SPRING 2013

Happy Anniversary, Finning

Tough Team
Finning partners with United Way

Get Schooled
FINNtech comes to Keyano

Powerful Gift

A Prince George soldier leaves a lasting legacy

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A FINNING CANADA PUBLICATION PM #40020055

Contents

Spring 13

7
Columns & Departments 4 Finning Focus
Long live Finning

22
14 18 22
Finning at 80
Happy anniversary to us

The Groundbreaker
Valour Place donation; Dynamic gas blending; Coldest Journey update; New STARS choppers; Movember success; Test your knowledge of company history; A new Finning vet wins a prize

10

By the Numbers

Third-Gen Community Champs

Tollestrup serves Lethbridge, year after year

FINNtech: Get Schooled

A challenging new heavy equipment course comes to Keyano

30 14

26 30

Tough Team
Finning cares for the community with United Way

11 12 13 32

Yesterday & Today

e articulated truck arrives

The Power of Giving

A Prince George soldier leaves a lasting legacy

Operators Tips
Examine some old habits and develop new, better ones

Managers Tips
Praise employees at the right time and in the right way

Portrait
Meet Guido DAmbrosio

On the Cover

33 34

Bills Business
Flashback to 1935!

TIME FLIES: Finning is 80 years young

Count on Us
A dam good business

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Spring 2013

Finning Pride
BY HILARY ANAKA, FINNING EDITOR

As this company enters its 80th decade stronger than ever, I cant help but feeling a little humble and a whole lot proud

e Finning folklore started on my rst day on the job nearly three years ago. My boss at the time, Je Howard, had been with the company for more than two decades and had a wealth of anecdotes, embarrassing photos and many historical gems. Sure it was tough to keep the names, decades and branch locations straight after all I was still trying to remember my computer password and where to park but it quickly showed me the people side of this business and made me feel welcome in We serve people who the Finning family. e stories were remarkable are literally building communities and and impressed me, a born-andshaping the future. raised farm kid who values relationships and community. Mechanics who took planes, trains and automobiles to x a customers machine. A company founder who hired a local farmer to raise turkeys he would give his employees at Christmas. Loyal customers who invited their long time Finning reps to their family weddings. Cat fans who decorated their shops and tattooed the logo on their bodies. As Finning marks its 80th anniversary, I am proud to be a part of the Finning family. eres pride for the yellow iron that we sell and service incredible pieces of equipment that perform under the most brutal conditions. eres pride for the homegrown, western Canadian success story growing from six employees in Vancouver to 15,000 on three continents. A tremendous amount of pride also comes from our customers and the stories they have to share. From multi-generation family businesses to international corporations, we serve people who are literally building communities and shaping the future. But the greatest source of pride is my Finning co-

workers. e ones who go above and beyond the call of duty at work and in their communities. Co-workers like Finning warranty technician Steve Liu who volunteered for a six-month tour in Afghanistan with the Canadian armed forces and was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal for his service. Or HR business partner Colleen Fitzpatrick who is honouring the memory of her son Darren by leading a blood donor campaign to save lives. Im proud to be a part of an organization that works hard to do the right thing for its customers, employees and communities. Im even prouder to be a part of an organization that has been doing business that way for 80 years.

tracks & treads

Spring 2013

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SPRING 2013 Volume 54, No. 1

PUBLISHER Ruth Kelly rkelly@venturepublishing.ca FINNING EDITOR Hilary Anaka hanaka@nning.ca ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Joyce Byrne jbyrne@venturepublishing.ca EDITOR Mi Purvis mpurvis@venturepublishing.ca EDITORIAL ADVISORS Jeff Howard, Michelle Loewen ART DIRECTOR Charles Burke cburke@venturepublishing.ca ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Andrea deBoer ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Colin Spence PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Betty-Lou Smith PRODUCTION TECHNICIAN Brent Felzien CIRCULATION COORDINATOR Jennifer King circulation@venturepublishing.ca ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Anita McGillis amcgillis@venturepublishing.ca CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Deepti Babu, Robin Brunet, Lisa Ricciotti, Jordan Wilkins, Cait Wills CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS AND ILLUSTRATORS Buffy Goodman, Heff O'Reilly, Chip Zdarski Tracks & Treads is published to provide its readers with relevant business, technology, product and service information in a lively and engaging manner. Tracks & Treads is published for Finning Canada by Venture Publishing Inc. 10259-105 Street Edmonton, Alberta T5J 1E3 Phone: 780-990-0839 Fax: 780-425-4921

Dear Editors, I am Rollo from Ceccon Trucking & Excavating Ltd in Princeton, British Columbia. I like your magazine. In 1965, I bought a Cat 944A loader and British Columbia Telephone asked me to pull their cable laying machine. Heres a picture of the project taken on Highway 5A near Princeton. Rollo Ceccon Princeton, B.C.

Correction: In the Winter 2012 issue, we ran the incorrect picture on page 6. Above is the correct image of the Cat 3900D HaulMAX truck - the rst of its kind in Canada. The truck is currently at work in the N.W.T. hauling kimberlite, the host ore for Ekati mine's legendary diamonds. The owners and operators of the truck will evaluate it for safety, cycle times, payload capacity and more. Stay tuned!

Tell us what you think

Tracks & Treads would love to hear from you. Tell us what you think of the magazines stories, columns and look, so that we can improve it and make it a more interesting read.

Contents 2013 by Finning Canada. No part of this publication should be reproduced without written permission.

Send your comments to editor-in-chief Hilary Anaka by email at hanaka@nning.ca or the old-fashioned way to: Hilary Anaka, Tracks & Treads, Finning Canada, 16830 107 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T5P 4C3

PM #40020055

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Spring 2013

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Devastated by Fire

Dynamic Innovation

Devastated by Fire

Award Winner!

The Dynamic Gas Blending Kit is one of Caterpillar and Finnings latest offerings. A dual-fuel kit, it allows customers to switch from diesel to gas, or to use a blend of up to 70 per cent gas. How much gas the customers can use depends on the machine, the application and the load. But even at a lower percentage of gas, there are signicant savings. Theres been a huge demand for this kit, says Finnings product development manager, Ehtisham Anwer. Right now the kit is targeted to land drilling/production and well service application. We hope to expand from there. The kit allows you to use gas when its available, and it automatically modulates the mix, adjusting to the changes in incoming fuel quality and pressure. It lets your engines operate efciently on a wide variety of fuels, from associated gas to gasied liquid natural gas, while keeping power and performance steady. Customers were looking for ways to reduce fuel costs, reduce operating costs and reduce impact on the environment, Anwer says. Benets include signicantly lower fuel costs and emissions, with no impact to current service intervals. You can also maintain original engine emissions certications with the retrot kit. Call your Finning rep to talk about a complete package or a retrot kit compatible with your generator sets.

We know our people are the best and wed give every one of them a prize if we could. But some of them excel outside the job, to a different call of duty. Take Steven Liu, for example. He recently received a medal of honour from the Government of Canada. Now a Finning warranty technician, Liu was in the military where he trained and worked as an armored vehicle technician. He volunteered for a six-month tour in Afghanistan with his unit in 2011, working on armored vehicle recovery and repair. It denitely opened my eyes, Liu says. I learned so many things. Lius military unit nominated him for the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal for his exemplary service and high standards of work. The medal can be awarded to Canadians who have been nominated for signicant contributions and achievements during Queen Elizabeths reign and Liu denitely t the bill. Liu received the medal on December 8, 2012 in Richmond, B.C. in a special ceremony. He works in an ofce now, but Liu still rolls up his sleeves and gets the tools out with the army reserves on Wednesday nights and some weekends. He repairs military vehicles, many with Cat engines like the ones he found in the armored vehicles in Afghanistan. When I got my award I received many notes of congratulations and support from current and ex-military people who work at Finning, Liu says. Its a very supportive environment and there are quite a few veterans who served in Afghanistan, Cambodia and elsewhere. I really want to thank Finning, and all who have served, or are still serving with Canadian Forces as well people who congratulated me with words of support, Liu says. It means a lot. Actually, we really want to say thank you, Steven, for your service to Canada.

tracks & treads

Spring 2013

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Valour in Action
Supporting Valour Place was a natural t for The Cat Rental Store, says Rhett Nickerson, Edmonton branch manager of The Cat Rental Store (TCRS). We have a number of employees who have served in the Canadian military, and we wanted to be involved in this project. The project is the construction of Valour Place, a home where military personnel and RCMP members and their families can stay when they are in Edmonton for medical treatment. TCRS provided help in a couple of ways. First, it rented the equipment to the Landmark Group, the builder of Valour Place, at a substantially reduced cost. Second, TCRS was so impressed with the plans that it cut a cheque for more than $10,000 in support of the project. The Cat Rental Store ofce in Edmonton now proudly displays a framed letter from the Valour Place Society thanking TCRS for its donation of services and equipment that provided the society a cost savings of more than $500,000.

