Lathe turns into winner for county business

Vince Stuart and Clare Machine Works Ltd. won first place in Zone 3 of the competition which takes in Digby, Annapolis, Kings and Hants counties.

Stuart received $100,000 in a combination of cash and in-kind business building services from professional services firms located in his zone to be used for the further development of his start-up venture.

Clare Machine Works is also one of five start-up businesses to move onto the provincial round where it is in the running for a further $100,000 in seed investment from Innovacorp. The winner will be announced at a reception Tuesday, Feb. 9, in the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax.

Stuart has developed an innovative patent pending system for refurbishing high value oil and gas industry drill pipes. The oil and gas industry spends millions of dollars yearly refurbishing drill pipes, which are inspected regularly and must meet strict specifications.

Clare Machine Works’ mobile system refurbishes pipes on-site, eliminating the complicated logistics and expense of shipping pipes off-site to be refurbished.

The company has been in operation since 1972 and with the ever-changing fishing industry, the company has adapted to developing new products and services and has been aggressively seeking interest.

Stuart said he began travelling to Alberta three years ago looking for work for his shop and that along with several trade missions led him to meet up with an oil businessman who presented him with a challenge. “A businessman out west, who has now become my partner, wondered if I could help him develop a prototype to repair drill pipe collars,” said Stuart. “Over a span of 30 months, we built the prototype at our shop and that along with the challenges of testing our product proved to be a successful learning experience for us.” “We met every testing challenge for the prototype and the company out west was very happy with the final product. They decided to partner with us therefore making the prototype a Nova Scotia export item.”

Stuart said he was aware of Innovacorp before the competition and it was government and business contacts that encouraged him to enter his prototype. “I like what they’ve (Innovacorp) done to help Nova Scotia companies,” he said. “Being a recipient in the finalist round lends a lot of credibility to my business especially out west and here.”

Clare Machine Works continues to advance and improve its technology, said Stuart. “We have a saleable product, a product that does the job and we are continually striving to improve the technology.”

Stuart said he didn’t take the Innovacorp competition lightly because other entries were very good. “We are ecstatic to have gotten this far as it is a very nice bump for a new company getting started.”

Stuart says he has a positive outlook for the Feb. 9 competition. “The competition is very strong as there are excellent projects but whether we win the grand prize or not the project will move forward.”

A Digby company has won the grand prize once before. In 2008, Morswift Machines won the $100,000 prize with its invention of a semi-automatic banding machine.