“Mecfor has been able to position itself as a solution provider for the aluminium industry for the past 20 years,” Ms Eloise Harvey, President of Mecfor

Very recently, AlCircle team visited Québec Aluminium Cluster on invitation of Quebec’s Ministry of Economy, Science and Innovation. AlCircle Content Head Beethika Biswas visited the office of Mecfor and spoke to Ms Eloise Harvey, President of the company, on Mecfor’s present domestic and international business and future strategies.  Ms Harvey had done a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering followed by a degree in Business Management and joined the family run firm in 1999.

Mecfor is a supplier of both fixed and mobile equipment to the aluminium value chain. They operate from Quebec Canada and supplies to many brownfield plants in North America and other parts of the world.

Mecfor molten metal transfer by pressurization

Here is a brief excerpt from the interview:

AlCircle: Mecfor is an equipment supplier to the entire aluminium value chain starting from alumina refining to smelting, casting and secondary mills. What have been your strengths behind this year-old legacy?

Eloise Harvey: Being located in the heart of the Aluminium Valley in Quebec surrounded by not only primary and secondary smelters, but also by an alumina refinery (Vaudreuil) – Mecfor has been able to position itself as a solution provider for all those sectors of the aluminium industry for the past 20 years. We do not have a bauxite mine in Canada but we are lucky to be present in the entire value chain of aluminium in the Quebec region. Starting with Alcan (Rio Tinto) years ago, and then Alouette and Alcoa, Mecfor has been able to develop jointly with its clients new technologies to meet the needs of these plants.

 

Our strength lies in the fact that being so close to our clients, we could actually sit down with operation and maintenance crews and develop equipment that really reflected their needs. We manufactured our first units based on the inputs and, supported by our clients, we put them in operation. Once tried and tested in the Saguenay and Quebec plants and we are sure of the product reliability, the new product is launched on the export market. We are still applying this method to work with our clients/partners. We believe in develop locally, make it work well through performance and then start exporting.  We catalogue products hand in hand with our customers keeping customization in mind. Another strength for Mecfor has been the ability to, not only develop new technologies from scratch, but also to acquire them. For example the technologies we acquired through different companies like Vallée, Inventium, and Brochot over the years have increased the speed at which we position ourselves on the market with constantly upgraded portfolio of products.

I must add here that our strength and expertise is supported by the initiative taken up by the Quebec government in bringing together the equipment producers under the Québec Aluminium Cluster along with the primary aluminium producers and the transformers.

AlCircle: Tell us in brief about Mecfor’s line of products and services.

Eloise Harvey: We are a supplier of both fixed and mobile equipment  to the aluminium industry. We are the leading supplier of our specialised vehicles (haulers and casthouse vehicles) in North America with more than 85% of the market in the primary smelters and an ever-increasing participation in the secondary smelters. We are also world leader with our anode slot cutting machine in terms of number of equipment in operation worldwide, but also through our ability to cut slots of 450mm with proven results. Finally, through the acquisition of the aluminium and magnesium Brochot line of products, we can also say that we are world leader in pot ramming machines with the largest number of installed equipment worldwide. Finally, we have crucible skimming stations, specialised finished goods trailers, complete rodding shops and ingot casting line, to name few other products. To add to it, we also supply some very specialized and rare equipment to the nuclear sector.  

Mecfor prototype autoguided metal hauler

AlCircle:  Tell us in brief about the latest technological upgrades that Mecfor has been working on to improve the aluminium smelting and casting processes?

Eloise Harvey: Mecfor has been constantly working on technological innovation in our product and service range. We have currently developed a game changer vehicle in metal transfer to furnaces that allows to reduce the dross generation by more than half when compared to traditional transfer methods such as the overhead crane or the crucible tilting vehicle. The return on investment for the client is impressive. With three units in operation in Quebec, we are now ready to start exporting this technology outside Canada. Also, we will be testing our new Automated Guided (AGV) Crucible Hauler as early as January 2018 in a plant in Quebec, as I explained in my first answer. Next year, we should be ready to start promoting the equipment in other parts of the world.

Mecfor pot ramming machine

AlCircle: Tell us in brief about your domestic and international market.

Eloise Harvey:  Mecfor has been very active in the international scene and exporting more than half of its sales volume outside North America (Canada and the USA) for the past 10 years. 85% of our activities are with brownfield plants, which are already in operation. With more than 670 equipment or process lines (rodding) installed worldwide in 35 different countries currently supported by Mecfor in Canada and in Europe (service and parts), we can say that we are truly an international business.

Mecfor ecumax system

AlCircle:  What according to you is the reason behind the curtailment of primary capacity in ex-China world? Has it really affected your business in last two years?

Eloise Harvey:  Mecfor as a company is in constant growth for last 20 years and we are celebrating twenty years of successful operation this year. Our main market (50%) being North America and the brownfield smelters, we have not been that affected, especially because our clients operate fairly new and cost-efficient smelters that are running profitably. As for the few older technology smelters that were closed completely and partially- we were not around when they started. We are a younger company catering to the new age smelters. With the secondary market picking up pace, where primary has been slowing down in the US, it doesn’t affect us too badly as we see much more business opportunities coming from the secondary smelters.

AlCircle:  Which international markets are you currently looking at for expansion other than the U.S. and Europe?

Eloise Harvey:  We are very active in the Middle East market through our own line of products and also through the product line of Brochot that has been supplying equipment to the Middle East smelters. Mecfor’s main objective in the next three years is to be closer to our clients to offer better servicing. We hope to visit our client’s plants on request and check the performance of our installed equipment through Brochot and advice our clients on making them better, based on our 20 years of experience in the field. India is another market that is expected to be moving fast in the next three years and we plan to explore that too.

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