in North America is supplied by Manitoba companies with Motor Coach Industries being the major manufacturer of intercity coaches while New Flyer Industries has become the largest supplier of urban transit buses.
MCI recently announced investment commitments totaling $40 million, which now consolidates coach production and engineering for its inter-city coach models in a single world-class, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Winnipeg.
MCI recently announced investment commitments totaling $40 million, which will consolidate coach production and engineering for its inter-city coach models into a single world-class, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Winnipeg.
Vansco Electronics designs and manufactures electronic instruments and controls for OEMs. Since it began business in 1978, it has averaged more than 30% growth per year.

Sector Capabilities

Original Equipment Manufacture:

bus assembly
motorhomes
fire engines
step vans
semi-trailers
components for military vehicles

Component supplies and services:

metal supply and fabrication
castings and machining
electronics
plastic & rubber processing
finishes (coatings, electroplating & decals)

Competitive Strengths

Manitoba’s manufacturing industries have contributed to the growth of Manitoba's economy both through the expansion of the province's exports (65% of total foreign merchandise exports are manufactured goods) and through continued investment in new industrial research, technologies, equipment and training.

Diverse network of suppliers with flexible capabilities
- Manitoba foundries produce a wide range of castings in iron, steel, aluminum and bronze. Metal fabricators and machining firms in the province have developed leading capabilities in producing short run parts in a timely, cost efficient manner.
- The province is home to a strong and growing plastics and rubber processing sector, with capabilities in injection moulding, rotational moulding and thermoforming, blow moulding, pultrusion and filament winding, extrusion and rubber moulding.
- Electrical components as well as advanced electronic systems and controls are manufactured by Winnipeg companies such as Vansco Electronics, Wilson Auto Electric and Phillips & Temro Limited.

Trends

To respond to the market’s requirements for high quality at reduced costs, Manitoba OEM’s have increased the number of parts and components that are outsourced to local component manufacturers, while minimizing the total number or suppliers. This increased value-added at the supplier level has reduced OEM lead times and handling costs, and has led to increased sophistication and manufacturing flexibility on the part of Manitoba’s component manufacturers.

Key Players

Contact Info

Mr. Barry Mitchell,
Industry Consultant
Manitoba Entrepreneurship, Training and Trade
Tel: 204-945-2473
Fax: 204-945-3977
E-mail: barry.mitchell@gov.mb.ca
Web: www.gov.mb.ca/ctt/