The Evolution of Montel through time
From electrical boxes and flip flop toasters to housing priceless collections and more recently growing cannabis and lettuce indoors
What started out as a small metalworking and electrical engineering outfit out of Montmagny, Québec, would go on to pioneer high-density mobile storage and become an industry leader for saving space in commercial and industrial spaces everywhere around the world.
From humble beginnings Founded in 1924 and originally called Electrical Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Montel began as an industrial ironwork manufacturer and equipment supplier. Although the company stamped all sorts of things, from bicycle stands to kitchen oven parts to cigarette molds to door hinges to coffin hardware, the company also specialized in electrical components like electrical panel boards, wireways, busways, safety switches, wire holders, fuse cutouts.
(Did you know that the name Montel harkens back to its origin? It’s a portmanteau of Montmagny and electricity.)
During World War II, Montel pivoted ironworking production to help with the war effort, stamping 25 lb. artillery shells, metal containers for MREs, and metal lunch boxes for soldiers. At the time, the company also extended its reach into the field of electrical engineering by building small fuse boxes for water heaters and residential electrical panels. For a company that already had a solid expertise in electricity and sheet metal transformation, Montel was already innovating and breaking new ground.
In the 1950s, Montel was providing high and low voltage circuit breakers for 4 substations in Africa, the Gander airport in Newfoundland, St. Lawrence Seaway, and other substations in Quebec.
Founded in 1924, Montel is a company specialized in the design and manufacture of high-density mobile storage systems for a multitude of markets, including libraries, museums, industrial warehousing, education, healthcare, public safety, military, sports and indoor vertical farming.
Midcentury transition
In the 1960s, when Montel first began developing mobile storage solutions, the company was still hard at work serving its community. It was fast becoming the industry leader in manufacturing metal bookcases for libraries, and had contracted with Hydro-Québec, a transnational public utility that manages electrical transmission for parts of Canada and the United States, to build its industrial electrical components.
The first generation of cantilever shelving was engineered by Montel in 1955. Over the next thirty years, Montel continued revolutionizing storage technology, eventually acquiring Art Metal Inc. out of New Jersey in 1986. By the 1990s, Montel decided to take a big step: the company changed its focus from engineering electrical equipment to focus solely on high density storage systems and shelving systems.
Montel: a modern marvel
Today, Montel is a world leader in high-density mobile storage systems and intelligent storage equipment like carts and hanging racks. We’ve applied the same principles of smarter, more efficient space-saving technology to our vertical grow systems for indoor farming, with installations across North America and throughout the rest of the world.
As we ring in the new year, we look forward to what the future will bring for us and our partners. When your client base is as diverse as Montel’s is—warehousing, indoor farming, museums, sports teams, schools, health care providers, and more—you really have to be ready for anything!
But with nearly one hundred years of experience under our belts, we’re optimistic about rising to meet the challenges of the next one hundred years, whatever they might be.
