Normand Lavoie was raised by a family of entrepreneurs. It simply never occurred to him to be anything else in life.

At the age of 21, this native of Maniwaki threw himself head first into the adventure as soon as he got the chance. “In 1985, I was studying administration at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, and after a year and a half I dropped out. It felt like I was going around in circles. My father, who had worked all his life in retreading truck tires, wanted to move to Gatineau. So I took over the retreading operations at this new location.”

Retreading involves replacing the tread of a used tire to extend its life. The procedure can result in significant savings. Nearly 30 years after this first incursion into the business world, Mr. Lavoie’s business is doing phenomenally well. Pneus Lavoie, which currently has more than 250 employees, runs twelve garages, a retreading plant and three warehouses in western Quebec and in the Ottawa-Gatineau area.

While the business is now doing well, it has had its ups and downs: several years without any profits, a fire and financial difficulties…But this businessman held on. At the end of the day, his tenacity paid off.

Growth through acquisitions

For the first four years in operation, Normand Lavoie worked non-stop and without time off. “I learned a lot on the job during that time,” he recounts. “I was trying to increase our sales volume while keeping costs under control.”

At the first glimmer of profitability in 1987, a new garage was set up on rue de Varennes in the Gatineau sector. That marked the beginning of the retail activities, which focused on the automobile market. His first clients were garages and car dealers in Ottawa and in the Outaouais.

In 1995, Normand Lavoie acquired his first garage on the Ontario side. Operating today as Commercial Tire Auto Service, this company has three garages. This marked the start of a series of acquisitions for the entrepreneur, namely in Gatineau, on rue St-Louis, Maniwaki, Mont-Laurier and Mont-Tremblant.

In February 2001, Pneus Lavoie acquired a building on rue Mangin in Gatineau. “Given that I was getting short of space on rue de Varennes, my goal was to set up distribution activities in that building.”

However, things took a different turn when in August of that year, the rue de Varennes facility was completely demolished in a fire.

“We had to move fast. Within five weeks, we managed to convert the warehouse space on rue Mangin into a retail store complete with service bays so we could continue our business.”

But the problems were far from over. The fire, the move, the renovation…all this took a heavy toll on the business’ finances, which sank pretty deeply into the red for 2001. “It took me about four years to recover. In the meantime, I learned a lot about finances.”

The Fonds de solidarité FTQ was there to help the business through this dark period.

An injection of venture capital helped leverage the company. Since then, it was never looked back. In 2005, a 37,000 square foot warehouse was rented in Ottawa. Five years later, in 2010, thanks to a partnership with the Centre financier aux entreprises (CFE) and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), a 65,000 square foot building was built in Gatineau. New leading edge technology equipment was purchased, enabling Pneus Lavoie to set up the most modern retreading plant in America.

The right moves

According to Mr. Lavoie, his business’ growth was largely based on the information technologies at his disposal. The company ordered the development of a software program that enables clients to purchase tires online. “At the busiest times of the year, approximately 400,000 orders are recorded monthly by the system. This has enabled me to significantly increase the company’s performance while reducing the number of employees taking orders.”

Another good move was having the company join the UNIPNEU organization. Similar to a co-op, this association of tire merchants has 40% of the Quebec market and helps its members generate significant economies of scale. Normand Lavoie has been involved with the organization for a long time, and has served it in several different capacities. He is currently in his fourth year as the Chairman of its Board of Directors.

After a whole series of ups and downs, Pneus Lavoie is now pursuing its expansion projects, and its plans include increasing the Quebec and Ontario markets.
 

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