ARTICLE

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• Media Relations

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A PIONEER WHO SWEARS BY QUALITY

LE SOLEIL, 9 MAI 1999

Gilles Angers

QUEBEC – A successful conjuring trick starts with good training and a high level of performance tailored to the needs of the public. The same can be said for the sale and exporting of houses. The president and CEO of Modulex - and amateur magician – Laurier Dechene, will tell you so.

His company, which operates offices in Quebec on Boulevard Hamel, and a factory in Val-Alain, has, for over 20 years, been selling prefabricated wood framework houses throughout the world. The product, however, is not an illusion, nor is its sale a mystery. Like a magician who depends on the quality of his performance to continue working, Modulex claims to sell houses so well put together that people order them again and again. During its 35 years of existence, Modulex has fabricated, for local and international markets, close to 14,000 homes. A little more than 4000 (30%) were exported to Russia, Japan, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Israel, the United States, Uruguay, France, England, Switzerland, Slovenia and Argentina - among others.

ON DEMAND

Modulex makes houses that are anti-seismic and fire-proof for Japan, “anti-termite” in Central America and extra-insulated in Siberia. Mr Dechene won’t hesitate to propose a house insulated with fibreglass and double-paned windows with high thermal efficiency to a client living in a warm country if he knows that he’ll use an air conditioner during the hot season and that energy in his country “costs an arm and a leg.” Such a house will prevent hot air from entering, and cool air from escaping

“Our prefabricated houses enjoy an excellent reputation abroad. We imagine them buried under the snow. They’re made on demand, delivered by containers in several weeks, then assembled and finished in no time at all”, says Mr. Dechene. To succeed abroad, he finds that you must be obsessed with quality and absolutely committed to after-sales service. I f you dare “non-quality”, you’ll only sell one time and pass into the “hall of fame” of incompetence.

LOCAL MARKETS

West Canadian companies of the same nature, faced with the huge increase in export markets just two years ago, looked abroad and stopped doing business locally. “Alas, several of them went bankrupt, says Mr. Dechene. The Asian financial crisis of the last several years caused them to kick the bucket. He notes that local markets have always helped Modulex survive. “One year,” he says, “we could produce 100 or even 400 or 500 houses for the world market. The year after, none.” That’s why he believes you shouldn’t disregard national markets. He recalls that 20 years ago, people everywhere sneered at the fact that he wanted to sell houses abroad. Shoes were conceivable, but houses were an aberration.

In addition, he was alone. Without specific support from the government, he had to count on his own means - and to believe. He often had to get up in the middle of the night to talk on the phone with customers whose day had already started. At the time, there was neither fax machine nor Internet. It was difficult. He remarks that nowadays, people who want to export have reinforcements; they are no longer alone. The Quebec Housing Society (SHQ), the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Quebec Wood Export Bureau (Q-Web), Industry Canada and APCHQ Exportation have all put their strength behind exporting.

INTERNET

Mr Dechene is progressively passing the torch of his company to his son, Martin, 26, who is vice-president of international trade. For all practical purposes, the Internet makes Shanghai and Tokyo as close to Quebec City as Montreal and Ottawa. When Martin receives email from Modulex distributors throughout the world, he answers promptly within the hour.