Electronic Contract Manufacturing Services

Our History

Located at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in beautiful Calgary, Alberta Canada, Innovative Manufacturing Source (IMS) is a full service Electronic Contract Manufacturer founded in 2004 by Dave Elhard to offer an alternative choice in the Electronic Contract Manufacturing industry in Western Canada.

IMS has experienced growth in terms of customers, sales and equipment far beyond their expectations set in the early years. Starting with just 5 employees, 4,000 sqft of production space and a handful of customers in June of 2004, IMS has built a strong, capable team of over 120 employees, 77,000 sq ft of climate-controlled manufacturing space, and over 250 customers worldwide.

The vision for IMS in 2004 was to build a tremendous team of knowledgeable, skilled, and dedicated people that could offer unsurpassed service and product in the Electronics Contract Manufacturing Industry. By continuously re-evaluating and improving our processes and capabilities, both our customers and IMS continue to experience growth and success.

Our customer base includes Marine, Military, Petroleum, Security, Telecommunications, and Transportation Industries whose products are distributed worldwide.

Our Vision

To bring inspiration and innovation to every product we build, moving you towards success!

Leadership

Dave Elhard - President and Founder

Dave Elhard

President and Founder

In the role of President, Dave brings 35+ years of Electronic Manufacturing knowledge and experience to his role. The first step out of the gate has to be knowing where you want to end up. What do you really want from your company? From Dave’s initial vision of what IMS could be and where it would go, he realized that the responsibility that came with his leadership was critical to the success of IMS.

Dave’s strong leadership style puts everyone at ease quickly and makes it easy to connect with him at all levels. He can regularly be found on the production floor interacting with various team members, collaborating with quality, production and process support, or engaging directly with customers to discuss their needs, understand their business goals, and find creative solutions to get their product built to the highest standards possible. Dave works diligently to build and motivate his team through encouragement, support, humor and friendships. His favorite thing to do first thing in the day is his “walkabout” on the shop floor to say good morning to everyone, see how they’re doing and catch up with his team.

“I’ve always said, ‘Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life!’ I love what I do, the people I work with, the customers that I serve and I cannot imagine doing anything else every single day. This is what motivates me, challenges me and pushes me to excellence. The choices I make each day, doing the best in this moment, puts me in the best place for the next moment to come.” – Dave Elhard, President and Founder

Dave received his Electronic Engineering Technology diploma from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in 1987 and his Business Administration Degree from the University of Calgary in 1992.

“To be an ethical leader is indeed to be different. This kind of leader acknowledges the complexity of running a responsible business, yet tries to do it anyway.”

Andrew Lee

Stuart Henley - VP of Business Development

Stuart Henley

VP of Business Development

As Vice President of Business Development, Stuart brings 35+ years of Electronic Manufacturing knowledge and experience to this role. Through strategic planning of IMS’ Business Development, Stuart creates new value add services that improve the customer experience. As he works closely with our current and future clients, paying special attention to their specific product needs, he offers creative ideas and solutions that play a major role in assisting customers to develop and grow their businesses.

Stuart is a visionary. He sees potential where others may not and is inspired to do great things. He uses his strengths in innovation and creativity to craft opportunities for both the customer and IMS. He invites opportunity to take on new challenges, and his desire to succeed drives him to offer all the services of IMS to help companies excel in their market segments. This ability is a rare quality to develop business solutions outside the normal scope of Electronics and Sheet Metal Manufacturing, offering a superior level of service in the industry.

Stuart brings his knowledge and experience all the while expanding IMS into a world class Contract Manufacturer in Calgary. His experience fits the continued growth plan and further strengthens the commitment by IMS to create manufacturing excellence and unparalleled customer satisfaction in the Pacific Northwest.

Stuart received his Telecommunications Technology diploma From Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in 1988.

“When you think there is nothing left to improve on, your business dies, for there is no shortage of innovators”

-Bangambiki Habyarimana