Q. What is the official name of your company?
A.IFR Workwear Inc.
Q. What do you most want people to know about your company?
A. Supplying our customers with their coverall and winter wear needs, when they need it. Our goal is to have our client’s inventory needs in stock, all the time.
Q. Where is your company located?
A. We are located in Red Deer, Alberta.
Q. What year was the company founded and by whom?
A. In 2005 by Reg Radford & Erin Buckland.
Q. What is your company’s primary business activity?
A. Fire Resistant Clothing
Q. Are there important projects the company is currently a part of or has done recently?
A. Our customers are diversified throughout the Workwear industry. From oil and gas, to electrical to construction and beyond.
Q. How many employees does your company have?
A. We have 20 employees at the distribution center and on average about 200 contract sewers.
Q. Is your company expanding any of its operations or locations?
A. Yes, we are building a 30,000 square foot distribution center.
Q. Is the company changing any of its services or products?
A. Yes, we have added more embroidery machines to do all cresting in house to reduce delivery times.
Q. What is your company’s main strength or its edge over the competition?
A. We sell only through distribution so local service is available to end users and inventory for same day shipping.
Q. What new markets, clients or projects did your company attract in the last year?
A. Many new national distributors and breaking into the overseas market.
Q. What is the most challenging work/contract the company has undertaken?
A. To provide EDI & Ecommerce this will be implemented in 2013.
Q. What are the biggest obstacles to completing work your company undertakes?
A. End users not pre-planning their seasonal workplace wear needs.
Q. What do you see as your company’s biggest challenge in the next five years?
A. There are a lot of offshore garments sold in North America that do not meet the standards but claim compliance, thereby leaving employers open for liability issues. Employers are placing their employees at risk for a few dollars savings.
Q. Does your company have an anniversary or other landmark event coming up?
A. Opening of our new distribution center in 2014.
Q. What is the average length of time employee’s work for the company?
A. Our company is still young and growing, the three employees that started with the company are still here, another employee has been here more than 5 years, a couple more than 3 years and then we grew again and added more staff so we have several that have been here 1-2 years.
Q. What is your company’s safety record? What steps does the company take to ensure a safe work environment?
A. Our safety record is excellent. We try to ensure our space is as safe as possible by keeping aisles clear and having staff properly trained on the equipment they are required to use.
Q. Has your company been involved in any community projects or charity events?
A. Yes, we are involved with the Ronald MacDonald House, Red Deer College, Festival of Trees, Red Deer Hospice, Red Deer Curling Centre, Red Deer Gymnastic Centre as well as other charitable donations
Q. What is the address of your company’s Web site?
A. www.ifrworkwear.ca
