Lots of new visions have been staring in the city of Thompson as new establishments and devisions have arose. It’s exciting to see the life strongly maintained in venturing out of mundane routine to the forwarding future.
Though, A new development does more then bring forth anticipation for the local consumer, but also provides numerous jobs and establishes stability in current companies.
One such company is the local cement plant known as Multicrete Systems Inc. This ready mix concrete supplier has founded building constructions here in Thompson since 1991, in which it was originally founded here.
Georg Nickel, founder of Multicrete Systems, started out selling equipment, parts and supplies to the Northern Mines until eventually worked up enough financial backing to begin his own cement operations down below and ensure the mining safety though concrete halls.
This brought forth the company that spread into the rest of the community’s building needs, residential needs and eventually stretching into a now North America wide operation.
Here in Thompson, Multicrete has worked one of their busiest years to date, juggling between a handful of astronomical undertakings such as the Heart Bridge reconstruction, the new airport terminal situated at the Thompson Regional Airport, the R.D. Parker Collegiate High School Music Room expansion, and the Sand Fill project at the Vale Manitoba Operations Mine.
The Sand Fill project was on this years priority as the cement pad as well as the wall fill within the foam bricks required 200 yards of concrete, making it large enough for the Mine semi’s to drive through.
Each cement truck contains a capacity of 8 yards, which between 4 to 5 trucks on site this made nearly 40 trips back and forth from the plant to the mine.
To take into consideration, the typical square footage of a residential garage is 10 - 12 yards, When a site such as the Heart Bridge reconstruction called for 700 yards of cement pour over a corse of a year.
When asked about the Bridge, Branch Manager; Justin Knockaert actually said the difficult part was not the ‘amount’ of cement needed, but rather the grade and extra quality that was demanded for the assignment.
When such quality is required, the specs are sent to a lab Globally to be approved, then once honed testing through thural communication with the local Multicrete Company is approved, a sample is then made up in Winnipeg. From Winnipeg, the sample is trucked to Thompson where it is finally refined to it’s perfect state, ready to pour.
One such job that proved as no less then a monstrosity in scale has been the new Terminal at the Thompson Regional Airport, where the span of cement required 1,500 yards. This year they managed to complete all but 340 yards, in which must wait until the new year to fulfill.
“It’s not that this year was just our busiest year, we have had busier” Knockaert stated referring to the enormous water treatment plant (Thompson Water Factory Ltd) undertaking back in 2017 “But what made this year more difficult is finding enough labor after COVID” Knockaert said they did end up finding most the workers they needed without pulling any from Winnipeg, all available from the North.
With success reported for this year, things are already looking up for next year as rumor of a new swimming pool and aquatic center is making plans to reside in Thompson, in which chances of Multicrete Systems taking on the job looks promising.
Though with massive pulls from every direction, Knockaert said the company ensures dedication and devotion to the residential areas in need of a slab poured. “We don’t look at those jobs as small” Knockaert ensured, saying that he understands that the need people have for their personal projects and garage foundations are just as important to him as the contracts that come his way.
~Matthias J. Johnson is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Thompson Citizen. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
