If you've been to a Mets game in New York, cruised down the Las Vegas strip, or taken in a festival in front of Edmonton’s City Hall, you’ve seen the work of M&D Drafting, a division of Edmonton-based Waiward Steel.
M&D Drafting is a steel detailing company that drafts custom steel designs for major projects all over the world.
“We’re the largest drafting company in North America,” chief executive officer Don Oborowsky said proudly. M&D has drafted custom designs for projects ranging from the Space Shuttle’s support system at Cape Kennedy to the new Toyota plant in southern Ontario.
Just recently, M&D provided drawings for Citi Field, the sparkling new home of baseball’s New York Mets. “It’s a building that will be around forever,” said Oborowsky of the 42,000-seat, $850-million stadium. “Sometime later in life I might go to a baseball game in New York City and say: ‘We did the detailing on that.’”
Another project that brings a smile to Oborowsky’s face is the $11-billion MGM CityCenter, an incredible mixed-use facility in Las Vegas that features a hotel, casino, convention center, condominiums, retail shops and entertainment. “It’s the largest individual steel project in North America,” Oborowsky declared. “We did all the steel detailing. We even provided people on site for document control and change control. The architect would go to bed every night and wake up with some changes every morning, so we would have to keep up with the changes.”
Keeping up has never been an issue for Oborowsky, who co-founded Waiward Steel in 1971 in a 2,500-sq.-ft. shop. Waiward, a longtime ATB Financial customer, is now one of Canada’s largest steel fabricators with more than 500 employees based at its massive 216,000-sq.-ft. Edmonton facility. “I believe in guardedly meeting the demand (of the market),” Oborowsky said of his company’s slow, steady growth.
Still, Oborowsky admits he’s taken a lot of chances over the years, including when he purchased his current facility. “Yeah, the place was run-down and it cost me a lot of money to bring it up to speed,” recalled Oborowsky. “It allowed everybody in Edmonton to tell me how foolish I was taking a chance on this place. I thought I made a good deal. As it turned out, I did.”
Waiward’s expansion has allowed the company to meet the demands of clients such as Suncor, Syncrude and Shell Canada. “We don’t make widgets or potato chips or things like that, where every chip is the same and every bag is the same,” noted Oborowsky. “Every component we make is different. Every project is different. It might be a power plant as one job. It might be a bridge as another job.”
Waiward’s success is not going unnoticed. The steel fabricator has been named one of Canada’s 50 best managed companies for the past five years running. “It’s not by design,” said Oborowsky. “We just simply are.”
In fact, Oborowsky believes Alberta businesses don’t get enough recognition for the great work they do. “Alberta should get an award, hands down as the world’s best kept secret,” he said. “We provide products and services all over the freakin’ world in various industries.”
So if you ever get a chance to take in a Mets game at Citi Field, or stay a few nights at the MGM CityCenter in Vegas, take note of the steel detailing. It was designed with pride by Albertans.
