Trade success linked to relationships: Drafting, Blueprinting firm penetrates U.S. market. (Thunder Bay).

Face-to-face meetings with prospective clients, even if it means traveling across the border to the United States from time to time, has allowed Bob Tomlinson to penetrate the U.S. pre-cast design market, and subsequently take his business to anew level.

Travelling to Minneapolis about five years ago, encouraged by the recent completion of an architectural engineering project in Thunder Bay, Tomlinson embarked on his first foray into the U.S. market. With an impressive portfolio in hand, he walked away from initial client meetings with three new contracts under his belt, and today about 70 per cent of his business is in the U.S.

Tomlinson, owner and manager of R. L. Tomlinson Drafting and Blueprinting Inc., attributes his success in exporting to his willingness to participate in one-on-one' meetings with potential clients.

"Americans are great people," Tomlinson says. "They' speak the same language, have the same currency, and they want you to go in, sit down, and talk to them."

He emphasizes that U.S. customers want competitive rates, but also the assurance that a supplier can do the work, and meet deadlines.

The Thunder Bay company won the 2001 Regional Ontario Global Trader Awards for International Market Expansion in the Service Category.

Tomlinson says he has always enjoyed drawing, and a high-school drafting instructor encouraged him to follow his avocation. A member of the Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists, (O.A.C.E.T.T.), he graduated from Thunder Bay's Confederation College in 1971, having completed a three-year course in architectural engineering technology.

He speaks highly of Thunder Bay's college, and in the past year hired three of its graduates. "(The graduates) have the background, and they learn on the job."

The company's services include AutoCAD drafting, digitizing and CAD overlay, plotting, blueprinting, copying and laminating, and training in CAD and architectural software.

Since its start in 1982, the firm has carried out work for mines, including Hemlo Gold mine, paper mills and hydro utilities companies. Other projects include bridges in Winnipeg, as well as many buildings and parking structures.

Starting in one room with a staff of four, he has expanded to two large sections of the same building, and his staff has grown to 12 and continues to grow, he says.

Five years ago, Tomlinson was contracted to do the drawings for 177 panels for a huge, multi-screen cineplex in Thunder Bay. Each panel was eight feet wide, 40 feet high, nine inches in depth, and weighed 12 tons. Although it was his first venture in pre-cast concrete detailing, all the panels fit perfectly, and the project's general contractor, as well as the pre-cast supplier told him there was plenty of pre-cast design work available, especially in the U.S.

"You should go after it, you can do it," Tomlinson recalls how they assured him.

Encouraged by their confidence in him and his staff, he travelled to Minneapolis, met with executives from three large-scale pre-cast companies, and came back with contracts. American business has continued to grow as a result of both strengthened client relationships and e-business strategies, he says. Detailing and design work are done by computer, and sent to the client via the Internet.

"The key is our employees," Tomlinson says. "They are dedicated, take responsibility for their work, and most important, they have fun on the job and enjoy what they're doing."

One of the biggest challenges facing his business is software costs.

"Licences are very expensive, new versions of programs mean constant upgrading, and maintenance is costly. There are a lot of programs, and they're all essential to the services we provide."

Tomlinson says he foresees further expansion of the company and adds retaining top staff will be key.

"It's good to keep growing," Tomlinson says. "If not, we'd get stagnant, but we'll grow slowly. I like to be hands-on, always keeping an eye on the business."

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