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canadian industry Online - NOVEMBER 2014
F
ocusing in on
what is
known as a very competitive
industry in North America, CIO had
the opportunity to speak with Jacques
Blanchet, General Manager of the Alli-
ance Saint-Laurent Casket Corpora-
tion.
CIO:
What is your personal back-
ground and how did you get into this
business?
Jacques Blanchet:
I am a mechan-
ical engineer with almost 30 years of
experience in the small, mid-size and
large manufacturing industry. The first
half was on the technical side of the
business, but the remainder has been
in managerial type positions. I have
been with the company for more than
five years now, thru which we have
initiated an in depth transformation
that is still ongoing today.
CIO:
How was a need for the
company determined? And what were
the origins of the business?
JB:
The company was founded
February 2nd, 1978 in St-Luce near
Rimouski QC, by Herman Bélanger.
Herman had worked as a foreman for
Canadian Casket in Montréal. It then
was an artisanal type woodworking
shop serving the needs of local funeral
homes of the Bas St-Laurent. It was
then named “Les Cercueils Bas St-Lau-
rent.”
In 1982 it moved to a new plant in St-
Juste-du-lac QC, financed by entrepre-
neurs, workers, and the community.
The intent was to promote and main-
tain local jobs in what was called the
JAL, a group of small communities
(
st-Juste-Auclair-Lejeune) in the “Bas
St-Laurent” region.
It has been acquired and restruc-
tured in 1986 by a group of four of
which Paul Michaud who later became
the sole owner until 2005. The name
became “Cercueils Saint-Laurent.” In
between came on board Benoit Beau-
lieu, who still is with the company
today after 25 years.
The St-Juste-du-lac plant burned
down in 1991 and the company oper-
ated partly in a school in Cabano while
building another plant in Lots-Renver-
sés QC in which they moved in 1992.
Another operation was put in
place in Edmundston, NB back in 1994
(
Cercueils Alliance Caskets), in order
to manufacture a new product line
meant to serve the needs of cremation,
and low end burial.
Aurora Casket, a privately held
company and the third player in North
America, purchased 50% of the shares
in 2006 and the remainder in 2010. The
company became “Corporation Cer-
cueils Alliance St-Laurent caskets cor-
poration”.
The company was sold to a pri-
vate equity firm, Kohlberg, in 2012.
The same year, all operations were
consolidated in a newly acquired and
renovated facility in Edmundston, NB.
CIO:
How have the markets
changed over the last 35 years for the
company?
JB:
From a small woodworking
shop making below 2000 caskets per
year, the company grew the sales to 80
000
caskets a year in 2004-2005 getting
contracts with major funeral homes
like Urgel Bourgie, and by being the
first Canadian company to expand is
the US, selling to distributors. It was
promoting itself as a low cost pro-
ducer, making caskets and cremation
supplies from cardboard to solid wood
caskets to “rental” caskets.
During one period, there was a
market consolidation among both the
funeral homes and the distributors.
Large FH chains were born, and they
would allocate their contracts to ma-
jor distributors or manufacturers with
coast to coast capabilities and net-
works.
Not having such a distribution
network, Alliance St-Laurent, a manu-
facturer was selling to distributors. It
has also affected a number of casket
makers, where the small players were
gradually either closing or being pur-
chased. The owner of the time, Paul
Michaud chose to make a strategic
alliance with Aurora Casket of IN who
has a network through the US.
Early in the life of the company,
ALLIANCE ST-LAURENT
