Transportation Equipment Manufacturing, Industry Sector Summaries, Manitoba Competitiveness, Training and Trade

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Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

Sector Structure

Size: The value of 2004 shipments was approximately $2,1 billion. Total employment is approximately 8,192 (This does not include aerospace manufacturing, which is summarized in a separate document.)

Dominant Activities:

Bus manufacture (inter-city coaches and transit vehicles) is the predominant activity, followed by the manufacture of other vehicle types including: motorhomes, fire engines, step vans and a wide range of semi-trailers. All these products are sold on a North American-wide basis.
The industry is complemented by a wide range of component manufacturing operations that supply original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s).

Structure & Concentration

A large amount of the economic activity in the sector is concentrated in the two large bus manufacturers (Motor Coach Industries Ltd., and New Flyer Industries Ltd.) who produce buses for the North American market. An additional 39 highly successful companies round out the sector. Fifteen of these firms are small companies, employing fewer than 50 persons.
The industry is supported by a well-diversified infrastructure of suppliers of raw materials, parts, component assemblies and services to the OEMs.

Highlights

Motor Coach Industries (MCI) holds over half of the North American highway coach market.
New Flyer Industries is the major supplier to the North American urban transit bus market.
MCI recently announced investment commitments totaling $40 million, which will consolidate coach production and engineering for its inter-city coach models into a single world-class, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Winnipeg.
Vansco Electronics designs and manufactures electronic instruments and controls for OEMs. Since it began business in 1978, it has averaged more than 30% growth per year.

Sector Capabilities

Original Equipment Manufacture:

bus assembly
motorhomes
fire engines
step vans
semi-trailers
components for military vehicles

Component supplies and services:

metal supply and fabrication
castings and machining
electronics
plastic & rubber processing
finishes (coatings, electroplating & decals)

Competitive Strengths

Manitoba’s manufacturing industries have contributed significantly to the growth of Manitoba’s economy both through the expansion of the province’s exports (68% of total foreign merchandise exports are manufactured goods) and through continued investment in new industrial research, technologies, equipment and training.

Diverse network of suppliers with flexible capabilities
- Manitoba foundries produce a wide range of castings in iron, steel, aluminum and bronze. Metal fabricators and machining firms in the province have developed leading capabilities in producing short run parts in a timely, cost efficient manner.
- The province is home to a strong and growing plastics and rubber processing sector, with capabilities in injection moulding, rotational moulding and thermoforming, blow moulding, pultrusion and filament winding, extrusion and rubber moulding.
- Advanced electronic systems and controls are manufactured by Winnipeg companies like Vansco Electronics, and Solectron Corporation

Key Players

Contact:

Mr. Barry Mitchell,
Industry Consultant
Manitoba Competitiveness, Training and Trade

Tel: (204) 945-2473
Fax: (204) 945-3977
Email: bmitchell@gov.mb.ca
Web: www.gov.mb.ca/iedm/

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