Canadian Blood Services wins big at Brampton Board of Trade Business Excellence Awards

Canadian Blood Services has been recognized as a business leader for its large facility in Brampton, Ont., where more than 40 per cent of blood products are tested and processed every day. At the Brampton Board of Trade’s 2020 Business Excellence Awards on Oct. 20, we took home the award for best organization in Brampton’s life sciences sector, a category with many other strong nominees. This award distinguishes us as a business leader in the city and honours our commitment to a strong Brampton community.

“More than 40 per cent of blood products are tested and processed every day at our facility in Brampton, helping us to meet the needs of patients. We are very grateful to the community of Brampton and your ongoing support,” says Rick Prinzen, Canadian Blood Services’ chief supply chain officer and vice-president of donor relations.

Keeping Canadians living

Canadian Blood Services has been a mainstay in Brampton’s life sciences sector since 2011 with the opening of our state-of-the-art blood production and distribution facility at 100 Parkshore Drive. We continue to expand and innovate in Brampton:

• Saving the lives of patients: We partnered with Brampton Civic Hospital in 2014 to begin collecting cord blood rich with life-saving stem cells for anyone needing a stem cell transplant.
• Combining talents: Our unlikely collaboration with Toyota Canada began in 2015. Toyota advisors became part of our Brampton teams, making regular visits to the facility and sharing the fundamental principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS) — a system based on a customer-first approach and continuous improvements with a shop floor focus. We continue to work together to make improvements in the Canadian blood supply chain to help every patient and match every need while maintaining quality and lowering costs.
• Bringing the world to Brampton: Nampachi Hayashi travelled from Japan in 2018 to spend time with our front-line teams. Mr. Hayashi joined Toyota Motor Company in 1966 and is one of the last direct protégés of Taiichi Ohno, the author of the Toyota Production System. Our partnership with Toyota gained recognition, and our counterparts at blood operators around the world visited Brampton to get a first-hand look at our improvement program.
• Touching the lives of Canadians: We opened our 6,400-square-foot plasma protein products inventory warehouse in 2016. Our teams work together to store and distribute more than 500,000 vials of these life-saving products to hospitals throughout Ontario.
• Making a difference: We celebrated the grand opening of a state-of-the-art testing laboratory addition in 2018. Our team in Brampton tests more than 60 per cent of the blood collected in Canada, helping to ensure the health and well-being of patients.

The Brampton operations facility distributes life-saving blood components and blood products to 121 hospitals in Ontario.

A celebration of great work

This award is a celebration of the great work our teams do everyday in serving Canadian patients. With more than 400 employees, the Brampton facility closely reflects the communities we serve and it is a workplace defined by respect, inclusion and well-being.

We encourage the use of the onsite private prayer room for daily prayers and participation in the LGBTQ+ employee resource group.

Our priority with the continuous improvement program is to develop the potential within our front-line teams to identify and solve problems, ensuring they have many opportunities to learn, grow and build rewarding careers in Brampton. Since investing in their development and well-being, we’ve seen more energized teams showing higher levels of service to donors, hospitals and patients.

To meet the people behind what we do in Brampton, check out Life on the line: The amazing journey of donated blood.

Our team in Brampton tests more than 60 per cent of the blood collected in Canada, helping to ensure the health and well-being of patients.

Fast facts

• With more than 400 employees, the Brampton operations facility processes more than 40 per cent of all blood donations in Canada.
• The facility distributes life-saving blood components and blood products to 121 hospitals in Ontario.
• In a year, the facility distributes more than 400,000 blood components to hospitals throughout southern, central and northern Ontario.
• Mobile donor centres in various Brampton communities collect about 3,000 units of whole blood over 42 events in a year.

Pedro Custodio, a shipper/receiver in the plasma protein products warehouse, works with his colleagues to store and distribute more than 500,000 vials of these life-saving products to hospitals throughout Ontario. (This photo was taken before the COVID-19 pandemic).