Many of the industries in the Weyburn area reported having a strong year in 1999, with growth reported by Alcatel Canada Wire and IPEX Inc.

Alcatel saw a growth of 14 per cent in sales in the past year, said plant manager John Murray. "We had an excellent year in '99, and the prospects for the year 2000 are very good."

The company is in the middle of expanding its Weyburn plant, which will double the production capacity and eventually add 60 jobs. "The expansion is slightly behind in construction, and we look forward to catching them up," said Murray.

The expansion will be complete with full production to begin by September, said the plant manager, with recruitment of new staff to start in May to run until the end of the year. The goal is to add 20 employees by the end of 2000; Alcatel currently has a staff of 110 employees.

Murray said the growth in sales was mainly due to new markets in North and South Dakota and Nebraska, mostly for overhead cable products.

Growth in sales was even better at IPEX Inc., whose plastic pipe manufacturing plant at North Weyburn saw an increase of 25 per cent in 1999, including an expansion in production, said plant manager Murray Keefe.

A fourth extrusion line was added to the production plant, increasing the output by 25 per cent, and the plant has been running at capacity 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"We're expecting the trend to continue in 2000," said Keefe, who noted IPEX added 10 new staff members to bring the total to 25.

The growth is due to expansion of new markets to provide ducts for fibre optic lines, he said, with most of their sales going to the U.S. or Eastern Canada.

Activity at Stewart Steel, also at North Weyburn, was "strong all year long, and we've been able to do some hiring in the latter part of the year. We're hoping 2000 will be steadier than '99," said manager Brad Stewart.

The sales volume was similar to 1998, he added, but the work flow varied with busy and slow times of the year, due mostly to the downturn in the oil and agricultural sectors.

"The oil price is good right now, but the activity hasn't picked up yet. All indications are it will be picking up," said Stewart, adding his employees are currently fairly busy.

The work at Duraco Window Industries has been steady through the past year, said general manager Jim Hutt, although one person was laid off at the start of this year.

"1999 was sort of sporadic, but it ended as being fairly good," said Hutt.

While sales for the year were down slightly from the year before, Hutt said the numbers weren't that bad considering the downturn in both the oil and ag industries. Duraco builds windows for construction and renovation projects throughout southern Saskatchewan with some going into Alberta.

"From right now until mid-February, we're looking pretty good. After that, who knows? A lot depends on what happens with the farmers. We still depend on the farming community. We certainly can't complain about '99," said Hutt.

The year was up and down for M&R Machines in Weyburn, said manager Heather Sidloski, again due to the downturn in the farm economy and fluctuations in the oil industry.

"1999 was probably a lot tougher than previous years. 2000 looks like there's lots of potential, as we've diversified into other projects and industries, going more into production," said Sidloski, noting the company secured a contract from Maryland which has helped them to keep busy. The company installed two new state-of-the-art pieces of manufacturing equipment which enabled them to bid for the contract.

Staffing remained fairly steady through the year, with the shop employing 13 to 15 people.