18 May 2021
In Langley, British Columbia, Corey Doell started out in the automotive industry working for his father in the engine machine shop when he was 13 years old to make money to race motocross.
As he continued to work in the shop, he learned more and more and eventually became an automotive machinist. As years passed, Corey was also put in charge of the family auto parts stores at different times. “We had eleven locations. But after my father became ill and couldn’t carry on, we sold the business to Lordco who were looking to expand their operations.
“I started an automotive shop with a partner but after several years we each decided to go our own way. In 1998 I started Norlang Auto and grew it from a three-staff, three-bay shop in a warehouse to the 12-person,10-bay shop in the building we now have,” Corey stated. “I had this ambition to have a small specialty shop, but it just kept growing. Demand became so high from customers that we took on more, kept growing
The machine tools are the visible parts of a shop’s capacity, but it is hard to overstate the value and power of software tools for using that capacity effectively. Indeed, software reaches every corner of a manufacturing facility. From the ERP software in the front office, to the CAD/CAM systems that program parts and the machine monitoring programs on the shop floor, nearly every employee in a machine shop is likely to interact with some type of software program. And even those who don’t work directly with software are indirectly impacted by it.
“.nearly every employee in a machine shop is likely to interact with some type of software program. And even those who don’t work directly with software are indirectly impacted by it.”