Nickerson was on hand to tour Valour Place when it opened in October, 2012. It was so impressive, he says. It was homey and relaxing, and had a very personal feeling. It wasnt like a hotel at all. Everyone feels better when they are surrounded by their loved ones and Valour Place allows military men and women to have a place to bring family when they are in Edmonton due to illness and injury. A games room and cheerful grounds mean that kids wont be pent up in a hotel room. It was just a comfortable atmosphere, Nickerson says. "Its the least we could do." Visit valourplace.ca to nd out about the facility and how you can help.

Lucky STARS
Safety inuences everything we do, says Hilary Anaka, team lead, external relations at Finning Canada. It was part of our motivation we wanted to help make sure a service like STARS is always available in Western Canada. STARS operates the iconic red helicopters across the Prairies, providing life-saving air ambulance services to remote locations. Finning offered its help to the tune of a $100,000 donation to STARS in support of purchasing two new AW139 helicopters. The rst of the new helicopters was unveiled at the STARS base in Edmonton on December 14, 2012 in front of 200 guests including crew, staff and donors. The second helicopter will reside in Calgary, with delivery expected in mid-2013. The AW139s are medically-equipped helicopters that will improve access to timely pre-hospital critical care in Alberta. They will have de-icing capabilities and will be able to y in a broader range of weather conditions, says Miram Moisan, major gifts manager at STARS. The AW139s will serve a larger geographical area and have a physically larger interior,

which can be congured in a number of ways for better en route patient treatment. The machines will increase the geographical area they can cover in the so-called golden hour, the 60-minute window in which patients can gain the most benet from access to acute care, Moisan explains. The helicopters may also be used for search-and-rescue missions. Companies like Finning are leaders, Moisan says. They positively impact our ability to provide service, helping us decrease time-to-scene and improve care. We are so appreciative.

www.nning.ca

Spring 2013

Skid Deal

Get your MO on
Last November, Finning encouraged its employees to let themselves go a little, by growing a moustache in return for donations that would benet mens health, specically prostate cancer and male mental health initiatives. The cause is known widely as Movember. We found that our guys really embraced the cause, says Hilary Anaka, team lead, external relations at Finning. In all, 121 employees participated on seven teams and raised more than $20,000. Four teams raised more than $1,000 each. Anaka notes that Movember is, like many successful fundraisers, an employee-led grass roots effort that Finning has thrown its support behind, employees have championed it as a cause that they hold close.

To celebrate spring, Finning is offering a deal, available until May 31, 2013, on skid steers, track loaders and mini excavators. At zero-per-cent interest for 24 months, plus a $750 credit on parts and service and a 24-month warranty on the powertrain and hydraulics, this deal is a boon to landscapers as they ramp up to their busy season. Cat mini excavators offer maximum hydraulic performance that lifts productivity on any job site. The Cat compact track loaders and multi terrain loaders can be congured with a choice of undercarriages, meaning they are suitable for a huge variety of applications. To get one working for you, call your Finning rep today.

Test your Finning History

1. What does the 'B' stand for in Earl B. Finning? 2. Who was Pat to Earl B.? 3. What was Earl B.s nickname? 4. Where was the original, 1933 home of Finning? 5. How many employees did Earl B. Finning start out with? 6. How has the company motto changed since the 1930s? ANSWERS: 1. Bartholomew; 2. his dog, an Irish Setter; 3. The Old Man; 4. a Vancouver freight warehouse; 5. six; 6. it hasnt changed: We service what we sell.
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Word from Antarctica

BY SPENCER SMIRL, EXCERPTED FROM HIS BLOG AT FACEBOOK.COM/THECOLDESTJOURNEY

Jan. 26, Crown Bay, Antarctica It has been 15 days since we all left Cape Town, South Africa, setting out to sea to begin the adventure of a lifetime. We arrived at Crown Bay, Antarctica on Sunday, January 20, and spent the night on the ship. The next day, we woke to a beautiful sunny morning. The sky was blue and there was barely a breeze in the air. Curious penguins were surrounding the ship; some were sunning their feathers dry on drifting icebergs, others were racing around the ship in the water. You could see the ripples in their wake as they came right up to the ship, just below the surface. The ice in the bay was too thick to proceed to land at midday. It was disappointing but with such fabulous weather it was hard to be upset. We decided we would wait for the Belgians to arrive later in the day to assess our landing from shore. I was so anxious to land. After a year of build-up and prep for this moment, to get right up to Antarctica, to see it in the distance, only to have to wait. I would say it felt like the hardest thing ever but Im positive I will soon eat those words. The Belgians arrived late Monday and contacted us on the radio. They were right when they assured us that, with the wind in our favour, the bay would be empty by morning. We have been fortunate to have such amazing weather over the past ve days. It has helped us to make very good time with our unloading. We might even have all the fuel transfer complete by the end of tomorrow (Sunday). It has denitely made it easier for me being a newbie in Antarctica. The two Cat D6Ns have been running on the Jp8 jet fuel for three days now problem-free. No noticeable differences. Operating temperatures are right on spec. I would have thought we would have seen some high temps, pulling to the top of the ramp leading down the bay. Even at 70 per cent engine load when pulling the bigger pieces at out in second gear it still doesnt heat up. It is nice not to have to struggle with keeping this

ice-specic tractor cold in the sunny coastal warmth. Hopefully it doesnt mean I will struggle to keep it warm in the frigid cold of the mountainous interior. We should be completely ofoaded in three more days. It will be another three to complete the assembly of our ice trains and a nal test for function and mobility, then the Agulhas will set sail for home leaving us to our madness. Soon after, we will set off on our 600-kilometre run inland to depot our fuel at the top of the mountains. With all this intense adventure, how will I ever return to a normal life back home?

Spencer Smirl of Peace River is accompanying Sir Ranulph Fiennes as a member of his support team to be the rst to cross Antarctica and raise money for the charity Seeing is Believing. Keep up with his progress at facebook. com/TheColdestJourney and nd out more at thecoldestjourney.org.

