Ebert Welding building a better groomer.

• Author: Larmour, Adelle
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: TEMISKAMING SHORES & REGION

Ebert Welding Ltd. custom builds snowmobile trail groomers to withstand the most rugged winter conditions throughout Canada's and the northern United States' hardy trail systems.

Not only is the machine economical to operate, but "it has been widely recognized as one of the most effective grooming systems out there," says Ian Auger, Ebert Welding's general manager.

This 60-year-old New Liskeard company began as a repair and structural steel erection business, run by Ken Ebert. In 1970, Martin Auger bought the business, where he continued to service the mining and forestry industry. Understanding the cyclical nature of those sectors, Martin foresaw the eventual economic downturn in the mid-80s. Consequently, he expanded and became an authorized dealer for New Holland farm equipment and Ford tractors, which united under one umbrella in 1986.

By the late '80s, the Ontario government announced it would take the tourism/snowmobiling industry to the same level as Quebec's well-organized trails.

Again, the potential of this untapped market led the business into manufacturing snow trail groomers by merging the company's structural custom-building, modifying and repairing expertise with its farm equipment sales.

"What called us to the market was that there were really no purpose-built snowmobile trail groomers," says Auger. "They were really all ski-hill or snow-travelling vehicles, which were adapted to groom snowmobile trails."

Today, the 25-employee company manufactures about 35 tractor-powered New Holland Sur-TracTM groomers per year in its 22,000-square-foot facility. It has a $1-million in-house inventory, and is the region's only New Holland and Case IH authorized dealer servicing all of Northern Ontario. Also, they have developed a rich export market where approximately 60 per cent of the groomers are shipped to the northern United States.

It was a logical step for the company to integrate the mechanical workings of the rear-grooming drag with the farm tractor's operational systems. With an 80- to 140-horsepower tractor leading the charge through dense brush-covered snow trails throughout the Canadian Shield, the groomer is built to withstand the demands of a constant load under adverse conditions.

The drag's performance design is based upon scientific principles that developed over the years with feedback from the company's customers, the Keweenaw Research Center, as well as trial and error.

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