Dear readers,
This letter, written on this February 21, 2021, has a very special meaning for our company. Today, TWIN is celebrating its 70th anniversary!
In Quebec’s entrepreneurial history, few companies can boast of being 70 years old and stronger today than ever in their history. We have something to be proud of.
For those who know us less, a little history, because in 70 years a lot of things happened! How far we have come since the founding of Twin Equipment Supply Ltd on February 21, 1951, by Mr. Ouimet, who would have had twins according to legend!
In 1969, the company passed into the hands of UAP and specialized in the repair and paint of truck bodies. In1980, Jean Guy Houde (who has been with Twin for more than 43 years now and Executive VP still today at the age of 78) acquired it with two partners and renamed the company Les Équipements Twin (1980) Ltd. The company then turned to snow removal equipment, tailgates and towing.
After expansions in Ontario and Quebec City in 2001, the company passed into the hands of the Beaulieu family, and I became its main shareholder over the years.
Between 2012 and 2015, we made the successive acquisitions of Michel Gohier Ltd., now Équipements Twin (Laval) Inc., Distributions Raynald Bertrand Ltd., today Twin Quebec and Fourgons PME Inc., later merged with Laval.
In 2015, Twin will change its image and adopt a new, more modern logo and new orange/black/grey colors. And it is in the spring of 2019 that we will become Équipements Twin Inc. with the arrival of my son Cory and Marc Cousineau (Twin Equipment Ltd in Ontario) as new shareholders.
Over the past twenty years, Twin has become the undisputed leader in Quebec, in the sales, distribution, manufacturing, installation and service of truck equipment with more than 17 product families.
Twin’s success could never have been achieved without all our wonderful teams, who through all these many years have made Twin what it has become today. Talented people will have left their mark and others are doing so now. Without dedicated people, it’s impossible to survive 70 years.
I must also thank all our suppliers and business partners with whom we work, the success of a company depends on the quality of the products it offers and the support of its partners. Some have been with us for almost 40 years, I quickly think of Fisher Engineering and Miller Industries.
Thank you all and, with a great new generation in sight, we intend to continue to mark Quebec’s entrepreneurial history for many years to come.
If we turn now to daily activities, the year 2020-21 will go down in history as one of our best, if not the best. We can attribute this success to our product portfolio, primarily to an outstanding contribution from our snow removal equipment and dump body lines, to our customers who continue to entrust their needs to us, to our teams of employees who worked very hard during this COVID year during which we had to work regularly with a shortage of staff and to our new partnership with our Ontario sister company Twin Equipment. What is even more exciting is that we believe there is room to do even better in our next year 2021-22.
Through our agreement with Ford Canada, this year we will have doubled the number of vehicles that have passed through our truck pool; this partnership, which continues to grow, has allowed us to provide Ford dealers with privileged access to ready-to-work vehicles in a very fast time.
About a month ago, our sister company, Twin Equipment decided to adopt our logo while keeping their blue color for their Ontario branches. Another step into building our global position into the Eastern Canadian truck market equipment.
On a less pleasant note, some of you might have noticed that for a month now our website says, ‘under construction’! Without going into detail, let’s say that our web host simply abandoned us without warning. We are rebuilding a new site that should be ready in 6 to 8 weeks. With the variety of products we offer, you will understand that there is a lot to do. In the meantime, you can contact us directly or visit the Twin Equipment website (twinequipment.com) which offers, within a few product lines, the same products as us.
I would end by wishing all our customers one thing: courage; vaccines are on their way and we can now start to see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Enjoy the rest of your winter and thank you for entrusting us with your vehicles.
Louis Beaulieu,
President and CEO