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Spring 2013

BY JEN JANZEN, CAILYNN KLINGBEIL AND MIFI PURVIS

By the Numbers

1933
The year Finning was founded

The number of original Finning employees

Con Gurney, Finning's rst mechanic

The number of Finning Canada employees in 2013

5,100+

85,000%
The increase in the number of employees

1969
The year the company became publicly traded

15,000+
The number of employees across Finning International

1989
When Finning acquired R. Angus, the Caterpillar dealer in Alberta

1,800
The number of heavy equipment technicians & apprentices

640

service trucks are in the eld

230
10

The number of employees that joined Finning in the Bucyrus acquisition

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BY KEITH HADDOCK

An Articulate History
A look at the development of some important iron, with the story of the Cats articulated dump trucks
Not every site needs shovels, rigid haul trucks and scrapers. When the project doesnt justify those capital costs, a eet of articulated dump trucks (ADTs) with an excavator may be just the solution. ese nimble, medium-sized haulers are a relatively recent addition to the earthmovers repertoire, gaining popularity in North America as recently as the 1980s. Available from 15- to 50-ton capacity, ADTs work on most earthmoving jobs today. In Europe, they have largely superseded the use of crawler tractors and scrapers. A lower initial purchase price and ability to operate at reasonable eciency when haul roads are far from perfect, make them attractive solutions for small to medium-sized projects. e ADT, as known today, was a British invention, originally developed in the late 1950s. Before that, contractors used agricultural tractors adapted to haul small earth wagons. ese evolved into two-axle HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE: The 25-ton D25B 2-axle truck was one fully-integrated ADTs, of a range of trucks Caterpillar acquired from DJB Engineering in rst of which was built 1986, its entry into the market. by Northeld of England in 1957. is neatly designed unit could carry 10 tons and boasted most features found in todays ADTs, including 180degree articulation actuated by two pairs of hydraulic rams. Several other British manufacturers soon followed with variously designed ADTs, but the idea was ahead of its time, few were sold and, by the mid-1960s, manufacturers discontinued them. AWESOME EJECT: In 1999, Caterpillar introduced its rst But a few years later, articulated dump truck with ejector body. The tradition continues in the late 1960s, the with todays 30-ton and 40-ton models. ADT concept was revitalized and enjoyed a second wave of popularity in Europe. New companies with advanced technology, better manufacturing facilities, advanced marketing techniques, and excellent aftersales service ushered reliable ADTs into the market. Among these was DJB Engineering Ltd. of England, which focused on a sole product, the ADT. e company launched its rst model, the 25-ton 3-axle D250, at the London Public Works Exhibition in 1974. An extensive line of 2-axle and 3-axle models with 6x4 or 6x6 drives soon followed, with sizes up to 55-tons capacity. DJB trucks used Caterpillar engines and drive-train components, and beneted from sales through the worldwide Caterpillar dealer network, including Finning. It was no surprise in 1986 when Caterpillar announced its entry into the ADT market by acquiring DJB design rights along with the Peterlee, U.K. factory, still maintained today as Caterpillars primary ADT manufacturing facility. e timing was perfect, as ADT popularity had already spread across Europe and was about to grow rapidly in North America. A decade later, the ADT would be one of the most popular types of machines in earthmoving eets. In keeping with Caterpillars policy of continuous product improvement, the original DJB trucks have been upgraded several times since carrying the Caterpillar logo. From 1985 to 1992, major Caterpillar input with updated technology transformed the original 2-axle and 3-axle DJB trucks through the B-series, C-series and Dseries. More improvements brought the E-series in 1995/6, including increased horsepower and automatic electronic programmable transmission control. In 1999, Caterpillar unveiled its rst Ejector body ADT as an option for the D400E series II. Its main advantages are clean discharge with uniform material spreading and maximum stability while dumping. A total redesign of Caterpillars ADT line began in 2000 with the initiation of the 700-series. e 725, 730, 735B and 740B (26- to 43.5-ton capacity) feature articulated and fully-oscillating hitch, three-point front suspension, electronically-controlled engines and transmissions, and modernized appearance. e 730 and 740B models feature optional eject bodies. Caterpillar continues to set the pace with the modern reliable electronically-controlled ADT, a machine type now considered essential in every earthmoving contractors eet.

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Tips

Set Yourself Apart

BY LISA RICCIOTTI

In your journey to be the best possible operator, examine some old habits and develop new ones

Once youve mastered the basics of manoeuvering your yellow iron, much of what you do on the job starts to feel like second nature. You get in the zone, your well-honed instincts take over and the job almost does itself. But are you sliding into autopilot, digging yourself into a rut? When the essentials are no longer challenging, its time to step up your game. What else can you learn to take yourself from good operator to a truly great one? at was the topic recently under discussion on a heavy equipment operators Internet forum. When the moderator asked the group for the top three things operators need to excel, replies initially focused on hard skills good hand/eye coordination, the ability to read plans, an in-depth knowledge of your machine and so on. en Digger1849, a 35-year operator-turned-generalsuperintendent, changed the tone of the conversation. I think attitude is a major part of being a quality operator, he remarked. Some operators continually tell me how good they are, but Ive found that the best ones are their own worst critics. ey constantly challenge themselves; theyre always trying to improve. DigDug from Kelowna quickly agreed. You have to be willing to open your mind to new things, he added. Never be happy with what youve done; think how you could have done it better. Take pride, but never stop learning. Or as DozerDan pointed out, Experience is good, but experience gained while developing new skills is better than decades of willy-nilly. Good advice from some seasoned operators. For another pros perspective, we asked Brad Nunn, Finning heavy construction and mining application specialist, for his three tips on becoming better, once basic machine control is under your belt. Dont be a know-it-all. Work together! says Nunn. Everybody sees things dierently, and whether an operator has three years experience or 30, someone else may have a safer, more productive solution to contribute. So before you put er in gear and roar o, compare notes with your co-workers. Modify your approach to include any great ideas you hadnt considered. Dont let
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pride keep you from learning valuable new ideas from others, because thats how you pick up new tricks of the trade. Plan your work, then work your plan. Once youve gured out the best approach, stick to one task at a time. Dont get distracted and jump around; nish one area before tackling the next. Nunn says this is especially important for track-type tractor operators. Dozers are meant to push with purpose, not wander around pushing loads here and there. If youre not working in a consistent pattern, then time, money and production are lost. Visualize your work rst to see where you can minimize movements; the fewer passes the better. And if things dont go according to your plan? Stop, reassess and make a new plan. Practice makes perfect, but only if you learn from your mistakes. Do your own JHA. ats a job hazard analysis. Some sites ask operators to ll in ocial JHA forms, but even if thats not required, do a mental assessment of potential hazards before climbing in the cab. ose hazards arent always obvious, Nunn points out. Something could be lurking above, below, or underwater. Or, maybe you dont notice an important change that happened on an earlier shift. Nunn uses the case of a $5.5-million mine mistake as a cautionary tale. e nightshift was doing a pushback, removing rock from above a main haul ramp to open up future benches. Halfway through, a 15,000-pound rock let loose and crushed a very expensive truck below. ankfully no one was injured, but that haul truck is out of commission, says Nunn. If the truck operators had looked up, they would have noticed the new hazard, one that didnt exist the day before. Of course, someone should have mentioned the new pushback project above to the drivers below. But nobody did. So dont rely on others; always do your own JHA. If you dont go home at the end of the day, then nothing else matters, Nunn notes. Being the best also means being safe.
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tracks & treads

Spring 2013

Praise
BY LISA RICCIOTTI

Provide positive feedback at the right time and in the right amount to create top performers

em Like You Should

If youre a manager, youre in the business of giving feedback. at might not be what your job description says but, as professional facilitator Grey Campeau of Campeau Learning points out, as soon as you become the boss, your role shifts. Foreman, team leader, supervisor, superintendent whatever your new job title, its now your job to get results through other people, not by doing the work yourself. And one of the best ways to do that is by giving and receiving feedback. Campeau believes being a good manager boils down to just two core competencies. e rst is the ability to delegate eectively by setting performance expectations, and the second is you guessed it the ability to give feedback. Its not a nice-to-have skill for managers, Campeau emphasizes. Giving feedback is how you grow and empower your people, what drives them to take ownership of their work. Feedback reinforces the good and also reduces unproductive behaviour by showing what needs to change. Yet feedback doesnt happen nearly as often as it should. It comes more naturally to some managers than others, but its a skill everyone can learn. If its dicult, Campeau suggests focusing rst on giving positive reinforcing feedback or praise. Its a safe place to start, because who doesnt love to hear that theyve done a good job, that the supervisor appreciated their eorts? Unfortunately, human nature tends to make us concentrate on what goes wrong instead of rewarding whats right, so Campeau encourages managers to develop the habit of catching people doing something right. ats easy to do with your high performers, but its just as important to verbally reward the Steady Eddies who generally outnumber the rock stars on your crew. People who consistently try to do the right thing are often ignored, Campeau reminds us. Dont overlook them, even if it means you have to catch them being partially right. Positive feedback motivates them to aim higher. If youve been stingy with praise in the past and more prone to criticize than compliment, workers may be skeptical of the new you and question your ulterior motives, wondering if youre just trying to butter them up and why. As wonderful as praise is, they wont take it seriously and/ or produce positive results unless you do it right. Until your catch-somebody-doing-something-right reex kicks in as natural, Campeau has the following four easy-to-remember steps for you to follow.
www.nning.ca

FOUR WAYS TO PRAISE 1) Be sincere. Nothing stinks worse than empty attery. You dont have to reserve your praise for huge accomplishments; its OK to applaud small steps, as long as your feedback is heartfelt. 2) Be specic. Instead of a general That was great! try to include a specic detail that explains the signicance of an employees positive action. For example: You really calmed that customer down. Because he didnt leave angry, you kept our $5,000 contract intact. 3) Be selective. Excessive praise doled out routinely, deserved or not, loses its impact. Keep your positive feedback meaningful by giving it out at appropriate intervals and levels. 4) Just do it soon! Anyone whos been around awhile knows that a reward is most powerful when its given as close as possible to the action that prompted it. Its good to have employee recognition programs and written recognition for HR les, but managers should keep praise timely. Praise good work when you see it, bonus points if its done in person, in public.

Next issue: How to give not-so-nice feedback. The Four Steps of Re-directive Feedback.

