The Bevco Story

Kevin Fortier
The Bevco Story

Bevco is a Canadian, family owned and operated company providing quality conveyor systems and packaging equipment to the food, beverage and other container handling industries.  We play a major role in the production of food and drinks which people consume every day. Bevco machinery is used all around the world including Canada, USA, Australia, China, Singapore, Beirut, the Netherlands, England, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Mexico, Peru, Columbia and England. Some of Bevco’s international customers include Gatorade, Coca Cola, Welch’s and Ocean Spray and some of our local customers include Parallel 49 Brewing and Steamworks Brewing. What sets Bevco apart from competitors is the great value for the customer’s money and the product is always delivered on time.


Bevco's Office and Shop 2016

Bevco was founded in 1980 by Fernie “Gus” Fortier. Fernie worked at the Molson’s brewery in Vancouver for 20 years where he started out as an electrician. He was promoted to the maintenance manager and then production manager.  At Molson’s he gained a thorough understanding of the bottling, brewing, and packaging industry. He noticed that there were no tabletop conveyor manufacturers in Western Canada and identified the need and market opportunity for this. Realizing the business potential, he founded Bevco Packaging in 1980. The name was changed to Bevco Conveying Systems in 1984 and to Bevco Sales International Inc. in 2003.


Fernie “Gus” Fortier

Bevco started out manufacturing machinery for smaller pop and beverage companies locally throughout B.C. and Alberta. With experience came growth and Bevco began supplying conveyors for the big 3 breweries across Canada; Labatt, Molson, and Carling. After teaming up with sales agents across the USA and Mexico in the late 1980s Bevco expanded to the international market and started selling conveyors across the USA. Bevco also started building additional equipment such as Bottle Rinsers, Bi-Directional Accumulation Tables, Gripper Elevators, Lowerators, Coolers, and Warmers. In 1998 Bevco added Air Conveyors to its line of packaging machinery.

In 1984 Bevco purchased the land and built the buildings where operations still continue today. A break and shear was purchased in 1985 to improve productivity and product quality for sheet metal as well as 2 single station punch machines. 10 years later, in 1995, Bevco moved all sheet metal equipment to the back shop and purchased a CNC punch which improved production capacity by 100% overnight. In the summer of 2016, Bevco upgraded its lathe and purchased a new brake press to improve production quality and efficiency.


Bevco’s New Brake Press

Various members of the Fortier family have been involved with Bevco throughout its history. Bevco’s current President Brian Fortier was trained by Gus from a young age on how to fabricate machinery and manage factory productions. In 1981 Brian began working at Bevco alongside Gus and in 2005, Brian and Donna Fortier (Brian’s wife) assumed control of the company. He now has more than 35 years of experience with Bevco and is an expert in the conveyor industry. Brian’s dedication to product quality and customer satisfaction has led Bevco through its most successful years to date.


Brian Fortier, Bevco President and CEO

From its modest beginnings of a small 5-persons shop, Bevco employees worked hard to fulfill the customers’ needs. Today, more than 500 industry leaders, many of them fortune 500 companies, trust Bevco to manufacture conveyors and equipment for their production lines. Bevco takes pride in the quality of its machinery. Bevco machinery is built to last and is built to perform. At Bevco, We Convey Satisfaction.


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