More than you think: Sling-Choker Manufacturing marks 50 years in business
Founder Paul Villgren reflects on five decades building business in Sudbury
After graduating from the mining engineering program at the Haileybury School of Mines in the 1960s, Paul Villgren quickly found work with INCO, and then Falconbridge.
He could easily have stayed the course, enjoying a long career working for some of the region’s biggest mining companies. But something else had drawn his attention.
Escorting visiting mining suppliers underground so they could demonstrate their merchandise, Villgren had been intrigued by the variety of available products and their ability to improve safety and production.
So, with three years of work under his belt, he gave his notice and took a job working for the Hugh J. O’Neill Company, a mining supplier with locations in Timmins, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Kapuskasing, and Quebec.
“My mother cried for a week,” Villgren chuckled. “She thought it was a big step down, but I thought I would enjoy that more and travel and sell supplies. And it worked out well.”?