CURRENT ISSUE
| Cover Story |
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| Customers First |
| Profile | |
| By Joanna Miller | |
| Wednesday, 01 August 2007 | |
 Midfield Supply continues to expand with new services and locations throughout western Canada. The Midfield Group of Companies in Canada has seven divisions in various market segments. In 2002, Canadian parent company Midfield Supply purchased tubular goods distributor Nusco Manufacturing & Supply Inc., and, in doing so, more than doubled its revenues in one year. “Midfield was looking to expand our market segment, and they were looking to get larger,” Peters explains. Then, Midfield purchased Brittania Industries in 2004 and Tubular Sales and Service in 2006. Majority ownership in the Midfield Group of Companies was purchased in June 2005, by Tulsa, Okla.-based Red Man Pipe & Supply. “It’s been a very positive transition period where we’ve added companies that have made Midfield stronger,” John Nash, marketing and alliances manager, says. “We now have the ability to offer more products than we ever have before. This allows us to stand out among our competitors. We’ve had a lot of diversification here in the last four to five years, as well.” Midfield can now access new segments of the market. For example, in addition to supplying pipe, valves and fittings, Midfield now offers support for oil and gas drilling, completions, production and facilities work. “We have been able to diversify our portfolio,” Peters says, “allowing customers the option of one-stop-shopping service.” Market Expansion The company continues to expand within the marketplace. Midfield recently opened a division in the heavy oil regions of western Canada, adding to the 68 locations it already operates throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia and giving the Midfield Group of Companies the most extensive geographic coverage in the Canadian oilfield supply industry, Peters says. “Right now, the market is showing signs of softening,” Peters says. “Everyone, including Midfield, has been operating at full capacity for several years now. [This year] is taking shape as a correction year in our industry in western Canada. “Our challenge is to be proactive with our products and inventories. Being proactive means Midfield will place a greater emphasis on forecasting to help manage and optimize [our] inventories.” The company plans to continue its expansion into the market with new locations throughout western Canada. The Midfield Group of Companies grew approximately 40 percent in 2005 and approximately 20 percent in 2006. Peters says the company expects to maintain its current level of growth, despite an industry downturn, thanks to initiatives such as expanding into new markets, diversifying Midfield’s portfolio of products and services, and increasing key long-term strategic alliance agreements, Peters notes. Employee Ownership Midfield is a 100 percent employee-owned company, as is parent company Red Man Pipe & Supply. “That’s why people stay,” Nash adds. “People have a vested interest in working at Midfield. The culture of employee ownership has contributed to Midfield becoming the industry standard for customer service.” Most training of Midfield’s 600 people occurs on the job. “We put a lot of time and effort into teaching people properly,” Nash says. “We have a lot of longstanding employees. A lot of them have been here from the start. We start employees at the bottom and they work their way up. “A lot of young people see the growth and opportunities within a company like ours and realize if they hang in there, they can get into ownership of the company.” Following a short probationary period, new employees are given equal opportunity to gain ownership as Midfield shares become available. Peters says employee ownership is rare in the oilfield supply industry. “Most supply companies, at least the bigger ones, are all publicly traded companies,” he explains. “Because we are privately owned, we are able to give our store managers more freedom to make decisions at the field level, which could significantly impact our customers’ bottom lines.” Simply the ‘Best’ Midfield has been named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies by Deloitte & Touche for three years in a row, Peters says. Now that it is a United States majority owned company, however, Midfield is no longer eligible for inclusion on the list, he notes. “Midfield’s management has maintained a commitment to the improvement and investment in technology, personnel, and training,” Peters states. “Through this commitment, every system and department continually moves toward the goal of improved customer service.” The company was recently certified by the Alberta Association for Safety Partnerships through its Certificate of Recognition (COR) safety program. “We just achieved our COR certificate this year,” Peters says. “Safety has become a hot button issue and it is important that Midfield remains on the leading edge of our industry.” The Midfield Group With 68 strategically placed locations and 400 dedicated personnel, the Midfield Group of Companies continues to be one of the leading suppliers to the energy sector in western Canada, the company states. Midfield supplies a broad range of products and services lines of technologically advanced products, manufactures process equipment, offers installation, reconditioning, consulting services, and outsourcing of procurement/warehousing functions. “Our primary focus is to bring together a combination of employees, products and services to exceed our customers’ expectations,” it notes. “At Midfield, we define quality in terms of our customer’s needs. We make dependability and consistency in quality, delivery and service to the customer the hallmark of our operations.” In 2002 and 2003 Canadian Business magazine and National Post announced that Deloitte & Touche identified Midfield Supply Ltd. as one of Canada ‘s 50 Best Managed Companies. “Midfield’s broadly diversified product and service base sets us apart from our major competitors because we can offer further savings based on ‘customer invoice total spend’ across all of our divisions,” the company says. “This would include Midfield’s manufacturing facility in Nisku, Alberta, where Nusco Supply and Manufacturing division builds process equipment, or it could also include oil country tubulars when purchasing from Midfields Nusco Supply division in Calgary. The company’s approach to this rewards loyal customers who deal with Midfield across a number of its divisions.” Nusco Manufacturing Nusco Manufacturing, part of the Midfield Group of Companies, describes itself as a leading manufacturer, designer and fabricator of process and production equipment as well as atmospheric, pressure tanks and power equipment. “We offer a diverse product list of fully engineered, custom-designed products to suit any need,” the company says. Its products include: • Atmospheric storage tanks • Flare knock out drums • Well site separator packages • Line heaters • Metering packages • Surface condensers • Group test separator packages • Water injection pumps and skids • Field erected storage tanks “Nusco Manufacturing provides our customers with engineered solutions to match their process equipment needs,” the company says. |
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