The history of EMS Water Systems mirrors others from the water business. Electric Motor Service started in Fredericton, NB in 1959 as a motor repair shop. The business evolved to include motors for water pumps and the water treatment product line naturally followed.
Nearly 50 years later several water pumps were repaired, and water treatment was established as a viable arm of the business causing other businesses to take notice. This led to the acquisition of Electric Motor Service by EMCO in 2006. Then in 2009 EMS Water Systems opened a second location in Dartmouth, NS to better serve all of the Atlantic Canadian market. With over 20,000 square feet (about four times the area of a basketball court) between the two locations consisting of warehouse, showroom and offices, EMS is a multi-faceted company as they are a distributor, wholesaler, retailer, and a service center.
Along with industry veterans Jason Strang and David Pentz, Brad Vincent adds his expertise in water treatment to offer full scope water solutions. Their specialized team of 16 is a small piece of the pie compared to the overall size of EMCO, but they support other locations in the large national EMCO network.
EMS prides themselves on their collaboration with their customers. They assist their customers through the entire process of selection, install, start-up, and after-sales support. They strive to form long standing partnerships, by forming custom solutions that they stand behind. All products are built to order, tailor-made for the application. They offer education not only to their wholesale customers, but they also take the time to educate the consumer and then provide a referral to one of their loyal customers.
Since we want to know why members join the CWQA (Canadian Water Quality Association), for Brad it was simple, networking with like-minded individuals and being part of a community. As well, the education that the CWQA offers through the certification training adds to their professionalism that they offer to their customers. What Brad would like the CWQA to focus on in the years to come is training, networking, and training reference materials so that they can bring on new team members and have a resource for them to get up to speed.
The challenges in the industry today go hand and hand with the challenges of dealing with a pandemic. Finding qualified people, getting products, and increased costs are the obstacles right now, and likely into the next couple of years. The interruption of the supply chain will be an ongoing concern for the short to medium term. The bigger challenge they face is trying to shake the stigma of the water treatment door to door salespeople that historically took advantage of consumers, but with proper education they believe this can be overcome. Overall, the water treatment industry in the Maritimes is a very respectful group of companies committed to the betterment of the industry as a whole.
For the next few years, if the hurdles can be overcome then the target is high. Right now, it is to keep the current customers stocked with industry leading products and great service, but when the time is right watch out because this well-oiled team is poised to grow and so will the company.