Spring 2013

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Proud Hearts
BY JEFF HOWARD

Finning Canada marks 80 great years in business, and looks ahead to 80 more
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ot many Canadian companies ourish for 80

years. Fewer still cling to the principles on which their founders built them. But thats the case with Finning. Like your 80-year-old grandfather, weve earned the right to smile with satisfaction as we reminisce over the Finning family photo album, so carefully curated over the decades by former Tracks & Treads editor Blair Nikiforuk and his predecessors. From these archival treasures, its possible to piece together a pretty decent understanding of the business practices that company founder Earl Bartholomew Finning laid down in the Dirty '30s, and to see how 15,000 Finning employees in seven countries around the world still safely carry the Earl B. torch the one ignited by just six employees in a dimly lit Vancouver freight shed in the depths of the Great Depression. In this piece, well overlook well-known Earl B. quirks like walking Pat the Irish Setter through the shop or ring people who arent employees because these practices, strangely, have not stood the test of time. What has kept Finnings cylinders nimbly ring after all these years are simple, hard-to-replicate strategies namely, above-andbeyond care for employees and a whatever-it-takes commitment to customers. Both practices can be traced directly to e Old Man, as Earl B. was aectionately known. Back in 1933, e Old Man borrowed $50,000 to get the business on its feet, after successfully securing Caterpillar dealership rights for most of B.C. At 36, he became the youngest dealer principal in Caterpillar history. We started with damn few dollars and a lot of courage, he barked during a mid-career reection. ere was no place to go but up. Up was a huge leap of faith. Amidst the Great Depressions devastation, which saw industrial production plummet 60 per cent from 1929, Finning Tractor and Caterpillar were new kids on the block and potential customers, struggling to stay aoat, were skittish about the new-fangled technology. It leaves you wondering whether Earl B. would have survived the Dragons' Den if there had been a 1933 version of the show to reward and weed out entrepreneurs.

Building employee loyalty

Despite the uncertainty, Earl Finning invested in people, hiring ve employees whod been working only part-time and with reduced salaries for the companys predecessor. Said Jack Rollins, Finnings rst ever parts person: "He put us on full-time at our previous salaries. I don't suppose anyone could understand our feelings about this or the intense loyalty this one gesture created in each of us. He had put everything into the company and if it failed, he was stone broke. But he had faith in the product and in us to make this tremendous gamble. I am sure it paid o in a way he could never have imagined and I hope none of us ever let him down." at strong loyalty and pride is still evident in todays employees. We spoke with Kerry Heaven, who works for Finning in Campbell River, B.C., as a parts chargehand, because we found his company identity card from 1979. (Note: He had a lot more hair then.) He says without any prompting that Finning looks after its people. Everybody is envious that I work for Finning. We are

PATRON OF IRON: Company founder Earl B. Finning, left, put employees rst upon founding the company in 1933. Hes pictured here at the Pacic Logging Congress in 1946.

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e Coldest Journey

bombarded with people who want to work here. When we had the wellness clinic here last year, the external person taking our information asked, How can I work here? Everyones so upbeat and positive. And if you do have problems in your personal life, you can count on the company to help you resolve the issues, whatever they may be. Ive seen it time and time again. An example, and there are many of them, are the employees who received help after all their possessions were lost in the Slave Lake re. Current Finning Canada president Andy Fraser, whos done fairly well for himself since starting in our Edmonton warehouse 34 years ago, says: Its all part of our caring approach. We hire people who live our values and its part of the legacy each Finning employee leaves behind. A current example is our commitment to safety. Weve seen fewer employees injured over the years as we build our safety culture. Weve got a long way to go, but at Finning safety is a value that trumps prots, every time.

BEST EMPLOYEES: Carrying the Earl B. torch, Finning eld mechanic Jack Major takes service to the eld near 100 Mile House, B.C. in 1955.

SHOW THE PRIDE: Founder Earl B. Finning builds company pride at the 1946 Bowling Banquet While most machinery houses in the early 1930s werent all that interested in honouring the top rollers. service, Earl B. made it the heartbeat of his new company; his motto was We service what we sell. Over 80 years, stories abound of Finning employees going above and beyond to care about their companies and I have always felt they help customers get the best possible machine for their particular application or to keep their machines rolling and productive. Early examples include service personnel cared about Finning doing well also, so when Im able to help them, its very gratifying. travelling to customers sites via sternwheeler, horseback and even snowshoes. On Just two years prior to the advent of Finning Tractor, one occasion, original employee Con Gurney didnt have the right part, so he made Caterpillar introduced a product that would change the one on the spot using the customers boot. Ho, hum. Just another day at the oce. industry the track-type tractor with a diesel engine. Randy McDonald, general manager of mining equipment management at Cat spent more than a Finnings head oce in Edmonton, started with the company in 1975 as a mechanics helper in Terrace, B.C. As Earl Finning invested in people, hiring ve million dollars in reand he developed his skills and started his apprenticeship, he full-time employees whod been working search unit development on the and news of appreciated the abundance of skilled teachers who worked part-time with reduced salaries. unprecedented fuel econalongside him. roughout my career at Finning Ive had omy savings of 50 to 80 great mentors all the way along. per cent spread like wildre, wrote the late Bob Ley, He recalls some sage advice a customer in Terrace once gave him. He told me: former advertising and PR manager, in his unpublished Im not always right, but Ill always be your customer, so make sure you look after company history. In B.C., Finning salesmen took the me. Randy took this early lesson to heart when he travelled to the Queen Charlotte story to loggers, contractors, government ocials, city Islands to troubleshoot the fuel system on an older 1693 engine in an o-highway councils, miners and farmers. e rst such engine o truck. the Caterpillar line was dubbed Old Betsy and is now Turns out, the trip was unnecessary the truck was simply out of diesel. e housed at the Smithsonian Museum in New York. customer came up with about two weeks of other work, but when I was getting ready Original employee Jack Rollins said: ( e new mato leave he told me: Dont dare write anything in your service report about the truck chine) revolutionized logging. With roads coming in, running out of fuel or youll never work in the Queen Charlottes again. trucks could be used instead of trains to transport logs. Randy kept his promise and he claims that what keeps him coming into the oce e tractors could also skid the logs. All of this didn't every day isnt just his custom-built Montreal Canadiens clock, but the satisfaction happen overnight but it was a steady progression. he gets from serving customers. ey pay our wages, he explains. Our customers

We service what we sell

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LEADERS IN TRAINING: Finning training manager Frank Davies instructs army personnel in 1942.

Industry analysts are calling the shift in technolOver the years, Finnings commitment to support the output of Cats massive ogy the biggest change in land development since the research and development outlay has helped the company grow. Randy McDonald Industrial Revolution. Incidentally, to mark the dawn of recalls the product line of the 1970s being about 12 core machines. Today, the new era, weve now trademarked the term operCaterpillar manufactures more than 300 products. With each stage of equipment tweeter, to describe the potential development, and in harmony with the service-whatwe-sell philosophy, Finning has been challenged to Finnings commitment to support the new wave of equipment jockeys. is technological revolution build the matching product support capability. output of Caterpillars R&D outlay could be as big as the radical changes But a commitment to training has set Finning has helped the company grow. Old Betsy delivered. Alex Docherty, technicians apart as the best in the industry, a tradiwho leads the Finning technolotion that started during the Second World War when gies group in Edmonton, explains that Caterpillar did a two army ocers made an appointment with Earl Finning. ey wanted Finning productivity study a number of years ago that showed that Tractor to organize a training program for operator mechanics in the armed servusing the machine control system AccuGrade in roadices. Earls answer was yes, and for its contribution to the war eort, the company building resulted in fuel cost savings of 43 per cent. received the Canadian Armed Forces Award, the highest recognition that can Technology like this changes the way our customers be given to a civilian organization. e training eort continues today. Finning do business, Docherty says. And Finnings commitCanada provided training to 2,000 technicians throughout the company in 2012. ment to support customers through the change is bullet proof. We will not leave a job site until we know the Heavy equipment opertweeters new technology is delivering as advertised. So what does the future hold for Finning employees and its customers? One Now thats a proclamation that would resonate with game-changer will likely come through the increased application of communicaEarl B. If he were here today, hed order secretary Jean tions technology, says company president Andy Fraser. He foresees a time when Hector to publish this tweet to all comers: Finnings all the technological advances weve seen in our homes and oces will also be we-service-what-we-sell commitment is in safe hands; part of the worksite. In construction, forestry, oil and gas and elsewhere, there theres no place to go but up! will be an app for that.
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COMMUNITY LEADER: Tollestrup came to the rescue when brush res struck Lethbridge.

