NANAIMO – Atlas Engineered Products (AEP) is a leading supplier of trusses, engineered products and building components across Canada.
Established in Nanaimo in 1999, AEP has established itself as an industry leader in design and engineered building components. AEP became a publicly listed growth company (AEP-X on the TSX Venture Exchange) in 2017 and since then has acquired six companies in BC, Manitoba and Ontario. AEP designs and pre-fabricates engineered floor joists, floor panels, wall panels, windows and roof trusses, and has been expanding their product lines in each of these areas in all locations. A recent example is their June 2nd announcement about an expanded product offering to include pre-manufactured wall panels at Atlas Building Systems in Nanaimo.
Amy Grewal is Atlas Building Systems’ Operations Manager
Helping lead the way are two accomplished women, Atlas Building Systems’ Operations Manager Amy Grewal and AEP’s Vice President, Operations Gurmit Dhaliwal.
Grewal’s career path started in health care in Vancouver, as she wanted to help people and families. She moved to Vancouver Island, and started with Coastal Windows, encouraged by Dhaliwal. “I realized there were parallels between health care and construction,” Grewal recalls. “Both are very stabilized industries and both are key players in society and helping families. The main reason I wanted to do this is because I am passionate about helping others and I truly enjoy that Atlas and my role allows me to do that.”
Dhaliwal holds a Business Administration Diploma in Finance from Vancouver Island University, and has over 20 years’ experience in the construction and truss industry, including 18 years with Atlas. “Construction was something that I fell into and immediately loved and enjoyed every part of it,” she notes. “This industry allows me to communicate from customers to suppliers to my fellow peers – which I continue to learn from every day.”
Gurmit Dhaliwal is AEP’s Vice President, Operations
As Operations Manager, Grewal, who has been with the company for five years, provides leadership and direction to all departments of Atlas Building Systems, including designers, production and administration. “I feel my responsibility is to be the key information keeper, the connection from the boots on the ground to the executive team to help develop strategies and initiatives for future development,” she says. “My position is awesome and fulfilling because I get to be hands-on with my team as well as engage in strategic planning with the Senior Leadership Team on the direction the company is going.”
She also emphasized the importance of her staff to the company’s growth. “We are successful because of the team of people we have; from our salespeople, to production and design – our team is passionate and great at what they do. We strive to provide the highest level of customer service.”
As the VP of Operations, Dhaliwal leads the development of the overarching operational strategy, for all six locations across Canada, but she is also responsible for steering the execution of that strategy. Because she has such strong roots in the truss industry, she is also able to move quickly down to the granular level to support and provide direction to her Operations Managers “to ensure maximum efficiency and productivity is achieved at each location,” she states. “I enjoy my position because it is a challenge every day, but very rewarding as it allows me to learn and grow. It allows me to lead and build effective teams, and I have the pleasure of constantly developing by gaining knowledge and interacting with our different operations across the country.”
The addition of the pre-manufactured wall panels to the product mix in Nanaimo is exciting as they can be used in small residential buildings, as well as large commercial projects such as retail centres, light industrial buildings, factories, hotels, etc. Pre-manufactured wall panels provide a cost-effective alternative to framing on-site. “The expansion of our product line in BC has been extremely well received”, explains AEP CEO & President Dirk Maritz. AEP expects its newly installed and commissioned plant to be ready for the first wall panel products by the last two weeks of June 2020.
www.atlasengineeredproducts.com