Atlas Copco Exploration Products: company of the year (51+ employees).

no mining headframes are silhouetted against the North Bay sky, but Atlas Copco Exploration Products has solidified the city's diversified industrial base as one of the pillars in its mining cluster.

In aiming to be a sizable and sustainable player in the mineral exploration field, Atlas Copco has grown organically through a series of strategic acquisitions. These acquisitions have enhanced its global market presence as a leading edge producer of mining exploration equipment, and also deepened its roots in North Bay.

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Strategically located near the great mining camps of Sudbury, Timmins and the Timiskaming region in northeastern Ontario, the Stockholm, Sweden-based industrial manufacturing giant has grown substantially in North Bay.

Certified to ISO 9001 standards, Atlas Copco Exploration Products engineers, manufactures and distributes core drilling equipment from North Bay, one of three production plants in the company chain that includes Marsta, Sweden and Wuxi, China. And the company has grown from 33 employees in 1998 to more than 80 today.

In seeking to expand its North and South American market presence, the company appeared on the scene with its acquisition of North Bay surface drill manufacturer JKS Boyles International in 1998. The company decided to consolidate its operations from Montreal to the Boyles plant on McKeown Avenue in the North Bay to improve on efficiencies.

Two years later, Atlas Copco sought to improve its diamond products business and bought Hobic Bit Industries, which is a major Canadian core drilling bit producer with in-roads into China. Their Vancouver operations were moved to North Bay last December.

Christensen Products of Salt Lake City, Utah, with their core drilling rigs, was added to the mix to bolster their American market presence and to partner with Layne Christensen contracting group, known as a world leader in core drilling services. The plant was moved to North Bay last year.

Today, Atlas Copco Exploration Products is the main production plant for Christensen and Boyles' range of underground and surface drill rigs, the Tuff Line of drill rod products and the Hobic range of diamond coring bits.

North Bay's exploration group owns brands such as JKS Boyles, Hobic Bit, Christensen Products, Craelius diamond drill bits and Diamec underground core drill, says Robert Gibson, Atlas Copco Exploration's financial officer.

The 35,000-square-foot office and production space serves as an assembly plant and machine shop where components are put together on rigs from parts suppliers in North Bay and from other area sub-suppliers.

"... We've got a production facility of substance," says Gibson. "We can sustain the business if the market goes all over the map" and the company is diversified enough to ride out the down cycles in the exploration sector.

Though reluctant to reveal sales and production figures, Gibson says to survive and thrive in this specialized and highly competitive sector, the company has kept itself "lean and mean." Part of its strategy has been not to over expand its factory and to keep its fixed costs constant while staying true to the company's mantra of being "flexible, agile, inventive and creative."

"You try to keep yourself quite small in terms of your fixed cost component," says Gibson. "Sometimes you buy the costume a little bit too small."

The company tries to stay "quick and fast" by constantly striving to get customized product out the door instead of letting it sit on shelves, he says.

"We also try to work closely with our customers so we know what they want, when they want it and where they want it, and basically build to their demand," says Gibson. "We try to keep a close ear to the ground on where they're at."

Already Atlas Copco exports product to contractors and mines in most Canadian mining camps and to mining regions in South America, Africa and Russia through their extensive global sales companies and distributors, but Gibson surmises further growth opportunities for the company lay ahead.

"We don't think the market is anywhere near the top. Exploration markets topped out worldwide in 1997 at $5.2 billion. Last year it was only $1.9 billion, so we're well off the top of the market."

What separates them from other competitors is their ability to stay true to their mission - "first in mind, first in choice, and do everything right the first time.

"We try to make sure the customer perceives you as being part of their business and that we are truly interested in making them better at what they do. That means fast delivery, adequate supply and good service. We work hard at that. Customer satisfaction is a priority."

As with any good corporate citizen, Atlas Copco supports local causes through contributions to the arts such as North Bay's Capitol Centre, and provides financial backing and volunteer spirit to the city's Heritage Festival and Kiwanis Music Festival.