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Lethbridges Tollestrup Construction serves the community members, new and old
BY CAIT WILLS

ore than six decades ago, Glen Fredrick (G.F.) Tollestrup made a decision that echoes across the generations of his family. He purchased a coal processing facility from Salt Lake City and moved it lock, stock and barrel to Blairmore, Alberta. It was a bold step and a signicant addition to his then-nine-year-old business, which hed started in 1940 when he bought out Standard Construction in Lethbridge, Alberta. Adding coal processing to a gravel crushing and paving company put the wheels in motion. e result is a company that does much, much more than build roads. Son Stephen took over from G.F. in the mid-1970s and, 15 years ago, the founders grandson, James (Jim to his friends and business associates, of whom there are many) took the helm. Jim shares the business in a 50-50 ownership interest with his sister, Mattie Murphy. e decision-making process of todays Tollestrups follows the innovative path of expansion that G.F. set all those years ago. e business has grown It includes 60 or 70 other companies, Jim says. Together, these are known as the Tollestrup Group. Its a pretty innovative group, says Lethbridge Finning branch manager Brent McDowell. He has been the manager of that location for the last four years, making his way there via a circuitous route and several postings through British Columbia and Alberta. Like Jim Tollestrup, McDowell is a generational employee. His father was also a Finning branch manager, so he recognizes and appreciates an organization that has its focus on family and its people. I asked Jim, What keeps you up at night? and his response was, human resources, says McDowell. Based on the diversication this vertically-integrated company has taken in the last decade, its no wonder. As the construction company has grown and evolved, Tollestrup has moved it in a variety of directions, including Saskatchewan and the United States, buying restaurants and hotels, where here high-quality customer service is a priority. We started purchasing Wendys franchises and grew into the Tim Hortons brand. We have many restaurants, including some in Fort McMurray, says Tollestrup, where the company has branched out into real estate, purchasing properties to provide aordable housing for about 80 per cent of the approximately 100 foreign workers who make up its fast-food workforce. Fort McMurray is a tough place to work and live because of the cost of living, so we got into real estate, he says.

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Providing aordable housing to foreign workers is a more common Weve been in Lethbridge for 73 years, and we are practice in large oil and gas companies, but its not typical for an orheavily invested in our community, says Tollestrup. ganization like Tollestrup Construction. It speaks to the dedication the We have the equipment, so if they have an emergencompany has for its sta. Without good people, a company cant survive, cy, they call us and we supply assistance. Its kind of a Tollestrup says, and the fast-food industry cant function without good value-add we give to the community. people. e majority of equipment that Tollestrup puts Its important to have superior sta representing a successful organizainto play is purchased at the Finning dealership in tion, but thats just one of the challenges Jim Tollestrup faces as he looks Lethbridge, where McDowell says he and Tollestrup at succession planning for the fourth generation of to take the reins. have a relationship built on quality and trust. My son is relatively e history young, but I want to pave between Tollestrup There are a lot of synergies between how Tollestrup a path like my grandfather Construction and did for my dad and my the branch goes back Construction is run and the emphasis both Finning dad did for me, he says. further than the two and Tollestrup place on quality people within their But he knows that each mens congenial busigeneration has issues that ness interactions, too. respective organizations, Brent McDowell says. the preceding one did Weve been with the not. We face challenges branch since before it regarding the demands of modern environmental regulations and the was Finning, says Tollestrup. e Lethbridge dealertight labour market, he says. It makes it that much harder to carry on a ship was R. Angus Caterpillar before it was acquired fourth generation. by Finning in 1989. Currently we have more than 100 But Jim Tollestrup is cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the pieces of equipment, and 80 per cent of those are Cat. industry. It is a tough industry and its only going to get tougher in years ere are a lot of synergies between how to come, he predicts. Tollestrup Construction is run and the emphasis both As Tollestrup Construction grows, it hasnt forgotten its roots. Still Finning and Tollestrup place on quality people within headquartered in Lethbridge, the municipality called on the company to their respective organizations, McDowell says. ey assist when a massive grassre broke out on the nearby Blood Reserve in expect to exceed expectations, much like Finning. September 2012. McDowell described Jim Tollestrups leadership e company loaned its Cat equipment to tackle the blaze, which burned as brilliant, noting that the company has evolved 4,800 hectares before it was contained. Jim Tollestrup says the city regularly beyond construction, asphalt and road paving an calls on the company in cases of emergency, which may also include heavy evolution that has proven fortunate for the commusnowfalls that require both equipment and snow removal expertise. nity as well as the family business.

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BY CAIT WILLS

We talk to the chair of the U of A's engineering safety and risk management

A Word from the Chair

TOP JOB: Gord Winkel has the road map for creating a culture of safety.

In late fall of 2010, my 25-year-old brother was killed in a construction accident. We dont know exactly what happened, and likely never will, but we do know that workplace safety wasnt part of the culture at his workplace. ankfully, there are people like Gord Winkel working to mitigate risks and assure the highest standards of safety in industrial environments. People make mistakes, but in an industrial environment, those mistakes can be catastrophic, says Winkel, the chair and industrial professor of engineering safety and risk management in the faculty of engineering at the University of Alberta. He is a former vice-president of Syncrude Canada Ltd. and has worked extensively to improve workplace safety in the oil sands. He is the chair of the Board Quality and Safety Committee for the Alberta Health Services Board and, in 2011, joined the University of Alberta Board of Governors Safety, Health and Environment Committee. An impressive pedigree to be sure, but most important, Winkel lives and breathes an expectation of keeping workplace safety in the forefront of the minds of workers and leaders alike. Leadership in an organization is an awesome responsibility, he says. Leaders are responsible to those who have a nancial stake in an organization. But leaders cant be in conict with moral imperatives the right things to do, Winkel says. In this instance, that imperative is protecting people. In order to do so, a leader needs to make safety an organizational value. at way, even when priorities change, these objectives wont get confused. At the end of the day safety is also good business. Winkel says it makes scal sense for leaders to establish and maintain an environment where there is engagement and reciprocity of commitment between the employer and the employee. To that end, Winkel has a road map for success in creating and implementing the highest standards of workplace safety.

1. Establish a vision. Leaders must supply values and principles of safety in the workplace. An example of that, Winkel says, is communicating that safety comes ahead of the job at hand and determines decision-making. It helps establish safety as an unwavering value. 2. Reconnect to safety. After they establish and communicate safety as a value, Winkel says, Leaders need to reconnect people with the basics of safety and how to navigate hazards in the workplace. People will appreciate electrical, mechanical and environmental awareness. Leaders need to help sta identify and appreciate the consequences of industrial incidents. 3. Create a zero-incident culture. Winkel recommends creating a program that has elements that reasonably target the objective of zero injuries. Extend leadership to the front lines, because we need a team approach, says Winkel. Enable people to take initiative. 4. Build a program. Winkel advises that supervisors set clear expectations and develop actions around them. Organise your training and sta in such a way that you can continuously develop both. Plan demonstrations, coach people in the eld and carry out onsite inspections. Back up theory with practice, he says. 5. Review your efforts. Next, Winkel says its time to review the organizational resolutions. But you cant manage what you cant measure, he says. Lagging indicators are injuries; something thats already happened. Leading indicators are actions and other measurable activities that allow you to see where inactivity around safety measures will lead. Measure both, Winkel advises, with the emphasis on the leading indicators, to mitigate lagging indicators. 6. Close the loop. Its time to establish a feedback loop. Take action on reporting, while recognizing good work and good achievement of the companys leading indicators, says Winkel. 7. Encourage participation. Go back to the eld and check participation, says Winkel. Everyone has to be part of the program. If the CEO walks through a jobsite and sees that litter needs to be picked up, or there are people without safety glasses, he knows that there needs to be a discussion with the site manager about standards and complacency. at transparency encourages leadership to live the safety values, while showing management and workers that the company is walking the talk. 8. Keep improving. e last step in creating a culture of safety, Winkel says, relies on continuous improvement. Todays achievements are platforms for tomorrows successes, he says. e best companies will tell you they havent achieved success. Rather, he says, theyre trying continuously to raise the bar for zero-incident environments.

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GO YELLOW: A challenging, Finning-sponsored course is prepping the next generation of techs.

GET SCHOOLED
FINNtech is like boot camp for a new wave of heavy equipment technicians being trained in Northern Alberta
BY ROBIN BRUNET

s a lifelong car buff, Penny Diamond

always knew she would be involved in the automotive industry. At the age of 18 she earned her automotive service technician diploma and found a job as a mechanic. And, as a lifelong Fort McMurray resident, Diamond, now 27, hoped eventually to cross into the heavy equipment sector only she didnt quite know how to do it. at problem was solved in January of 2012, when a radio advertisement informed her about FINNtech at Keyano College. FINNtech seemed right up my alley, so I applied, was interviewed in March, and the following month I became one of 24 second-wave students to enter the program, Diamond says.

