At Fortis we have really come to respect how much quality affects safety. 

Our Quality Assurance Coordinator, Ken Ross states, "At Fortis we clearly understand the correlation between quality of product and safety. If you aren’t in control of the quality of your product, you can potentially (even though unintentionally) cause injury or death to others. We’ve all seen examples of this in the auto industry when defects such as wiring issues caused fire, tires blew out and accelerators stuck causing several injuries and deaths."

Fortis understands one of the keys to success is getting employees to “buy in” on the shop floor. One of the ways to get that “buy in” is to educate your work force to ensure they understand what can happen when we deviate from the quality control processes that we have in place. If you have any kind of a quality control system in place, you know how important it is to: question something that doesn’t look right, document any issues (even if they are small), communicate between steps, take the time to double check or have someone verify your work, sign off the appropriate steps, have qualified person check along the way, etc.

Our philosophy has been “Think of the news article”. When disaster strikes the news reports are often cruel and misleading, reporters don’t worry about the small details of what really happened or whose reputation they are destroying. It’s bad enough that someone was injured or killed, now the ripple effect starts. If you consider the news article approach, you are more apt to take the time to double check and be very particular as to what you are checking and signing off.

We coach people only to sign quality control steps that they agree with, to add comments, to seek further explanation and bring issues to their Supervisor’s attention. For example, a welder finishes the last welds on a unit before it goes on to the next step in the process, he or she didn’t complete the welds on top of the unit and doesn’t like the look of them, the welder should sign “I didn’t complete these first welds on the top of this unit, I question whether or not they meet our standards. Please have our Welding Inspector and/or Supervisor re-check them and sign off.” If the welds were up to our standard, then we coach the welder as to how to meet them and (most importantly) thank them for raising the concern. If they weren’t up to standard this person may have potentially saved the lives of people, saved our reputation and kept us out of a news article.

Recap:  

• Quality will affect safety
• Get control of the quality checks on the shop floor
• Educate your workforce -Don’t sign off on a step that you aren’t happy with, ask questions, write comments, and/or ask for a second opinion, etc.
• Think of the news article approach.

For the second year in a row, the Northern Strands Group of Companies(Northern Strands, Fortis Mining Engineering & Manufacturing, Certified Mining & Construction Sales & Rentals), was invited to participate in Children's Wish Exile Island.  On March 10, 2017, The Children’s Wish Foundation challenged 15 local business and community groups to gather a Cast of 10 and take part in an action packed day of fun and friendly competition all in a united effort to grant 15 heartfelt wishes. Modeled after the popular television show “Survivor”, all the “Cast”-aways were sent to Legends Centre, Warman, SK to compete in a series of mental, physical, creative and strategic challenges. Each team was paired with a local Wish Child who cheered us on and inspired these brave competitors.

Here is a link to a story the Clarke's Crossing Gazette did on Exile Island this year http://www.ccgazette.ca/wp/?p=9125

The child we are aligned with this year for Exile Island was Aurora.   Her favorite movie is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2.  Luckily, this year's Exile Island theme was movies!  Her favorite movie is about food coming alive...Thus Team Meatballs was born!  Our team theme and costumes were based on the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 movie. We won two team awards at Exile Island. Set Design/team area and the one we are most proud of Top Box Office/most money raised!  See the pictures below of our time at Exile Island...

We are proud to say that for last 4 years in a row we have donated over $10,000 towards granting a Child's Wish!

Throughout the year we raise funds for Children's Wish in a variety of ways; Paper, pop cans, containers and batteries are recycled. Additional funds are raised through yard cleanup with scrap steel and other reusable goods being sent to auction. We have a raffle at our Christmas party and we have a separate intercompany raffle for 5 pairs of Rush tickets. The Group of Companies holds several fund-raising BBQ's throughout the summer. Employees are encouraged to participate and volunteer to help with the activities during the event. We contact neighboring businesses and drop off flyers in the effort to grow each and every BBQ. 

We also have a very unique way of giving back to the community. We use our Safety Training Ambulance to raise money at events like Craven Country Jamboree and other similar events. Our Trainers donate their time as first responders at these types of events. They offer basic medical care out of the ambulance. Any money we are paid is donated back to Children's Wish. Even if the event cannot afford to pay, our Trainers will still volunteer simply to help those in need.

Every year our efforts have helped give hope to a local family that needed it the most. We believe one of the key reasons we are so successful in encouraging our employees to donate their time is the connection we make with the child we are aligned with. By doing events like Exile Island you can see the difference you are making in the child and their family's life.  

We would like to thank Novatex Industrial printers for making our great banner and The Cherry On Top - Sweet Treats by Erin for making our creative cupcakes.  See pictures below.

