SINCE 1999
SINCE 1999
Since the very beginning Practifab has endeavoured to support and work with industry at the local community level. This summer we are officially launching our Library of Open Source Specifications with the very first product licensed under the Practifab Open Product Specification License.
For more details check out: Open Product Specifications
If this proves to be successful there are many more product that are in the works to be added.
Stay Tuned, many more details coming soon.
Practifab's primary involvement was with inception, design, development and management of the construction of a prototype renewable energy system. Many management skills and techniques have been adopted and developed during this valuable time.
Attendance of monthly meetings in QC demanded a long distance commute from Vancouver Island that provided frequent opportunities to make societal observations, both professionally and casual is helping develop the plan for the future of Practifab.
Discussions with manufacturing suppliers has revealed a need for supporting and promoting collaboration within the manufacturing industry. There is a wealth of domestic skills available from experienced craftsmen that could be coordinated to deliver cost effective, reliable products.
The time may have arrived to create an on-line supplier driven resource to provide quality, durable, locally made goods for the future.
Family life has changed the way I look at life. Concerns of where this planet will be, has more of an effect on my decision making now. Since my children will live with the choices our generation makes, my desire to do something to improve the world rather than mess it up motivates my actions. Although, it seems almost futile to attempt.... but attempt I will.
Recently my interests have returned back to computer programming. This was my major interests in the 80's but I have not done anything in this field since 1990. A lot has changed since those days. Everyone uses a mouse now and graphical interfaces for operating systems is normal now. And of course the internet.
Creation of dynamic websites that will help encourage people think globally and shop locally.
We hope though our website, localfarmlink.com, people will find it easier to source their foods locally.
The company was first registered in June of 1999 in the province of Quebec under the name Fabrication Pratique or Practical Fabrication. During the first few months I had only a small, half full box of tools in the back of a pickup and a desire to start a business from scratch.
One of our earliest projects was also one of the largest. Asked to design and build 50 foot boom sprayers for commercially spraying liquid fertilizer. Since that time the sprayers have been used to cover 2000 acres per year and are still going strong.
During this early phase of our development, I was asked to design specialty office furniture for a high-tech company in a period of major growth. After many designs and much discussion a final design was decided on and my search for a shop started. With a purchase order for 30 desks and a 50% down payment check in hand, I signed a 3 month 
lease for a nice old shop in Cowansville, QC. The day I moved in I arrived with only one tool box and some new power tools still in their boxes. I waited for the welder shop to deliver my welder and the steel truck to deliver the steel. By the end of the week a prototype desk was completed. Over the next 2 years we built 300 desks, printer cabinets, conference tables and other such equipment for the same company.
In the three years spent at 150 Church St. there were a number of 
employees hired who helped complete scores of different projects. We built all sorts of agricultural equipment, completed many industrial projects, and built some equipment for our own use in our shop. It was a wonderful time and I learned a vast amount in a small amount of time.
Due to the long hours my business demanded of me and my desire to have more disposable time for my growing family, I decided to sell and move across the country. A large amount of my fabrication equipment was sold to a fellow who took over the lease for my shop. I kept the company which had recently been incorporated under the name Practifab Inc. with plans to continue the business on the West Coast.
After the move some of my clients requested that I continue to supply them with the products I had manufactured and for which they had come to depend on. Having sold most of my equipment I decided to act as a manufacturing contractor, subcontracting the projects out to shops in QC. At first I was concerned about coordinating a project from a distance, but soon discovered that I could produce the same product for very similar costs.
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