A local company has just become multinational.
The BID Group of Companies started two generations ago in Vanderhoof, has grown to be a conglomerate of companies still based primarily in the hometown of the founding Fehr family, although it also has significant holdings in Prince George.
Its various branches include equipment and engineering firms and they primarily do business building and maintaining sawmills and energy plants.
In spring of this year, BID became a national company when it purchased Quebec-based Comact Equipment Inc.
This past week, BID-Comact crossed the border to do some heavy industry shopping. The company cut the ribbon on a sprawling warehouse complex in St. George, South Carolina that will act as its base of operations on the Eastern Seaboard. BID bought the property in late summer and it is now doing business as a manufacturing centre for the sawmilling industry, a staple part of the eastern U.S.'s economy.
BID CEO Brian Fehr said the location has good proximity to existing mills and the price was affordable.
"This allows us the ability to sell more volume from all shops as this gets us more customer base," he said.
BID officials likened St. George to Vanderhoof, a small town of 2,100 with a strong grasp on industry. Its economy suffered heavily during the global fiscal crisis but, said mayor Ann Johnston, the BID-Comact investment of about $3 million was a sign of turning fortunes.
Johnston called the arrival of BID-Comact there "a silver lining, a light for us at the end of an economic downturn and certainly a dawn of a new day in St. George and the entire area."
During the ceremonies leading up to the ribbon-cutting, Johnston said she had confidence in BID's company track record.
Fehr told The Citizen he found the St. George and South Carolina governance attitude to be "business friendly" and "much easier" than either B.C. or Quebec in the formation of the deal. And while Canada struggles with a population squeeze on top of a demographic shift, "we are actually finding access to labour and materials easier [in St. George] than in Canada."
St. George is located strategically close to rail, road and Atlantic shipping options.
