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Wejay Machine Products manufactures custom industrial equipment and machined components for all types of industry. Their manufacturing processes include C.N.C. (Computer Numerical Controlled) machining, fabrication, welding, and assembly of hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical components. A diverse fabrication and machining facility, they can manufacture and assemble large specialized industrial equipment and high volume production runs of precision machined parts as well as carrying out general machine repair work.
"We have a very broad customer base and ship parts all across Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia." notes general manager Mark Jansen.
The work Wejay did for Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation is one example: in 2001, the Telescope Corporation contracted Wejay to manufacture calibration and camera-mounting assemblies for a telescope located on top of Maunakea Mountain in Hawaii. In 2000, the comapny manufactured parts for a scale model of an Aurora airplane for the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa, as well as the rotary table groundboard and support arm which supported the airplane model inside a wind tunnel for testing. Their work is also being used as far afield as Kabara, Japan, and as close to home as Bath, Ontario.
These are just a few of the company's projects from the last five years, but they've been around much longer that that. Wejay Machine Products is celebrating their 35th anniversary this year./p>
Werner and Donna Jansen started their business in the basement of their home on Montreal Street in 1969. "We grew up with the company." remembers their son Mark. "The machine shop could be accessed by a ladder located in a small room off our kitchen. To this day, some customers tell me they remember the pitter-patter of little feet above the shop when they dropped in to have work done!"
The high-quality craftsmanship at Wejay Machine Products ensured the company's success, and soon larger premises were needed to accommodate the growth of the business. In 1974, the Jansens built a new shop on Montreal Street; by 1980, they had moved to their current location at 600 O'Connor Drive. "Our building ws the first in the former Kingston Township Industrial Park." Mark recalls.
The second-generation business now involves four Jansen children: Mark, his brothers Rick and Edward, and their sister Angela Roantree. The four attribute their company's success to their highly skilled workers, their dedication to constant investment in modern production equipment, their commitment to thehighest level of quality, and their ability to adapt in a changing global environment in which they continue to successfully compete with similar companies around the world. And not surprisingly, Wejay Machine Products has a quality control program certified to CSA Z299.3-85, recognized by the Quality Management Institute. "We first certified a quality control program in 1991, when we were awarded a contract to manufacture prototype wing rib sections for a Dash 8 Commuter jet,"Mark says. "We have successfully retained that degree of certification to this day."
The company's purchase, in 2001 of a specialized C.N.C. milling machine with a workpiece capacity of 48" x 60" x 330', is proof positive of their resolution to invest in the latest production equipment. One of the largest if its type in Eastern Ontario, this new mill was used to machine the mould for the fiberglass outer shell of the Queen's University Solar Car, Gemini. The mould was machined using a computer-generated solid model provided by the solar car team engineering students, which was downloaded into the milling machine control. "It was a good test of the machine's capabilities," says Mark, noting that the Solar Car was one of the first parts to be machined onthe new mill. The bottom mould and top mould took approximately two weeks of machine time - time that Wejay donated to the students, as a way of giving something back to the Kingston community that has helped their company grow over the past 35 years.
The appreciation Wejay feels for its clients and community is returned tothe company by its many customers. The Kingston site of Dupont Canada gave Wejay a Supplier of Excellence Award for a project the company completed in 1999.
"Our company and staff were recognized for their ability to complete the project within a short period of time while maintaining a high level of quality." explains Mark. "I was told that ours was the first Supplier of Excellence Award given by Dupont Canada in a number of decades."
Wejay was also recognized in February 2000, when they were commended for their work manufacturing testing fixtures and lifting fixtures used to assemble parts for the International Space Station - parts which were sent to NASA's Kennedy Space Centre.
This kind of well-deserved international recognition is the result of 35 years of superior craftmanship and dedication to quality-attributes that should ensure Wejay Machine Products' place in the global manufacturing market for another 35 years and more.
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Mark Jansen, Clifford Smith, Quality Assurance Manager,
Rick Jansen display Wejay's supplier excellence award.
Click on picture to view award.
Machinist Andy Michels machining a large fabrication
on Wejay's new milling machine.
Four custom pieces of equipment manufactured by Wejay Machine
Products on a truck ready for delivery.
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