GC Custom Metal Fabrication Ltd.: Growing and Always Ready to Meet Customers’ Needs By Nerissa McNaughton
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C Custom Metal Fabrication Ltd., a family owned and operated company, specializes in rapid prototyping and production runs in custom fabrication and machining. “My father, George, founded the company in 1982,” says Darren Schmidt, who now runs the business with his brother Steve. “It started as a one-man operation and a couple of machines. We had leased one bay of a building.” The company grew quickly, and George started looking for a larger space. When the building he was operating out of went up for sale, he purchased it and steadily expanded into all four bays. It wasn’t just the company expanding, it was the range of services too. GC Custom Metal brought in CNC equipment and purchased another location for powder painting. Next, water jet and laser cutting machines were added. “We had to rent another bay for welding,” says Darren. “This brought us to three locations. In 2016 we
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Steve, George and Darren Schmidt. Photo by Kirsten Buyer Photography.
acquisitioned into machining in Leduc. Now we had four buildings.” Earlier this year GC Custom Metal consolidated the four locations by purchasing and renovating their 2503 – 84 Ave facility, and the family couldn’t be happier to see how the company has grown and developed over the past. “We build custom parts and components for our customer’s products and projects. If our customers require a metal component, and it doesn’t exist as an off the shelf item, we make it for them,” says Darren. “In the past we did a lot more custom fabrication for projects and one offs. We are now moving towards larger volume production of product lines and parts for OEM’s. Our expertise in fabrication and machining allows us to
GC Custom Metal Fabrication Ltd.