Skip to content

Column: Presch family among Salmon Arm Industrial Park innovators

Shuswap Passion by Jim Cooperman
17147793_web1_copy_190607-SAA-Dinoflex

There are a number of local manufacturers where innovation has been key to their success.

They are producing unique products using technologically advanced processes.

The Shuswap benefited greatly when Sabine Presch, with the support of her father Peter, created Dinoflex 30 years ago, a recycled rubber manufacturing business that now sells interior and exterior surfacing products worldwide. Peter also helped his other children develop three more Industrial Park companies, Talius Rollshutters, IC Urethane,and International Polyurethane Solutions (IPS).

The typical method to manufacture rubber mats is to slice them off a roll, but these mats retain the memory of the curve and tend to curl up. Dinoflex developed a new technique that begins by forming massive blocks of recycled-rubber and then slices the mats off to the desired thickness. They then added more style to their products by adding colour using imported material.

Not content with just producing rubber flooring for recreational, agricultural and utility uses, Dinoflex developed new products including both indoor and outdoor tiles. They use a unique process that involves high tech water cutters to produce their interlocking tiles, so that every tile fits perfectly. Another advantage to their products is that because they do not use heat or volatile chemicals in the manufacturing process, there is minimal off-gassing and less odour.

Read more: Dinoflex announces $3.5 million expansion

Read more: Shuswap Passion: How best to boost the local economy

Read more: Column: Celebrating 50 years of Shuswap Passion

Dinoflex’s sister company, IPS, began as the supplier of the polyurethane used to bind the recycled rubber, but now it also produces a variety of products for use elsewhere, including spray coatings for trucks, military vehicles and mining equipment and other uses.

At its modern, 30,000 sq. foot plant, Talius builds more than just rollshutters – it also makes retractable “Habitat Screens” that block the sun while allowing a view, and “Vandal Panels” that provide security for commercial street level windows. All their products can be operated either manually or with motors, and there are also remote or automatic controls that raise or lower the shutters and screens when they are needed.

Talius has expanded beyond Salmon Arm, with a plant in Ontario, an office in Coquitlam and two facilities in the Caribbean. The company is also a valued member of the community as it provides support to a variety of non-profit groups with employee volunteer time.

The Salmon Arm Industrial Park serves the community well both as an employer and as a mainstay of the local economy, thanks to the creative and talented leadership found in its many, diverse industries and a very skilled workforce. Manufacturing will continue to play a key role in the future of the community when additional land is dedicated to industrial use and more housing is built to provide living space for the growing workforce.


@SalmonArm
newsroom@saobserver.net

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

17147793_web1_190607-SAA-Dinoflex-rubber-matting
Dinoflex produces specialized rubber matting for indoor and outdoor use. (File photo)