Trelleborg Growing in Canada
Ancaster-based Group Ready with Training, Technical Support and Service
For nearly two decades Trelleborg — a global manufacturer of engineered polymer solutions — has been part of the trenchless rehab landscape in Canada, and since 2022 that presence has only grown.
In December 2022, Trelleborg acquired Innovative Sewer Technologies (IST) and, shortly thereafter, it established its dedicated Canadian operations. Before the acquisition, Trelleborg’s products could be procured from manufacturers’ representatives.
Leading the charge since 2022, is Evan Stark, managing director of Trelleborg Seals & Profiles based in Canada. Stark has a long history of working in Canada’s trenchless sector, first on the contracting side from 2004 to 2019 and then with IST Canada prior to the Trelleborg acquisition.
“The acquisition of IST Canada by Trelleborg has allowed the company [globally] to expand its product portfolio and given a strong foundation to allow us to grow the business,” Stark says. “Trelleborg has a de-centralized business model, ensuring the business philosophy of a local presence [with] global capabilities. Meaning that our local team can plan and execute our strategy, while having the support of a strong global company.”
Based in Trelleborg, Sweden, Trelleborg is a global giant operating in 40 countries, reports having nearly 16,000 employees worldwide and provides a wide range of offerings across its three business areas: Trelleborg Industrial Solutions, Trelleborg Medical Solutions and Trelleborg Sealing Solutions.
Still in its early phases of growth, the Canada facility — which falls under the Trelleborg Seals & Profiles business unit within the Trelleborg Industrial Solutions business area — has four employees who are focused on sales, technical support and training.
Trelleborg’s Wide Range of Offerings
Based in Ancaster, Ontario, the main site in Canada includes full office space, a warehouse and an in-house repair center to service and repair its robotic systems and ultraviolet curing technology. Having this dedicated space allows the team to provide customer training and demonstrations locally; however, Stark notes that members of the team are often on the road offering its customers in-person training and demonstrations as well.
“With our wide range of products, we offer solutions to our customers who are involved in pipe rehabilitation of residential, commercial and municipal sewer and drainage pipes,” says Stark.
To say that Trelleborg’s offerings in Canada are robust would be an understatement. In addition to Trelleborg’s own product lines, the Ancaster location also serves as a distributor of other key pieces of equipment in the trenchless trades.
Blake Allman, operations and technical support manager, notes that Trelleborg manufactured products include a range of large and small diameter felt cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) liners, calibration hoses, mainline ultraviolet (UV) curing technology in the DN150 to DN1600 range, milling robots, inflatable plugs and packers, lateral sealing systems, spray coatings, mechanical seals for manhole chimney seals, internal joint seals (man entry size) and liner end seals.
“We are the only company in Canada to offer a product portfolio of this size,” Allman says. “In addition to our own manufactured products, we also offer a range of related equipment and materials such as ambient, water/steam and light-cured resins, LED curing technology, micro electric cutting systems, spray and brush coating systems, Picote milling machines, installation equipment, inversion drums, straight shooters, vacuum impregnation units, CCTV inspection systems and installation aids for large diameter GRP liners.”
Additionally, the Ancaster location offers full turnkey solutions to its customers with trailer and truck buildouts for CIPP lining and UV mainline curing.
Growing with the Market
“The trenchless market is steadily growing. Infrastructure is aging more rapidly than it is being repaired,” says Stark. “Our aim is to have a leading position in the market built on a high level of service, technical competence and trust with our customers and the pipe network owners. We encourage people to reach out to us to discuss any issues they may be facing with their pipe networks, or just to request advice on how to manage certain challenges.”
For this to be a reality, in the last year Stark says Trelleborg has made some key recruitments to ensure they can provide this level of technical support across the country.
One of those key recruits is Sean Persechini, who oversees technical sales and support across Canada. Like Stark, Persechini comes to Trelleborg from the contracting world. In his role at Trelleborg and based on his previous work in the construction realm, Persechini has a keen eye for the status of the trenchless rehab market in Canada, as well as global trends.
With growth abounding in the space, is there one sector or location in Canada that is seeing more growth than others?
“Overall, the Canadian market is relatively buoyant with municipalities, commercial and residential owners nationwide facing the same issues we see globally in terms of aging underground infrastructure [that is] exceeded or is approaching the end of its design life. Many pipes are starting to deteriorate, suffer from infiltration and exfiltration etc.,” Persechini says. “The demand for trenchless technology is growing due to the benefits of technology, such as minimal excavation, disruption to residential and commercial businesses, reduced traffic congestion and lower environmental impact. Regarding CIPP technology, we are starting to see an increased trend towards UV curing — compared to more established hot water and steam curing — which provides lower CO2 emissions and, in some cases, faster installations.”
Despite this level of growth, Stark says that his customers are still feeling the impacts from two years of COVID-related restrictions, global supply chain issues and escalating costs and inflation. If those weren’t troublesome enough, the customers are also faced with worker shortages. That means that even though there is plenty of work, they lack sufficient manpower to carry out the work.
Long-term Partnerships
“Our ambition is to create long-term partnerships with our customers. This means that we want to be close to our customers, offering them a high level of training, technical support and service. Our technology and materials are of a high standard and designed to offer reliable and long-lasting solutions,” says Allman, who, like Stark and Persechini, comes from a contracting background. “We aim to provide a high level of service and response time to our customers along with in-person training and support with all our products.”
It’s important for a company to offer its customers a quality product that will last and provide equipment to make installations and other aspects of the trenchless repair work as intended. But one of the most important cogs in this wheel is the contractor. While all members of the Ancaster team are there to address the customers’ needs, training is an area that Allman takes great pride.
“We are hands on with our customers from the moment they receive their products,” Allman says. “We provide full training and certification and will even support them in person on their first couple jobs.”
Stark adds, “It is important not just for Trelleborg and our customers but for the whole industry that our customers have success and their customers — the homeowner, municipalities, etc., have a renewed pipeline with a minimum extended 50-year design life.”
Mike Kezdi is managing editor of Trenchless Technology Canada.