She soon realized it required all of her stamina, concentration and willpower to handle the educational and practical work components of the 20-month program. I have a good knowledge of mechanics and plenty of work experience, she says, but this is still a huge learning curve. But Diamond wouldnt have it any other way. ere are lots of opportunities in Fort Mac for qualied people, she says. You couldnt ask for anything better. Diamond is hardly alone in her praise of FINNtech. Konnie Williams, who has worked at Keyano for 15 years and is FINNtechs program coordinator with the trades and heavy industrial division. She says, Its by far the most rewarding program Ive been associ-

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FIELD OF DREAMS: Engines that Cat donated to the program go a long way in training.

Caterpillar equipment, to meet the Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training ated with at Keyano. Were taking people as young as Examination requirements for heavy equipment technicians (HET). high school graduates and teaching them important During their tenure, students complete ve rotations of 16-week terms consistpractical skills in a very short space of time. e rst ing of both technical training and paid work: they go to school for two months wave of students graduate in October and, frankly, then work for two months, repeating that rotation ve times. At graduation, stutheir potential in the heavy equipment sector is dents have a Keyano heavy equipment technician diploma as well as 1,800 hours unlimited. of work experience on their resums. Kerry Cahill, Diamond good-naturedly says her FINNtech FINNtechs apprenobligations make her life and work before the ticeship program Projections showed that, in 2012, Finning program seem easy by comparison. As a car team lead, says the would need 250 new technicians for its mechanic, I worked one week on and one week intense degree of new facility in Fort McKay. o and had holidays, but at FINNtech you pretty education and trainmuch work nonstop throughout the 20 months, ing is vital to Fort she says. e intense pace has been dicult for McMurray employsome of the younger students to get used to. ers. e oil sands may be a great place to nd wellCahill points out that FINNtechs tough standards prepare students for a paying jobs but, too often, young people ock here in tough profession. For example, each student studies an average of three hours a the hopes of being snapped up, only to nd out there night, and they have only three weeks o every year. After the rst semester of isnt much call for rst-year apprentices, she says. classroom theory they go directly to work and discover what pulling shifts and ey wind up having to go back to school, whereas 12-hour days is all about. After that, they return immediately to the classroom, students graduate FINNtech with second-year apand repeat the process. prenticeship experience. Cahill adds, We have limited space and a lot of applicants not only from Fort FINNtech was developed specically to provide McMurray but the rest of Alberta and even as far away as the Maritimes. e stuskilled labour to the oil sands, but it has a precedent. dents in our program have been selected through a competitive process. While the Its similar to Finnings inkBIG Program, says classroom work is challenging with heavily loaded courses, we want our students Dave Scott, technical training director at Finning. to be successful and we oer as much support as we can. If a student fails an AIT Anyone who has graduated from inkBIG will or apprenticeship exam anytime during the program, they are given a second try recognize FINNtechs structure. As a partnership within three weeks. However, if they fail again they are withdrawn from the probetween Keyano and Finning, the FINNtech heavy gram. We always talk about the importance of not falling behind in their studies equipment technician diploma program provides and they get that. students with technical training, with a focus on

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90 per cent, which makes her a highly sought after potential employee upon graduation. ats an exciting prospect, she says. During my rst two work stints under FINNtech, I worked in the eld and helped maintain and repair Cat equipment that was being eld tested for possible purchase. For someone like me, it was a thrill to get my hands dirty on these machines and be instructed by Finning professionals, who became even more helpful the more curious I got. FINNtech continues to evolve. Last June, a long-term agreement was signed between Finning and Keyano giving Finning full access to ve shop bays at the Suncor Energy Industrial Campus plus oce space, yard space and wash bays. e shop at Suncor was underutilized, and under the deal Finning performs repairs and preventive maintenance on Keyanos eet of articulated trucks, backhoes and loaders, most of which is Cat, explains Scott. In return, our FINNtech students get to use the shop rent-free and become acquainted with what it takes to properly maintain and repair Cat equipment. Keyano's Williams singles out heavyweights such Scott is widely credited as FINNtechs founder, and his inspiration came from as Finning service operations manager Des Reardon. working for six years as a customer service manager in Fort McMurray. To give Des and his colleagues at the truck shop have bent you an idea of the growth in the service sector up here, I started in 1998 with 33 over backwards to share their knowledge with stuemployees on the Mildred Lake shop oor, and today we have over 300, he says. dents as well as provide us with technical know-how; Plus, the knowledge required to maintain equipment our Cat 797 being just they even sit in on the applicant interviews, she one example is huge. So in the spring of 2011, I put together a diploma proposal says. And Finning's oil sands senior leaders Larry for Glenn vant Wout, dean of Keyanos trades and heavy industrial division; he Gouthro and Brent Davis make it a point to talk oneendorsed it, then we went to our executive and asked for $750,000 to launch it, on-one with our students and promote the corporate and they said go ahead. All told, Finning and Caterpillar have committed over culture. Everyone $3.5-million in cash, course materials, tooling and wants these kids to equipment for the rst three years of FINNtech. succeed. Its the single largest post-secondary education Diamond has maintained a grade average Diamond is keenly donation in Finning Canadas history. of more than 90 per cent, which makes anticipating joinFINNtechs genesis strongly echoes that of her an excellent candidate for employment ing Finning in early inkBIG. In 2003, Finning and Caterpillar 2014. For my third donated more than $750,000 in equipment to in the oil sands. work stint Ill be at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Finnings Mildred ( inkBIGs original home), including an MT765 Lake branch, and I cant wait to be in the rebuild tractor and 13 heavy-duty diesel engines, to train a new generation of technicians section and see one of the big machines stripped who would be well-versed in the intricacies of Caterpillar products. down to the chassis, she says. Im hoping to work Its no secret that the resources sector overall is facing a huge labour shortage, for Finning initially in Fort McMurray, but after that which will only intensify in the near future as more people retire, says Cahill. who knows? e idea of transferring to branches Indeed, the inkBIG initiative was a direct response to projections showing that outside of Alberta is intriguing. In any event, I have a in 2012 alone, Finning Canada would need 250 new technicians for its new statelot to oer the company thanks to FINNtech. of-the-art facility in Fort McKay. Since ink BIGs inception, Finning and Caterpillar have kept the nancial support owing for the two-year program. For FINNtech, we renovated the Keyano THINK ABOUT HET shop space and some classrooms and, by November of 2011, we were interviewing students for the rst wave of courses the following February, Scott says. It took Find out more about the FINNtech program one and a half years to launch, despite critics telling us it would take a lot longer. at Keyano College. FINNtech is lean and mean: students are supervised by a close-knit team of four WEB: Visit keyano.ca/programs and select instructors headed by program chair Mike Simard. You have to be constantly on FINNtech from the alphabetical list. the ball to keep up with them, and quite often in addition to after-class study you spend weekends going over everything you were already taught the week prior, EMAIL: nntech@keyano.ca says Diamond. CALL: 780-838-6476 or 780-799-8604 Diamond has successfully maintained an average course grade of more than

