“The knowledge of the past becomes the wisdom of the future.”
– John Leder, co-founder of Supreme Steel
Supreme Steel began as a small western Canadian steel erector business launched in 1972 by John and Sally Leder. The company grew into the biggest privately held steel fabricator in the 1980s, and has since participated in projects like Seattle’s Ranier Tower, Vancouver’s Port Mann Bridge and Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Stations, Edmonton’s Rogers Arena and the combined office and control tower at the Edmonton International Airport, and the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, among others.
In 2020, Supreme Steel refined their services and stopped offering large scope general contracting and multi-disciplinary module construction services, narrowing their focus to the fabrication and construction of steel structures. Supreme Steel has sought to become the go-to provider of complex steel solutions such as bridges, skyscrapers, potash headframes and barges, as well as maintenance work and plat modifications.
Supreme Steel’s core values of accountability, collaboration, and tenacity guide its business model and its decision-making process; and its commitment to health, safety, the environment, and quality mean that the company actively holds and upkeeps nearly thirty safety and quality certifications, including ISO 9001-2015. The company also partners with building trades unions, shop unions, various integrated software platforms, and charitable organizations to support the community around them and strengthen the steel fabrication industry as a whole. Supreme Steel is also committed to long term, meaningful engagement of Indigenous communities within the workplace and seeks to ensure that their workplaces are inclusive and free of prejudice.
Supreme Steel is one of the CIC’s founding members and works alongside the CIC as an industry partner in various research projects such as the “Data-Driven Decision-Making Methods for Improved Design, Fabrication, Construction and Deconstruction of Steel structures” being led by PI Dr. Ali Imanpour.