Doepker's Reasons Doubted

Wednesday, August 24, 2005 04:01 AM

Doepker Industries decided NOT to set up a trailer manufacturing plant in Prince George because this city didn't have the required skilled labour force needed. That is the reason cited by Initiatives Prince George President Gerry Offet, for Doepker's decision to set up camp in Salmon Arm .

According to Offet, Doepker needed to hire 135 welders and metal fabricators this fall and we simply couldn't fill the bill.

The reason doesn't match up with what the city of Salmon Arm is boasting. According to a news release celebrating the landing of the new manufacturing plant, Salmon Arm states the Doepker plant will hire 36 production people this fall, and 8 management types. It is hoped the employment numbers will increase to 50 by the end of the year, with an ultimate total employee count of 100 to 120 people.

The President of Doepker says there were four key reasons why they chose Salmon Arm:
1. Proximity to markets ( Salmon Arm is 467 km from Vancouver or 5hrs / P.G is 786 Kms or 8 1/2 hrs away)
2. Cost of business operations
3. Infrastructure
4. Access to an existing skilled labour force.

One would be hard pressed to see how Salmon Arm, a community of 16,000 could have a larger pool of skilled labour than P.G which has a population of 77,000.

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Posted on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 04:01 AM in News by Elaine Macdonald

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Comments

Posted by: rock on August 24 2005 7:16 AM

It's a good thing we have ol Gerry Offett and the rest of the crew at Initiatives P.G.in our corner.Hey Gerry,great job bud,take the rest of the year off.If we couldn't get a bunch of welders and fabricator's for Doepker,what is the status of Ainsworth's OSB plant?
ROCK

Posted by: localman on August 24 2005 9:02 AM

Anyone else tired of being spoon fed answers all the time?

I think we need a response from Offet on this!

Posted by: gypsy on August 24 2005 9:22 AM

It seems to me a few of the people posting would be better positioned in Offet's job, and he could go back to the big city.
These people know this city, and know what would in all liklihood solve a lot of it's problems. At least they would step up to the plate and make serious attempts to improve conditions here, and get the show back on the road.
It is not going to happen if the "powers that be" remain in the drivers seats.
I am sure these postings are read by councillors.
Keep up with the suggestions, and some of them just might sink in.
They need help, and it is the people who are capable of assisting, as they have no blinders on to cope with.
Hang in there!!!!

Posted by: owl on August 24 2005 10:17 AM

BINGO!!!! ...

or is that BingoGate??

Why are we getting a spin on this story from the people hired by this city to assist us in attracting business here? Is this a case of wires crossed in reporting the information provided, or was the wrong information provided in the first place?

I thnk we need to get to the bottom of this since it does not help this community one bit by saying one thing, when another is the fact.

It is time people who work for our interests with our money are held accdountable for their actions and time that those who are on council who have the prime responsibility to hold such organization accountable do so.

Posted by: Chadermando on August 24 2005 4:14 PM

Put it this way the market for Doepeker's $250,000 trailers IS Prince George. We are the ones buying their chip trailers, and hog dumper trailers, and lumber hauling trailers, and sawdust moving floor trailers.

The PG service area I would guess is more than half their market. If this plant puts out 65 units a year as they claim it will then that would mean 2/3'rds of their trailers are likely to be sold in Prince George.

The skilled labour force is a lie and used to save face for Initiatives PG. I know of many welders and fabricators out of work or working in Alberta that would gladly return. Guys like Paul from Titan Industries here in PG could have that shop up and running in a month easy.

The real reason is number 2. And that squared direcly on Offet and Initiatives PG for not doing what it take to facilitate a new company finding what it needs to do business in PG. Offet probably tried to squeze them with some cheep responses and they turned around and went with option b. Clearly it was PG's to be had or they never would have made it public that we were in the running in the first place.

My take is that Doepker is taking the high road so as not to offend their lucrative market here in PG.

Our city administrators have a serious problem IMO. I once had a manufacturing company that was going to break ground in PG. I had the best equipment and was located 5 minutes from the city yard, and yet the mayor had a friend from out of town competing with me, and thats where my tax dollars went for a higher price and a greater inconvenience. I blame the city purchasing agent for going along with it. I think his name is Doug, maybe, but he definately blows when it comes to supporting PG industry. I wasn't going to fight it at the time because I had better things to do.

Posted by: Chadermando on August 24 2005 4:25 PM

Also the proximity to markets is refering to raw resources such as the steel and aluminum that would come out of Vancouver and is precisely why PG needs these kinds of companies in our city to build the critical mass for those companies to locate extrussion and steel plants in the North. Every major city has one and until PG gets those two things we will not be a manufacturing center. Calgary, Edmonton or Vancouver will get that business.

The sad part is we have a rail line from Vancouver to PG that should eliminate that problem when competing with Salmon Arm, but don't forget that Iniatives PG supported the sale of BC Rail and the ripping up of our rail connection to Vancouver for the Whistler Olympics. I'm sure that played a role and made it purely a trucking issue rather that a rail vs trucking issue.