A Business Point of View

Cherubini has Quietly Become the Largest Structured Steel Fabricator East of Montreal.

Cherubini Metal Works is a company initially started by two brothers, John and Jack Cherubini, originally from Italy in 1967. The company started as an ornamental railing fabricator and was bought out in 1972 by Renato and Danilo Gasparetto, who remain the owners of the business today. Over time, the company has grown to become the largest structured steel fabricator in Atlantic Canada with 600 employees (70 percent of whom are immigrants or refugees) and a number of other businesses in their group including Burnside Truck Repair, Classic Freight, R & D Cranes and Progressive Cabinets.

The importance of a company like Cherubini is its impact on GDP and productivity growth. Capital intensive businesses like Cherubini offer high paying jobs and their contributions to the local economy cannot be underscored. The company’s payroll allow contributes nearly $15 million to the local economy and, with the exception of steel, Cherubini tries to source all its goods and services from within the region.

Evolution Over Time

Since the founding of the company, the business has evolved from metal railings to become one of the three major bridge builders in Canada. At one time, it specialized in transmission towers for utilities and with the increased focus on the development of energy in the region, there is a likelihood that that expertise will be very valuable as the transmission systems across the region will have to be significantly upgraded to take advantage of all the developing opportunities for Atlantic Canada to become a net exporter of energy.

Cherubini was the company that worked with the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission to replace the middle lane of the MacDonald Bridge as part of its “Big Lift” project in 1996. The company was also involvement in providing structured steel for the Confederation Bridge and the construction of the Hillsborough Bridge in Charlottetown.

During a recent Insights Podcast, Darren Czech, the CEO of Cherubini, indicated that about 75-80 percent of the company’s business is related to bridge work.

The company is also involved in major infrastructure work that requires structure steel For example, Cherubini worked on both the Halifax Library project and the Nova Centre. It was the company’s bridge experience that provided a solution to having an unobstructive conference and convention hall without the use of pillars.

Company’s Differentiation

Over its history, the company has developed a reputation of delivering their projects on time and on budget. Czech indicated during our podcast with him that the company never says no to the largest challenges, always finding a solution for their clients. He also emphasized that that the pieces that were fabricated in their manufacturing facility “fit” upon delivery was an important company differentiator that was well recognized in the market.

Another interesting advantage for the company is the fact that it has manufacturing facilities with direct access to the harbour that provides another option to transport their products to destinations. No other structured steel fabricator in Canada has that advantage according to Czech.

Manufacturing Capacity

The company had its first true manufacturing facility in Burnside in 1978 which was known as Cherubini Towers and had 6,000 square feet of space. Over time, the company’s manufacturing facilities have grown to 300,000 square feet over 50 acres with a private spur rail line for transportation purposes. In a typical year, depending on the natural of the work, the company will produce 20,000 tons of structural steel from its facilities. Czech believes the company can effectively double that capacity within its current facilities but will increasing rely on robotics to improve its efficiencies and production. At the same time, the company expects to still double the number of its highly skilled employees over time.

The Impact of US Tariffs

The company is currently heavily dependent of the US for 70 percent of its business. The company is somewhat protected by using US as the source of its plate steel but recently lost a $20 million US job as a result of the client’s concern about the possible impact of tariffs on their project. Cherubini is now looking to take advantage of Canada’s major project program and Czech foresees great opportunity with offshore wind where his company could manufacture the huge bases used in the offshore. He also sees great opportunity in defence and the arctic, especially in the construction of jetties and wharfs.

The Future

There is a succession plan in place to keep the company in the Gasparretto family, with sons of the current owners, Mark and Michael, actively involved at a senior level in the business. The future looks bright for the company who already has an eye on participating in the offshore wind opportunity and will undoubtedly be involved in upgrading the electrical transmission infrastructure to eventually export our energy in the region to other markets