A blast of hot air greeted Dan Sylvestre as he opened the double doors of Muenster Powder Coating's industrial oven. Out of the heat and darkness of the oven came a long rack of black clamps and rails, the building blocks of a portable stage.
Once the pieces cooled they would be sent off to Staging Canadell, a business in Humboldt. From there, it would be off to some location in North America, but not before getting that last critical touch-up at Dan and Jan Sylvestre's powder coating business, one of thousands of manufacturers being celebrated during Saskatchewan Manufacturing Week, Nov. 25-29.
"Manufacturing is a key industry in our region," said DonnaLyn Thorsteinson, executive director of the Humboldt & District Chamber of Commerce. "Along with agriculture, manufacturing helped build our region."
Located on a quiet street just north of St. Peter's College, Muenster Powder Coating was founded by the husband-and-wife team of Dan and Jan five years ago. Both former teachers, they gave up the classroom for the business of powder coating, one that is still relatively unknown.
"Everybody owns something that's been powder coated, they just don't know it," said Dan.
Powder coating is one of the final steps in the manufacturing process and consists of spraying a surface with a coat of powder that serves two main purposes: it looks good and it protects surfaces from rust, corrosion and other dangers and increases the product's lifespan.
With help from Scott, their one full-time employee, Dan and Jan powder coat a seemingly endless variety of products: signs and snowmobiles, farm equipment and those aforementioned staging pieces.
Along the back wall of their warehouse on Railway Street are three huge walk-in areas that represent each stage of the powder coating process. To the far left is the sand blaster, where a product is cleaned. Think of it like a chef prepping vegetables in the kitchen. Next to the blaster is the oven, where most surfaces are preheated before being coated.
To the far right is the powder booth, where the magic really happens. It is here that those signs and snowmobiles are cast in everything from basic black to candy blue. There are two coating machines; they spray a fine powder that looks almost like mist.
When you work around it all day, that mist sticks. Dan's face gives the impression he's just walked out of a coal mine; thin pink lines where the straps of his facemask were are like tiny streams winding through the black dust.
"When we opened for our first day, there were already products waiting here for us to powder coat," Jan remembered.
"We had already reached out to a lot of people and businesses so they knew we were here," Dan added. "It's been pretty steady growth since then."
One of their key clients is Staging Canadell, whose owners used to work with the Sylvestres.
"They're local and their quality is excellent," said Denise Seidle of Staging Canadell. "We work closely with them to meet our timelines. They're always very flexible."
They have to be, because those timelines are often very demanding. The staging parts that came out of the oven were delivered the day before and would be sent back to Staging Canadell, complete with a powder coat, within two days.
"We're happy with where we are in terms of demand," Dan said. He and Jan have considered expanding, but feel they have settled into a sweet spot between supply and demand.
There are only three full-time employees, but during the summer Dan and Jan have hired students to help out. They also get a little help in the form of their two sons, nine and seven years old.
"They're old enough to help out," Dan said. With a laugh, he added, "But they always make sure they get paid."
Saskatchewan's manufacturing industry employs over 27,000 people and set a record with $1.3 billion in sales in the month of September alone. Still, most manufacturers remain small businesses like Muenster Powder Coating. There are three employees and a small warehouse. It's on a quiet street in a town of 400 people, but that oven is running all day long.
