Month: August 2026

Champ Industries Expands Capabilities by Forming The Champ Group

North American manufacturers face growing pressure to deliver complex, high-volume metal components on tighter schedules and with more exacting tolerances. Since 1967, Champ Industries has answered that challenge as a full-service fabrication and assembly partner, providing transparent timelines, consistent quality, and the ability to scale alongside OEM customers.
Now, Canerector has acquired RITZ Machine Works and merged with Industrie Lemieux, Phoenix Metal, and Champ Industries to form The Champ Group. Learn more about what this acquisition and merger means for our expanded operations, our combined service capabilities, and how it benefits the customers we serve across North America.

Why This Merger & Acquisition Matters for Our Customers

Champ Industries brings nearly 60 years of metal fabrication and assembly expertise, operating from two facilities in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Jamestown, North Dakota. Structured for partnerships with OEMs and Tier One suppliers, our capabilities span metal bending, tube laser cutting, laser welding, automated metalworking, and powder coating. With a focus on medium-to-high volume fabrication, Champ serves diverse industries including agriculture, construction, transportation, oil and gas, and mining, while upholding ISO 9001:2015, AWS, and CWB certifications.

Industrie Lemieux brings over 35 years of stainless steel and steel fabrication expertise from its headquarters in Quebec. Their team comprises 200+ employees, operating 150,000+ square feet of production space spread out over 5 facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Their capabilities span laser cutting, bending, welding, CNC machining, passivation, and more, all geared toward high-volume OEM production for industries like mining, energy, transportation, and water treatment.

Phoenix Metal, based in Jamestown, New York, has manufactured custom metal components since 1983. The company operates three dedicated facilities focused on metal stamping, laser cutting, powder coating, welding, and electrical and mechanical assembly. Phoenix Metal holds ISO 9001:2015 and AWS certifications and serves eastern U.S. customers in the automotive, data center, HVAC, battery, lighting, and other industries.

RITZ Machine Works—headquartered in Dauphin, Manitoba, with a second facility in Cambridge, Minnesota—has specialized in precision tube and pipe bending since 1998. Other capabilities include CNC machining, laser cutting, robotic welding, metal forming, and sheet metal fabrication for customers in transportation, construction, agriculture, and mining. RITZ holds ISO 9001:2015 certification and its welders meet CWB standards.

What The Champ Group Delivers

Combining these operations under The Champ Group creates a robust manufacturing network that stretches across Canada and the United States. For our customers, this translates into measurable advantages:

• Greater production capacity. Facilities in Quebec; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Jamestown, New York; Jamestown, North Dakota; Dauphin, Manitoba; and Cambridge, Minnesota allow us to absorb larger orders and manage demand spikes without compromising lead times.
• Deeper material expertise. The Champ Group works with aluminum, carbon steel, stainless steel, copper, galvanized steel, and satin-blend steel. This combined material expertise goes well beyond what a single operation could cover.
• End-to-end project support. Whether your project needs prototyping, high-volume stamping, precision welding, tube and pipe bending, passivation, or powder coating, you can source it all through one group. That means less vendor management overhead for your procurement team.
• Cross-border flexibility. With operations in both Canada and the U.S., we can meet Buy America requirements and Canadian ITB obligations within the same family of companies.

A Shared Focus on Quality and Precision

All four companies in The Champ Group share a common thread: a disciplined approach to fabrication quality. Champ Metal Fabrication holds ISO 9001:2015 and AWS/CWB certifications. Industrie Lemieux operates separate stainless steel and steel divisions within its facilities, with a dedicated partition wall and ventilation system to prevent cross-contamination during fabrication. Phoenix Metal earned its ISO 9001 designation in 1994, one of the first metal fabricators in the U.S. to achieve this status. RITZ Machine Works has built its reputation on ISO 9001:2015-certified precision, becoming a trusted tube bending partner to OEMs across both countries.
These credentials reflect how The Champ Group approaches production: documented processes, thorough inspection, and full traceability at every stage.

Looking Ahead: Stronger Together

The formation of The Champ Group signals our long-term investment in people, equipment, and geographic reach. We are combining the operational agility of Champ, the heavy-duty OEM production strength of Industrie Lemieux, the precision stamping and finishing expertise of Phoenix Metal, and the precision tube and pipe bending capabilities of RITZ Machine Works into a single, cohesive manufacturing organization.

For existing customers of all four companies, day-to-day operations continue without disruption. Your contacts, contracts, and production schedules remain intact. What changes is the depth of resources behind every project you bring to us.

If you are exploring a new fabrication project or looking for a partner that can handle complex, multi-stage production at scale, we invite you to connect with us. Contact Champ Industries to learn more about our combined capabilities.