By Connie Mandeville | Photo by Jessica McCafferty
Nestled in the Gateway Industrial Park off Spellman Road in the Town of Beekmantown is ConnectAll Ltd. a hosing company that specializes in parts for mass transit manufacturing. The company was founded in Quebec in 1994 and 20 years later opened a branch in Plattsburgh to meet the North Country’s manufacturing needs. It recently incorporated, opening more doors for it and providing more opportunities for expansion.
“Some people may have a difficult time understanding what we do because it is so specialized,” noted Connor McCambridge, ConnectAll’s U.S. Branch Manager, “but we are the place for your hosing needs. What we produce are not your household hoses — like garden hoses — but parts of some of the things you rely on everyday — like brake and fuel lines in your vehicles.”
ConnectAll assembles hydraulic and stainless-steel braided hoses for mass transit manufacturers in-house and also offers adapters, reusable fittings, crimp style fittings, fluid conveyance products, and metal and rubber expansion joints. Essentially, anything you can imagine goes into hosing, they do it. While the company’s main focus is mass transit manufacturers, they are able to offer their products at a retail level as well.
With a workforce of three at its Plattsburgh branch, small but mighty is a fitting description for the company that supplies some of the biggest names in transportation manufacturing — like Nova Bus and Alstom. McCambridge acknowledged that three is small, but emphasized they do a great deal of work. In fact, their 6,000 square foot Plattsburgh location offers most of the same services as their Quebec headquarters, just on a smaller scale.
It was Nova Bus that encouraged ConnectAll Ltd. to open a branch in Plattsburgh that would provide easier access for it than its Laval location, but once here found numerous other opportunities to supply manufacturers such as Imeco and to sell their products to small area companies.
While ConnectAll Ltd. primarily focuses on the original equipment manufacturing side of things, they are always available to help local companies and individuals. They offer their products at a retail level to help local farmers, auto mechanics and commercial truck drivers. They are ISO9001:2008 certified and make sure that their products go through quality control to give customers peace of mind that things are done right the first time. This helps raise expectations and puts them at par with leaders in the industry. Ultimately, their goal is to make sure all products leave their facility in prime condition to ensure safety.
Like most companies in the North Country, ConnectAll was impacted by the pandemic. While they were able to stay open for most of it, it did cause parts shortage issues. With only three employees, workforce problems have not been an issue, but like everyone else, they are feeling the effects of inflation and supply chain problems. Fortunately, they have been able to be creative and find new solutions to adapt to the changing market, “That’s what we are here for,” said McCambridge.
When asked about inflation, he said, “It is what it is. It has impacted our pricing and bottom line, but it has not damaged our business and we have not lost any of our clients.”
New York as well as other states is investing in green mass transit which is helping parts businesses across our area. Recently, Nova Bus received a contract for electric buses from New York City’s Mass Transit Authority. That was great news for ConnectAll Ltd. because they provide hoses for the buses. They are also working with Lion Electric to build fully electric buses.
To meet the growing need for supplies for green mass transit, ConnectAll Ltd. is in the middle of an expansion. McCambridge pointed to the equipment and workstations in his office that were causing a mess as they make the transition.
In the beginning, McCambridge said it was difficult to get the word out about ConnectAll’s products, but now people are starting to see them, and they have more name recognition. This will allow them to continue to expand and offer more products in the future. After eight years, the Plattsburgh branch has exceeded the company’s expectations and is proud to be part of the North Country transportation manufacturing sector.
ConnectAll Ltd. 35 Gateway Drive, Suite 500 Plattsburgh, NY 12901 518 825-2024 www.connectallltd.com
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