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Spot light

It Sees All
BY MARTIN DOVER

VisionLink was the silver lining when thieves stole an Alberta companys loader
erty. e yellow iron was soon recovered and It was a heartbreaker. Brian Leer and returned to Sveer Maintenance. Tannis Svean at Sveer Maintenance, a Finning Its reassuring to know that VisionLink customer from Lloydminster, Alberta, arrived can provide coordinates to a machine that to a shift one morning to nd that thieves had made o with one of the companys newest addi- has ahem gone astray. But thats just one of the benets of the system. e tions, a Cat 938H loader. It was stolen from our system can track usage, fault codes, gravel stockpile, Svean, the company bookhelp you schedule preventive maintekeeper, says. It was a fairly new machine and nance and more. we gured that someone had loaded it up and As with the Sveer loader, driven away. VisionLink software comes with all But there was something the thieves werent new Cat iron, free to use for three counting on. e company had owned the mayears. After that, owners can opt to chine for less than a year, which meant that the renew. Techs VisionLink software system Caterpillar installed in View the eet at a glance and can also install the factory along with its plot it on a map, or check idle VisionLink on any older Cat or competitive free three-year subscriptime versus working time. iron. (Functionality is tion was still in eect. more limited on other VisionLink is a statebrands.) Once the software is up and running, of-the-art computer software program with owners can head to the VisionLink website and a suite of smart uses that comes installed in check on that machine and the rest of their eet new Caterpillar machines. VisionLink provides that has VisionLink software, too. accurate, timely and useful information about e interface is really easy to use, says Adam the location, use and condition of equipment. Komar, operations manager for Finning Tech Knowing that, Sveers Finning tech Chad products. You can view the eet at a glance, Chevrier checked the machines location status plot it on a map, or view it in tabular format. You on VisionLink. VisionLink plotted the locacan check the SMU hours, and idle time versus tion of the 938H using GPS just one of its working time. Komar says you can also look functions. at things like user alerts and faults codes that a It showed that the machine was on a rural particular machine might generate. road near Lloydminster, says Svean. We When its time to order parts, the system drove out there and looked, but we couldnt see can generate a parts list, which you can click anything. through to help put you in touch with Finnings e next day, Finning reps again checked parts guys. If its too much information for your the software system, which refreshes regularly. comfort level, you can contract Finning to watch VisionLink conrmed that the machine was still over the VisionLink info for you. Or, you can in the same spot, so Svean called the police, who prioritize the information that the program searched the property and found the stolen iron shows you. hidden in the bushes exactly where VisionLink And if you have a machine that goes on indicated. holidays like that 938H in Lloyminster did, It turns out that the culprits had been using the 938H to move around other stolen items that the location function becomes a priority pretty quickly. had become stuck in the mud on their propWhat is VisionLink?

Its a web-based solution that integrates production output and machine asset management for owners, managers and site supervisors. VisionLink is software that shows you your eet, regardless of make, in a secure, web-based application. You can nd out when and where your equipment is working. Knowing where your iron is lets you plan better for fuel, transportation and service dispatch. Your machines or eets hours, fault codes, and recommended preventive maintenance schedules are a mouse-click away. Find out more: nning. ca/Services/Online_ Services/VisionLink/ Default.aspx

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HAVE A CRUSH: Finning and The Cat Rental Store in Calgary crushed derelict cars as a fundraiser for United Way in 2012.

BY DEEPTI BABU

Finning has a softer side, and a close relationship with United Way that grows stronger every year
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hen I think of Finning, I think of big, tough diggers that my toddler is thrilled to see breaking ground. But a baby shower for teen moms in Edmonton? Really? Turns out Finning and e Cat Rental Store regularly hold or support community events by making donations of funds, time or resources to United Way, which in turn supports numerous charitable organizations and initiatives in the Greater Edmonton area. In fact, the relationship between Finning and United Way is one that dates back at least 25 years. Its been so long that its now woven into the corporate culture of both organizations. Finning supports the communities where it does business. It does this in two ways: employees pledge donations to United Way, and Finning matches these donations up to $1,300 per person, says
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RIDE ON: Finning employees participated in a 2012 motorcycle ride to raise money for United Way. Jessica Smith-Perry, campaign manager at United Way of the Alberta Capital Region. Its so critical to have partners like Finning on board for the support and help they give to our partners, she adds. And 2012 was Finnings and e Cat Rental Store's most successful year yet for its United Way campaigns. Craig Curran-Morton says there are a couple of reasons for this: leadership and employee engagement. Curran-Morton should know. Hes a project manager at Finning and spearheaded many of 2012s United Way campaigns.

When you do something to help, when an agency has the foresight to support that, employees realize: this is real, Cam Fraser says.
And executive leader at Finning also holds a leadership role at United Way, so strategic planning meetings for United Way campaigns can be seamless and ecient. Curran-Morton adds that leadership support came from across Finning and its many branches in 2012, which bolstered the support for the campaign to help foster success. Curran-Morton says Finning also listened closely to employees. Lots of people had questions about charitable donations, wondering, Where does my money go when I donate? and What do you need me to do? As part of 2012s United Way campaigns, employees were invited to presentations by discovery speakers, people who speak rsthand about their involvement with United Way. Speakers were asked to give background about United Way, explain what happens with donations, what was being asked of employees for the campaign, and how United Way has impacted them.
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RAISED UP: Representing Finning and TCRS at a United Way event are (Lto R): Sheryl Hobbs, Terence Harychan, Craig CurranMorton, Gord McDougall, Cam Fraser and Matt Stevely.

Cam Fraser, an industry manager with e Cat Rental Store, did 11 presentations as a discovery speaker. He described how, many years ago, his family beneted from United Way in a time of need; it helped give them the boost they needed to turn things around. Listening to a fellow employee candidly describe his personal struggles hit home for coworkers who attended his presentations. Fraser says, I had a lot of people come up to me later and say, Wow. You made me cry, even though it wasnt my intention to sadden them. But its important to convey the impact. When you do something to help somebody, when an agency has the foresight to support that, our own employees start to realize that this is real. As a consequence of his early experience, Fraser says, Ive been volunteering my whole life. To me, its an escape. Sheryl Hobbs, customer service advisor in Finnings Oilsands Central Services (OCS) oce, had an idea in September that turned into a very successful United Way campaign. She wanted to help Terra Centre, an Edmonton organization
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HAVE A BALL: Edmonton Finning staff raised cash for United Way in May, 2012 with a ball hockey event. are starting to make decisions about whether they want to work for or stay with an employer based on community involvement and social responsibility. United Ways reputation also helps Finning. United Way is well known and respected, Curran-Morton adds, so they are great for us to partner with because they already have such good credibility. To enhance participation, Finning has built-in initiatives to help employees volunteer. For example, employees at e Cat Rental Store can volunteer up to four hours a month on work time after letting their supervisors know. rough this, a culture of service becomes the norm, which in turn motivates employees to do better and give back. Were very proud of every person that gave, Fraser says. Many gave probably more than they should, from a nancial advisors standpoint. It makes me pull the sled harder when I know my employer is also giving back. Fraser adds. Its easy to do if you have good leaders and a company thats willing to pave the way. So the next time I think of Finning, Ill know that beyond its tough exterior is a company with heart and generous spirit. According to Smith-Perry, Finning has given over $4.1 million to United Way to date, making it one of the top 10 donors in the capital region. And as Finning Canada reaches its 80th anniversary this year, that statistic is yet another reason to celebrate. TOTALLY TERRA Terra Centre is a non-prot organization that aids pregnant and parenting teens in Edmonton. With support from people and groups, such as Finnings employees, Terra helps more than 600 young people cope with pregnancy and parenting each year. Photos and grateful words of appreciation for Finning can be found on Terra Centres Facebook page. Find out more about Terra at terracentre.ca.

HUGE SUCCESS: Finnings Lisa Nahnybida, Rachel Belyan, Robin Eddy and Jennifer Yue with the donated items for the Terra Centre. that supports teen parents and their babies. After learning Terra Centre needed personal health and beauty aid items, she dreamt up e Battle for the Bathroom and began a department-wide competition between teams of employees to collect items. Items were weighed for points, and items with little weight (like dental oss) were given one point per item. In the end, Finnings OCS oce gave more than 4,100 pounds of donations to Terra Centre, and winning team members received a day o with pay from Finning. e OCS team also had volunteers help with Terra Centres biannual group baby shower, held in December. OCS employees cooked meals, decorated the room where the shower was held, crafted goofy games, put together bags of donated gifts they even helped arrange a professional photographer to take holiday portraits of parents with their babies. Everybody had such a great time and commented on how ful lling it is, Hobbs says. It was so nice to meet the parents and babies, and to be thankful that a centre like this exists. eyve already asked if wed come back and do it again. Finning benets from its United Way partnership in other ways as well it helps with recruitment and retention. As Curran-Morton explains, Today, people
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Spot light
A new facility grabs the spotlight and serves the customers in Fort McMurray

