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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday June 9, 2007 - 25 AMEC at 100 By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF TOONIE TUESDAY! THE BEST BINGO VALUE AROUND! ONLY $2 PER STRIP FOR YOUR 7-PG BOOK ONE LINE GAMES $ At a time when many businesses do not make it through their first year an Oakville company is celebrating the astounding milestone of its 100th anniversary. Engineering giant AMEC, which employs 4,000 people in 74 offices across Canada and whose Canadian headquarters is in Oakville, is enjoying an achievement usually reserved for churches and even nations. As Canada itself is only now approaching its 140th anniversary, AMEC's ability to operate for 100 years is no small feat. "That legacy does bring a lot of pride to everyone who works here," said Steve Ciccone, Operations Manager for AMEC's Mining and Metals Division. "It means a lot." AMEC began modestly enough in 1907 as the Montreal Engineering Company (Monenco) with a staff of just nine, but as the company grew it began making some giant contributions to Canada. "It was quite a prominent engineering company through the century, primarily in power. They built a lot of the hydroelectric generating stations, a lot of big power plants," said Ciccone. One of these projects included the Horseshoe Falls generating plant, which was completed in 1911, and provided the City of Calgary with its first large-scale supply of electricity. In 1943 the company undertook a commission at the request of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to investigate the unusual idea of creating landing strips for aircraft in the midAtlantic. The plan called for giant sheets of ice to be broken off the Arctic icecap and towed into the middle of the Atlantic so aircraft could land on them. The idea proved not to be feasible. After the war, the list of Monenco's achievements continued to grow. It undertook such projects as helping design and support the world's first oil sands mine in 1967 and the building of a cable that linked Prince Edward Island to the mainland's electrical grid in 1978. As the century drew to a close a series of mergers and acquisitions had caused Monenco's name to change to AMEC, however, one thing that did not change was the company's ability to leave its mark on Canada. Nowhere is this more evident than with the projects undertaken at AMEC's Oakville location, which opened July 1, 1992. AMEC's Mining and Metals Division is currently working on two major projects. "One of them is the Victor Diamond Mine. It's the first diamond mine in Ontario and we're about halfway 150 TWO LINE GAMES $ 300 3 Check out: DEREK WOOLLAM / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER 1000 Jackpots $ All In Your 7 Page Book 3 Sessions: 12:30pm, 7pm & 10pm. Next Super Saturday is June 16 at 7pm. $300 one line, $600 two lines. 3 x $2000 Jackpots! www.meadowvalebingo.com or call the Hotline: 905 821-7883 for further details 2295 Battleford Road, Mississauga Meadowvale Sponsors Assoc. Lic. #36-004 & M507567 HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Steve Ciccone, Operations Manager Mining and Metals in front of the AMEC building. The company is celebrating its 100th anniversary. through construction on that project right now," said Ciccone. "The other project is the Ruby Creek Molybdenum Mine, a big molybdenum mine in Northern B.C. that we are doing out of this office. We're actually designing the mine and we're doing all the procurement for Ruby Creek." In 2005 AMEC's Power Division completed the Erie Shores Wind Farm, the largest wind farm in Ontario. Today that division is playing a key role in the oil sands project in Alberta with involvement in 10 of 11 bitumen extraction plants. AMEC's Industrial group includes the designing of the University Health Network Laboratory in Toronto and the designing of Canada's first Commercial Scale Biodiesel Production Plant located in Hamilton among its accomplishments. What is the secret of AMEC's 100 years of success? Ciccone says being in the right business at the time and knowing the market were important factors. "If you go back to the first couple years of the company they focused on power, which at the start of the century was brilliant," he said. "They rode the wave of power generation for the first half of the century. It was the right market to be in and as a society evolved we've evolved too. The metal markets now are flying and so we have a very very strong presence in mining." While keeping up with the market involved great change, retention -- AMEC's second secret to success -- is far less complicated. "The big thing right now, which was probably true 100 years ago is retention. Being able to retain the right people," said Ciccone. "Making sure you've got interesting projects for them to work on, making sure that they've got opportunities to learn, grow, train. It's really a competitive market right now so you have to make sure you've got the right staff and they're fully engaged." With such an amazing legacy already etched out where AMEC will go next is the subject of great anticipation. "In this office here our focus is going to be on mining and metals. Our focus is on big projects in interesting locations not necessarily just here in Ontario. They could be on the other side of the Atlantic," said Ciccone. "On the power side, the focus is going to be on alternative energy and supporting the oil sands project and on the industrial side, there's a focus on healthcare and industrial type projects. Those are the businesses in this office and that's where we're going." Friday, June 15 & Saturday, June 16 LOOK FOR YOUR COPY INSIDE! CAREER 2007 Distributed to selected households in South Central Ontario COMING JUNE, 2007 ONTARIO'S Best CHOICES editorial: · Prepping for Job Fairs · Summertime, work time · KPI ­ colleges earn passing grades · Go global with Student Exchanges · Career tips from Coaches and Mentors · Headhunters ­ an option for grads · PROFILE: Beverly Thomson · Blogging your way to employment · PROFILE: Spider Jones · SPECIAL HEALTHCARE CAREER CHOICES SECTION CAREER & EDUCATION MAGAZINE Email your request to: careers@metroland.com