Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 44
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CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS (2026)
At Longboard, it’s all about treating people well
W
hen Chris
Coppin took an
entry-level job
at Longboard
Architectural
Products Inc. in 2014, he was
coming off a “toxic” workplace
elsewhere and figured he’d only
stay for a few months. Today,
he’s still there, having risen to
quality assurance manager for the
company and grateful for all that’s
happened to him.
Why did he stay? Maybe it was
in how he describes the corporate
culture at the Abbotsford, B.C.based maker of special aluminum
cladding and soffits, much of it in
wood-grain design, for residential and commercial buildings.
“It’s anything but corporate,” he
chuckles.
He especially appreciates the
atmosphere owners Mike and
Karen Heppell have created since
founding the business in 2005 and
starting their unique Longboard
cladding products in 2008. “It’s
become a joke to say your work
is a family, but I truly believe it
here,” says Coppin. “You feel it in
everything, from Mike walking
around the plant saying ‘Good
morning’ to you, to how you're
treated. You feel like you're walking into a group of friends.”
After he started his first role
working on the paint line, Coppin
found that people could move up
relatively fast — he became a team
lead within a few months — and
he has ascended through a series
of roles since. Along the way, he
was given considerable training
at each stage. And while it was a
smaller company early on, he still
sees newcomers progress efficiently now that there are about 215
employees.
Cody Klassen, people and
culture manager, says Coppin’s
experience is very much in line
with the Heppells’ commitment to
six core values, including “people
come first.”
“It’s about really having a deep
commitment and caring for your
people,” says Klassen. The other
values are “there’s always a better
way”; simplicity; sustainability;
compassionate acts and human
flourishing, and transparency. The
latter includes regular two-way
feedback with employees that
has resulted in changes both
to personnel systems and the
manufacturing process. “We want
to unleash the collective power of
the team,” says Klassen.
Sustainability is an especially
poignant value considering that
aluminum is almost endlessly recyclable when the products reach
the end of their life. Longboard itself offers the Longboard Eco line
made from recycled aluminum.
A large part of the company’s
business involves the market
in the United States, which
continued its 50 percent tariff on
Canadian aluminum into 2026,
but Klassen says Longboard has
been able to maintain its competitiveness there and continues to
expand its workforce.
That workforce enjoys a variety
of progressive benefits, including
a non-traditional health spending
account that ranges from $2,500 to
$6,250, depending on the worker
and family, and covers 100 per cent
of anything in health rather than
conventional extended benefits
You feel like you’re walking into a group of friends.
— Chris Coppin
Quality Assurance Manager
Employees at Longboard Architectural Products are given the support needed to thrive in their careers over
the long term.
