Dynamic family succession

In 1976, René St-Cyr, a man with a passion for wood products, founded the company that bears his name. From its beginnings as a sawmill to the renowned hardwood flooring and stairs enterprise it has become today, the company’s credo has remained the same: to aim for nothing less than excellence!

Guylaine St-Cyr’s childhood was cradled by the hectic daily life of the family business; her playground was the company timber yard. Later on, she handed out flyers at trade shows she attended with her father, from whom she inherited his love of the business and his entrepreneurial spirit.

Ms. St-Cyr has been the company’s President and CEO since 2006, and is assisted by her brother, who works as an installer, and by her sister, who has a position at the plant.

Valuing innovative ideas

When she took over the reins of her father’s company, Guylaine St-Cyr surrounded herself with a team of professional and dynamic people. She places great importance on new ideas and values the considerable input of her 50 or so employees.

A case in point: when an employee came up with an ingenious solution that would raise the bar in a very traditional sector—the manufacturing of natural wood flooring—where the last invention dated back to 1941, Ms. St-Cyr pounced on the idea.

After several years of research and development, René St-Cyr (1996) Inc. created the new TEMAVI^TM tongue and groove manufacturing process. This simple and innovative system, which has patent pending status, makes it possible for joints to remain tight when floor planks are fed through the varnishing machine and to be quickly and effortlessly separated at the other end.

International markets

In line with its mandate to support manufacturing firms looking to commercialize their innovations, Canada Economic Development awarded repayable funding to René St-Cyr (1996) Inc. to implement a commercialization strategy over the next two years introducing its new system to the United States and European markets.

This funding will be used by René St-Cyr (1996) Inc. to secure intellectual property protection for TEMAVI^TM, hire a marketing coordinator, take part in promotional activities, produce promotional materials and engage the services of consulting firms.

If past performance is any indication, the future should be very bright for René St-Cyr (1996) Inc. Indeed, with more than 30 years of experience and hard work in wood product development, the entire team can be justly proud of the company’s stunning success!