Memories of Dundas Machine

Hello Everyone,

To celebrate the successful recent sale of Dundas Machine, I thought I would reminisce a bit about the early years, as I remember them. Those of you who witnessed my speech at Jason's wedding might recognize a pattern. But just as in that case, this is a true story, as far as I can recall it. When dad first started the business, it was in a small shop out on the highway. I was 16 and often worked on Saturdays. I mostly remember the winter. We had insulated the place that fall, but it was still pretty cold in the dead of January. Since I was 16, I stayed up pretty late on Friday and usually only had a few hours of rest before heading to work in the morning. But being 16 meant that I could function pretty well on almost no sleep. If I were to try that now, you'd find me asleep under a saw blade somewhere. As with most of the jobs I've done, I always looked forward to lunch. Coming home to fresh baked bread after freezing through the morning is still something I can see, and smell, very clearly in my mind.

I had pretty much no understanding of how a welding business worked, other than that you made stuff out of steel and people paid you for it. How they found you, how much you should charge, how you could keep a business like that afloat, these were all questions I could barely formulate, let alone answer. While I trusted mom and dad, I had some doubt that the business could be viable.

My doubts were misplaced, as the business did well and after awhile dad moved it to the big building next door to the first shop. I worked there in the summer now, and instead of the cold, I remember sweating through my coveralls moving steel around.

But the big building meant I had doubts of a different kind. I was a bit older by then and understood the idea of 'overhead'. How could he get enough business to support a shop that was 4 times bigger?

Again my doubts were misplaced. The business in the new shop did so well that after a few years, dad decided to buy some land and build his own space. I trusted mom and dad, but again, I had doubt. How was the business going to support a new building and new equipment and more employees? For the third time, my doubts were misplaced. Dundas Machine was bigger and busier than ever in the new space. Then dad started taking more time away from the business. We had always wanted him to enjoy his time more and not work so hard, but I, stubbornly, had doubt. How was the business going to survive if he wasn't there to oversee it?

Now that the thriving business has been sold to a happy new owner, my streak of poorly placed doubt has to end at 4.

I'll concede, this once, that my judgement over the years in this matter may not have been based on the most knowledgeable or experienced position.

Congratulations, mom and dad.

wes

#Memories