Allan Equipment…PEI farming equipment manufacturer and global player

As part of the Forge Ahead campaign, we have been visiting manufacturing companies in the Atlantic Provinces, speaking to their teams and documenting their success stories. The videos we have produced can be found here.

On Prince Edward Island, we visited Allan Equipment Manufacturing Ltd., Canada’s largest designer and manufacturer of potato harvesting equipment. 

Allan Equipment has a great success story that many entrepreneurs can learn from. 

Trent Cousins who is a Partner with Allan Equipment spoke to us about their decision to implement robotic technology in their facility. Allan Equipment thought they would need to produce tens of thousands of widgets for a robot to pay for itself and make the significant investment worthwhile.

The company needed to determine who they were going to be and set precedent for what they wanted to be known for, and felt this type of technology could establish them on the global stage.

The robot welder implemented was very efficient and consistent in quality and despite misconceptions in the market, the robot did not result in job losses. In fact, Allan Equipment had to hire between 1-4 additional employees per robot. 

Before jumping in and making this decision, the management team did their homework and toured 12-15 factories around the world that are using robotic technology. This saved the company from making a lot of mistakes. 

Allan Equipment has become known as a centre of excellence and now has demand from around the world.