Success Stories - Eco-Tech
Water tech growth nurtured by auto industry roots
The recent earthquake in Japan raised awareness around the world of the environmental benefits that companies can gain by having a “closed loop” manufacturing process in which wastewater and other by-products are treated, value extracted and then recycled.
In fact, many of these environmental benefits are just a bonus because cutting costs was the real driver behind the corporate decision to re-use and recycle the waste stream – something that comes as no surprise to Rocky Simmons, President and CEO of Eco-Tec, based in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario.
“If you can solve an environmental problem by making or saving money, it gets done,” says Simmons bluntly. “If it’s just a good idea, people won’t do it.”
Eco-Tec makes award-winning water treatment and chemical recovery equipment for industrial users. Some of their largest customers are in the northern area of Japan, which is a major manufacturing hub for the automotive industry and where the earthquake damage was greatest.
“A closed loop system is good for business and good for the environment,” says Simmons.
Eco-Tec is one of Ontario’s leading water technology companies, an industry that includes more than 300 firms specializing in everything from cutting-edge purification systems to infrastructure engineering.
Winner of 20 awards for innovation, Eco-Tec started out more than 40 years ago as a joint venture between auto parts company WIX Canada and professors from the University of Toronto. The focus was on chemical recovery and Simmons, a recent PhD. graduate in chemical engineering, was Eco-Tec’s first R&D manager. Since then, the company has grown with customers worldwide in the oil, gas, mining and advanced manufacturing industries.
Cracking the Japanese market can be very tough, as many companies have discovered. Simmons believes one core attribute underlies Eco-Tec’s success.
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