For more than 125 years, EB Horsman & Son has built its business by embracing change.
What began as a hardware store in Saskatchewan in 1900 evolved alongside Western Canada, adapting to new industries, technologies and communities. From helping electrify cities in the early 1900s to supporting some of Canada’s largest infrastructure projects, the fifth-generation family business – now headquartered in Surrey, B.C. – has adapted while staying true to its roots.
And its latest chapter has been shaped by its partnership with Seaspan under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy.
“When I sit down and talk to people about what EB Horsman & Son does, I’m not talking about selling light bulbs,” says Tim Horsman, President and CEO. “I take more of a cathedral-building approach.”
Whether it’s supplying electrical equipment for hospitals, wastewater treatment facilities, convention centres or Canada’s next generation of Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy vessels, Horsman says the company’s role extends far beyond the products it distributes.
“At the end of the day, EB Horsman & Son is helping Western Canadians build out their communities.”
Taking a chance on a new industry
Like many opportunities throughout the company’s history, EB Horsman’s journey into shipbuilding began with curiosity.
Around 2012, one of the company’s account managers pitched the idea of attending one of North America’s largest shipbuilding conferences in New Orleans. It wasn’t an obvious fit for a company known for electrical distribution, but he returned convinced Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy represented an opportunity worth pursuing. Luckily, he was able to convince his boss.
While EB Horsman had experience supporting British Columbia’s marine sector, modern shipbuilding was new territory. The company secured its first contract supplying commercial-off -the-shelf (COTS) electrical products for the Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel program. This began a partnership that has now spanned every vessel class built at Seaspan Shipyards – from the Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel and Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel to the Joint Support Ships, and currently, the Multi-Purpose Vessels and Polar Icebreaker programs.
But it hasn’t been without challenges.
“It was a very steep learning curve,” says Darren Ramsey, Account Manager. “Electrically, you’re dealing with CSA and UL. With Seaspan, you’re dealing with class approvals. It’s a different approval system, and we’re still learning.”
Growing together
More than a decade later, the partnership has transformed the business.
What began with a small team supporting the shipbuilding program has grown into dedicated account managers, project specialists, inventory managers and inventory staff focused on Seaspan’s work. Today, the shipbuilding program represents the largest contract in EB Horsman’s 126-year history.
“The impact that this has had on our company has been massive,” says Ramsey. “It’s taken us to a whole new market that we were never involved in.”
For Juri Vuletin, Director of Industrial Sales and Supplier Relations, the biggest success has been the partnership itself.
“We’ve learned a lot together because it was new for Seaspan back in 2012 too,” he says. “Working as a partnership to figure out how we can do things better. It’s not about pointing fingers. It’s about solving the problem together.”
Investing in Canada’s shipbuilding future
One of the biggest benefits of the National Shipbuilding Strategy has been certainty. The long-term nature of the program has given the company confidence to invest in people, inventory, facilities and technology.
“Knowing that we have a long-term outlook and a long-term contract, we can get a little more creative and a little more entrepreneurial in all areas of the business,” says Vuletin. “We’re not looking for a quick payoff. We’re in it for the long-term.”
Those investments have opened new relationships with manufacturers around the world while expanding EB Horsman’s expertise in the marine industry – capabilities that now benefit customers beyond shipbuilding.
For EB Horsman & Son, being part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy isn’t just about supplying electrical components – it’s about helping create the expertise, partnerships and industrial capability that will support Canadian shipbuilding well into the future.
Or, as Horsman puts it, it’s never really been about selling light bulbs. It’s about helping build something much bigger together.