e Finning Formula
BY JORDAN WILKINS

If location is one of the most important things, in the business world, then Finning has hit a homerun with its latest facility, designed to oer better capacity, manpower and the velocity to turn around service jobs that customers want. On March 6, the company celebrates the ocial grand opening of its largest facility to date, in Fort McKay, in the heart of Albertas oil sands. Jud Overton, oil sands operations director with Finning, says that having services located in Fort McKay is of strategic signicance and is welcomed by the companys large customer base in the region. What this site oers, he says, is an extended capacity for our existing footprint in and around the oil sands. It gives our customers increased access to service, where our current capacity has been limited. Now, well have the ability to meet our growing demand. Chad Slee, Finning's customer service manager at the new site, says that the opportunity for growth played a role in the size of the facility, as service demands on the company continue to increase in the oil sands. It adds up to continuously improving customer service. what emplyees would like to see from the shop. eir tips helped design the e facility was designed to meet a few needs. place with great workow and comfort in mind. Finning listened and delivered. First, it adds signicant capacity to oer service to e Fort McKay facility was designed with increased levels of natural light, meet the needs of expected future growth in the oil larger work bays, each with in-oor heating and its own crane, properly tted sands. And it dierentiates Finning as a world class reels that cover the entire bay and screens that show the progress of the curservice provider using cutting-edge technology that rent job, increasing transparency for employees and clients. tech in the new shop can oer. It adds up to better is facility is extremely employee-friendly, Slee says. From the lunchcustomer service. room to locker rooms to the shop oor, its a welcoming facility. If youre a Finning now has the ability to provide our cusmechanic, this is the place youre going to want to work. tomers with the exibility for quicker repair/rebuild Another signicant change at the Fort McKay facility is the new tool policy. turnaround, Slee Typically, mechanics are required to supply This facility is extremely employee-friendly, from their own tools and toolbox; thats not the says. We have Fort the lunch-room to locker rooms to the shop oor, McKay, the Centre case for this state-of-the-art facility. Finning of Excellence rebuild supplies not only the tool box, but 100 per its a clean facility. If youre a mechanic, this is the centre in Red Deer, our cent of its contents as well. is makes life place youre going to want to work. Fort McMurray branch easier for the employees, Slee says, and as well as Mildred Lake to service our customers. We increases the eciency of the shop. It eliminates time employees spend switchare the premier service provider in the region. ing personal tool sets to certain bays when shifts begin and end. e facility, which has been up and running since You can see that a lot of thought went into the facilitys design, not just from November 2012, features 16 individual bays that can the standpoint of clients and employees, but the environment played a major hold any size of Caterpillar machinery, it oers 24/7 factor with its functionality. service capability, and it will eventually employ upIn tune with many of Cats and Finnings principles, the Fort McKay facility wards of 250 members of the Finning team. features several green initiatives that include the recycling of 75 per cent of Although this site has been designed to meet the rainwater from the buildings roof as well as another water recycling system service needs of customers, Finning also took several installed in the shops wash bay. steps to ensure that the facility also focuses on the Were very excited about this facility, Overton says. is will ensure that needs of its employees. Finning gathered input from Finning can continue to meet the service needs of its present clients in the employees about how to oer their best service and region as well as the needs for our future customers.

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POWERFUL

GIFT
BY MIFI PURVIS

A young Canadian soldiers death has inspired friends, family and strangers to take action

emember the power of giving. Its a simple message and

the title of a YouTube video about a family that has turned its tragedy into an opportunity to help others. Colleen and Jim Fitzpatricks son, 21-year-old Darren, was on foot patrol one morning in March 2010, near Kandahar. A member of the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry, it was the corporals rst tour of duty in Afghanistan. He stepped on a hidden improvised explosive device and was gravely injured when it blew up. e middle child of three sons, Darren was close to his brothers and parents a dedicated family guy. He had more friends than most people could hope for and was renowned for his generous, giving nature. He loved team sports and was a proud Canadian and a proud soldier. He always wanted to help, says Colleen, and the military was the way he found to do that. Darren lost most of his blood that morning on the way to the hospital in Kandahar. Medics in the eld had alerted the hospital, brieng sta about Darrens injuries. When Darren arrived, 19 soldiers were already in the process of donating blood for him. Miraculously, Darren survived the night and the many transfusions. He also survived the subsequent ight to a military hospital in Germany, where Colleen, an HR business partner for Finning at Prince George B.C., Jim, and their other two sons, Mike and Sean, joined him. Every day was a medical miracle, and he received amazing medical eorts, Colleen says. He was awake and able to speak to us, to tell his brothers that he loved them. e family spent two weeks together a time well treasure, Colleen says but Darren developed an infection and his condition started to deteriorate. It was his nal wish to come back home to Canada, Colleen says. e family ew out on March 19 and Cpl. Darren Fitzpatrick died in hospital in Edmonton the following day. It was a gift to have those last two weeks together, Colleen says, and he knew he was home.

Colleen and Jim Fitzpatrick and their sons know that the gift, those nal two weeks with Darren, would not have been possible without the litres and litres of blood he received from donors. at they chose to become blood donors themselves is perhaps not surprising. But that they chose to share their story widely and champion the cause is a gesture that has touched peoples hearts. Darren came by his generosity naturally. Canadian Blood Services has found valuable champions in Colleen and Jim. One of our partnership specialists, Amy Erickson, heard the Fitzpatricks speak at a Canadian Blood Services event in Prince George, says the organizations regional partnership specialist Kathy Broad-Scott. e event was called Honouring our Lifeblood, and Colleen spoke so eloquently about Darren that many people in the audience were moved to tears. I dont know if I could have done what they have, says Broad-Scott. eyve found a silver lining and chosen to give back in the face of tragedy. Working closely with Erickson at Canadian Blood Services in Prince George, the Fitzpatricks agreed to tell Darrens story on camera. Ericksons resulting ve-minute video, Remember the Power of Giving, continues to touch people and encourage blood donation. e Fitzpatricks joined Partners for Life, as have three Finning Canada regions at the corporate level.

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NOT FORGOTTEN: Its not my favourite picture, says Darren Fitzpatricks mom, Colleen, of the ofcial military shot a handsome uniformed man, unsmiling. In truth, Darren was usually smiling, as above with Colleen and left, with her, dad Jim and brothers Sean and Mike. Below, at base in Kandahar, Darren shows his softer side.

There are plans afoot at Finning to champion the cause and bring the regional initiatives together in a company-wide, umbrella eort. Any Finning employee can donate under Finnings Partners for Life membership. Partners for Life is very signicant, says Broad-Scott. We receive about 20 per cent of our donations from groups and there are 740 partner groups in British Columbia. Colleen estimates that, if she and Jim were to donate blood every 56 days (the interval that Canadian Blood Services asks donors to wait between donations) for the next 10 years, they will have paid back the amount of blood Darren needed in his nal weeks of life. She and Jim have made it a goal to raise awareness for Canadian Blood Services and she encourages people to donate blood in memory of Cpl. Darren Fitzpatrick, using his name or the registration number CPLD013469. e City of Prince George named a park in honour of Darren: Corporal Darren Fitzpatrick Bravery Park. Facebook memorial pages and the Canadian Blood Services clip available on YouTube tell more about Darren. DONATION, BY THE NUMBERS 60 The number of seconds that passes before a patient somewhere in Canada needs a blood transfusion 423,000 The number of active (yearly or better) blood donors in Canada 500,000 The estimated size of the donor base Canada needs by 2015 Hundreds The number of medical reasons Canadians need blood donations 89,600 The number of new donors Canadian Blood Services has targeted for this year 700 The number of hospitals across the country served by Canadian Blood Services 56 days The interval of time after which a blood donor can safely donate again

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Portrait: Guido DAmbrosio

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BUFFY GOODMAN

March 20, 1969, Guido DAmbrosio says without hesitation. Its the date he started working at his current shop, now owned by Finning. DAmbrosio, currently a machine technical advisor at Finning, attended machinery trade school in Italy and honed his craft in Germany. I like adventure and I wanted to see the world, he explains. After Germany, DAmbrosio set his sights on Canada, and eventually landed a job in Edmonton. All the machines were manual where Id spent most of my time on automatic, he says, so I had to teach myself. at wasnt the only thing that DAmbrosio had to learn. He spent his rst ve years in Edmonton studying English at night school. He continued to work in the shop that he loved, and grew to call the city home. He became a supervisor in 1980 before eventually moving into his current role. I manage all of our machines and make sure that theyre working well, he says. I like everything about my job. DAmbrosio, whose son also works for the company, isnt putting much thought into retirement. Im not sure when Ill quit, he says. I think Id go crazy if I didnt have this job.
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Count on Us

WE COME IN PEACE
For the Peace River Power project, Finning crews assembled a 12,000-gallon Southwest sprinkler tank and hitched it to a Cat 651 tractor. It was one of the biggest pieces of equipment ever brought into the province and was featured on CBC TV in 1963. The project took place over a span of ve years, from 1963 to 1968 and saw the construction of the W. A. C. Bennett Dam (called the Portage Mountain Dam by builders at the time). A total of 129 Cat machines worked on this project, including 40 D9 Tractors and 51 600-series wheel tractor-scrapers.

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