About Archives - Hi-Tec Profiles Inc. Regina & Saskatoon

Paris of the Prairies? Hi-Tec Can Build It!

November 12, 2019/in About, Community, History

Just when you thought Saskatchewan didn’t have famous architecture, Montmartre has gone and exceeded our expectations creating a site worth seeing. A quick Ninety Kilometres East of Regina you will find one of the many wonders of Saskatchewan. Standing an impressive 8.5 Meters tall this structure is exactly 1/32 the size of the original Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

Well, we’re here to let you in on a little secret, this Eiffel Tower made completely out of steel was cut by the fine folks here at Hi-Tec Profiles! We can create whatever it is that you’re thinking with precision cut steel to ensure your job (or art piece) looks its’ best for years to come.

Saskatchewan is home to the Paris of the Prairies, all because one town wanted to make a landmark worth coming to see. If you head on down to Montmartre to see the New Eiffel Tower you may want to stop by Sister Bistro just down the street, we hear great things about it!

Official Metal Fabricators of the North Regina Little League

July 25, 2019/in About, Community

Some days you really appreciate the titles organizations give you. Being the “Official Metal Fabricators of the NRLL” is special to us. We want to support the community organizations that were there when we were kids. Now many of our staff have kids that play in the North Regina Little League. It’s just a bonus to have your logo put beside some great organizations! South Country Equipment, The Stripe Shop, Nike, just to name a few!

Our “Brand” Has Always Been Taking Pride in The Products We Make

May 24, 2019/in About, Products

Talking to the shipping department the other week about the “Hi-Tec Brand,” I was told a little story. A product was finished, set to ship by our shipping and receiving department. Everything was perfect, except one thing. One of the cuts on a small side didn’t match up to the other pieces. The fellow in charge of shipping at the time almost instinctually took the shipment and rushed it through so they could recut the part and send out a “perfect” shipment.

I was floored! It wasn’t their job to recut the product, it wasn’t technically their job to be quality control that afternoon, but that’s the neat thing about Hi-Tec Profiles – everyone makes it their job to watch the quality of what’s being shipped to our customers.

When asked about it, the employee shrugged it off like anyone on the shop floor would have done the same in that moment. That’s a team buying into a system of everyone working together to create better outcomes for the company.

When we asked management about this moment, their response was an obvious “we encourage our employees to ‘stop the line’ if something seems wrong or out of place”. This reminded me of “Kaizen”, the philosophy of continuous improvement made famous by the Toyota manufacturing plants in Japan.

“Kaizen (改善) is the Sino-Japanese word for “improvement”. In business, kaizen refers to activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers.

Without each employee buying into the system of continuous improvement, it doesn’t work. At Hi-Tec, we think we’re doing a pretty good job of ensuring that quality control is in everyone’s job description. From the shop floor to the CEO, we all are improving continuously.

Why Hi-Tec Profiles Supports Our Community

May 24, 2019/in About, Community

Any company that’s made it has done something right in the community in which they work. We aren’t so different – through the years we’ve sponsored many ball teams, hockey teams, events our staff were volunteering at and, well, anything we felt would make a difference in our very own backyards.

Up until recently, we’ve never talked about our community involvement, but it’s becoming more and more of a deciding factor when people are looking to hire Hi-Tec.

All things being equal, (sorry if I triggered a nightmare from Economics 100) if you were to buy custom cut and formed steel from two different companies for the same price, what would be the deciding factor? We don’t openly ask “what are you doing in the community?” It’s far more subtle. You see a logo at an event and say to yourself, “I didn’t know Hi-Tec Profiles sponsored the Lawn Bowling Tournament?!” Six months down the road when you’re looking for cut steel it dawns on you: “That Hi-Tec Profiles company could do it!”

The other not so obvious part of helping community organizations is that people feel obligated (inspired?) to help you back. Reciprocity is one of the powerful psychological triggers that Robert Cialdini talked about in “Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion”.

When you do nice things for others it comes back to you in a very good way. Biologically we don’t like having something nice done for us without being able to “return the favour” or simply reciprocate what was done to us.

This isn’t why we believe in supporting community organizations. For the most part, it’s to encourage employees to volunteer, serve on boards, and be a builder in the community where they live. But why can’t companies build up communities? Why can’t companies drive positive change through community initiatives?

You may not think it affects the grand scheme of things or that your company doesn’t have much to give, but it does matter. Small acts of kindness turn into big movements of generosity if nurtured properly.

Lastly, when you sponsor an event, team, or organization, and your logo appears on a poster or website, be proud. Many companies (some really big ones! Looking at you Apple!) don’t have a non-profit partner, many don’t sponsor events or teams. Many could leave the location they operate in and no one would even care. We don’t want to be like that, we want to grow our community, one non-profit at a time.

A Custom Fire Pit we made for the Pilot Butte Fire Department