The past couple years have been busy ones for Fortis.   As a mining subcontractor and contractor, we have successfully completed a number of projects for local potash mines in Saskatchewan.  We are particularly proud of the mine service work we have completed at PCS Rocanville.

As part of Rocanville West Expansion in December of 2015, Fortis was contracted to complete the following mine service work:

• Installation of mine hoist head ropes, balance ropes, guide ropes and rub ropes in the PCS Rocanville Scissor Creek new service shaft. 
• Installation and commissioning of the new mine shaft service cage and counterweight.  

In December 2016, Fortis completed work on the PCS Rocanville No. 2 shaft conversion project.  For this particular mining service job the scope of work included: 

• Removal of existing mine hoist ropes.
• Replacement of existing shaft bottom steel and tie in to new shaft tower structure, as part of the conversion from a mine service shaft to mine production shaft.
• Installation of the new production shaft hoist head ropes, balance ropes, guide ropes and rub ropes as part of the conversion from a mine service shaft to mine production shaft.
• Installation and commissioning of new 50 Ton production skips.

For both projects, Fortis was instrumental in the development of methodologies and safety procedures.  As an example, Fortis developed a unique methodology for installation of both skips in No.2 Shaft from the same side of the headframe, saving a considerable amount of time during installation.  Both jobs were successfully completed on time and without injury!

At the completion of both Rocanville jobs PCS was particularly happy with the training their employees received in the transition phase, which resulted in a smooth turnover and another happy Fortis customer!

For more information on Fortis mining services please email info@fortiscorporation.com call 306-242-4427 or toll free at 1-844-542-2247

Fortis Mining Engineering & Manufacturing is proudly Saskatoon, Saskatchewan owned and operated.  

"Fortis is your partner in providing mining solutions." 

Fortis’ metal fabrication shop has completed manufacturing a huge custom order of conveyor frames.  Fortis described the challenge the project presented to our client, and our plan for completing the project on time and on budget.  Fortis provided regular progress reports to the customer throughout the manufacturing process.  Now, Fortis has completed the order and the graph below shows the detailed progression of our metal fabrication process...

Fortis used Earned Value Reporting to track progress on a regular basis.  Manufacturing hurdles did occur as we progressed through the fabrication process.  However, we were able to see the problems as they occurred and corrected the issues.  We met our delivery requirements which resulted in Fortis completing this equipment manufacturing project on time and on budget.  Fortis is fast becoming one of Saskatchewan's premier original equipment manufacturer shops.

Fortis Mining, Engineering, and Manufacturing has the capability to fulfill all your Industrial construction and mining needs.  We have a fully certified CWB weld shop located in Saskatoon.  From engineering, to welding, to machining, to install, Fortis can complete all your project requirements. Fortis’ ISO certifications in quality, environment, and safety make us a perfect fit to satisfy all your custom manufacturing and OEM needs.  No job is too complex or too small for our welding shop, Fortis will work through them all.

Please visit www.fortiscorporation.com for a full company profile and please feel free to email info@fortiscorporation.com or call 306-242-4427 to contact Fortis to see how we can help you with your next project.

This year, Fortis Mining Engineering and Manufacturing had the distinction of being selected by the Saskatchewan Industrial and Mine Suppliers Association for a case study on one of our pieces of mining equipment, the Mobile Reel Handler.   This study was also done in conjunction with the Government of Saskatchewan.  Only a handful of companies within Saskatchewan were selected and Fortis had the distinction of being one of those companies.   To be considered, your company must have engineered and manufactured a unique and new piece of equipment for the mining or industrial industry in Saskatchewan.   The Mobile Reel Handler was put on a long list of possible case studies.  Eventually after some research and comparisons by SIMSA, it was decided that the Mobile Reel Handler was indeed an innovative piece of mining equipment and well worth a case study!

Recently SIMSA published the case study and sent out to SIMSA members, government officials and will be handed out at varying SIMSA events.

You can read the case study on SIMSA's website https://simsa.ca/member/wp-content/uploads/SIMSA_Fortis_Casestudy_LR.pdf or see the attached pdf below

SIMSA_Fortis_Casestudy_LR.PDF (779.6KB)

The Mobile Reel Handler is currently being used at the Potash Corp. Rocanvile West Expansion product.

Peruse our website to see additional examples of Fortis engineering, CNC machining, welding and fabrication.

In addition to engineering and manufacturing, the Fortis Mining division is a well respected mining contractor and mining subcontractor in Canada.  The Fortis Mining division has successfully completed a number of difficult projects in local potash mines that our competition was unwilling to tackle.  Fortis has worked for the major mine companies, including Potash Corp, Agrium, BHP Billiton and Cameco.   Visit our mining projects page to see some of the projects we have completed http://www.fortiscorporation.com/projects-mining.aspx

Fortis is proudly Saskatoon, Saskatchewan owned and operated.