How Winnipeg's metal shops show up online
50%
We read the websites of 107 metal shops in Winnipeg, part of our study of 2,095 shops in 23 Canadian cities. Here is what they show buyers, and how Winnipeg compares.
What buyers in Winnipeg see
Winnipeg's welders show their CWB more than any other city's: 27 of 54 welding shops mention it, against about a quarter across all 23 cities. Its shops cover a lot of ground: 54% offer sheet metal, cutting or bending, the highest share, and 50% offer machining. They are older than most too. Of those that give a year, the middle one started in 1983.
The basics
Four basics, and how Winnipeg compares
- 66%show no ISO or CWB certificationAll 23 cities: 74% · 8 points lower · tied 2nd lowest of 23 cities
- 54%name none of their equipmentAll 23 cities: 54% · the same · 9th lowest of 23 cities
- 97%don't say how many people work thereAll 23 cities: 96% · 1 point higher · tied 5th highest of 23 cities
- 49%don't say when they startedAll 23 cities: 49% · the same · 10th highest of 23 cities
Only 3 of 107 Winnipeg shops say how many people work there.
The shop map
Every one of Winnipeg's 107 shops, one dot each
Pick what the colours show.
Shows a certification: 36Shows none: 71
Names its equipment: 49Names none: 58
Gives its team size: 3Doesn't say: 104
Each dot is a listed shop with a website, moved a little (about 250 m) so no single shop can be picked out. The darker outline is Winnipeg. The others are its neighbouring municipalities.
What a buyer checks
A shop's spec sheet, the way most Winnipeg sites read it
A made-up Winnipeg shop. A line is struck through when most of the city's 107 sites leave it out.
Sample Fabricating, Winnipeg
Sample shop, not a real company
- Services
Fabrication, welding, laser cuttingOn nearly every site - Phone
555 010 0142Shown on 105 of 107 - Certification
CWB W47.1 · ISO 9001Missing on 71 of 107 - Equipment
4 kW fiber laser · 220 t press brake · 5 axis millMissing on 58 of 107 - Year started
Since 1989Shown on 55 of 107 - Team size
34 peopleMissing on 104 of 107 - Small jobs
One-offs welcomeMissing on 65 of 107
The oldest Winnipeg shop that gives a year started in 1911.
How it compares
Where Winnipeg sits among the 23 cities
Each dot is one of the 23 cities. The dark line is all 23 cities together. Each row runs from the lowest city to the highest.
Show no ISO or CWB certification
60%85%
Name none of their equipment
34%73%
Don't say how many people work there
89%100%
Don't say when they started
33%60%
Don't say whether they take small jobs
31%77%
How long they have been at it
55 Winnipeg shops say when they started
- Middle year
- 1983
- 4th oldest of 23 cities
- Started in 2001 or earlier
- 82%
- 3rd highest of 23 cities
- Oldest year given
- 1911
The other 52 give no year. Plum: started in 2001 or earlier. Teal: since 2002.
What they show and what they do
Certifications and trades in Winnipeg
Certifications on their websites
| Group | Winnipeg | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| None of these | 66% | 74% | tied 21st |
| ISO only | 8% | 12% | tied 13th |
| CWB only | 20% | 12% | Tied highest |
| Both ISO and CWB | 7% | 3% | 3rd |
ISO here means ISO 9001, AS9100 or ISO 13485. CWB means CWB W47.1 or W47.2. Rank 1 is the city with the biggest share.
The work they offer
| Work | Winnipeg | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal fabrication | 77% | 69% | tied 5th |
| Sheet metal, cutting and bending | 54% | 40% | Highest |
| Welding | 51% | 49% | tied 11th |
| Machining | 50% | 40% | tied 3rd |
| Structural steel | 19% | 20% | tied 11th |
| Railings and stairs | 18% | 20% | tied 11th |
Shares of all the city's shops. A shop can do several kinds of work. Rank 1 is the city with the biggest share.
A buyer with a big order wants to know how many people will build it
Industry in Winnipeg
A few numbers on industry in Winnipeg
- 726advanced manufacturing companies in WinnipegSource: Winnipeg Economic Development & Tourism, advanced manufacturing (fast facts: Statistics Canada 2022 & 2023)
- 51,235advanced manufacturing workers in ManitobaSource: Winnipeg Economic Development & Tourism, advanced manufacturing (fast facts: Statistics Canada 2022 & 2023)
From the city's page on Metal Shop Guide, each with its source.
54% of Winnipeg shops offer sheet metal, cutting or bending, the biggest share of the 23 cities.
For shop owners
In Winnipeg, add these three things first
In the order of the city's own gaps: what most sites here leave out first.
- 0197%of sites here don't show it
How many you are
Roughly how many people work there.
- 0266%of sites here don't show it
Your certifications, by name and standard
CWB W47.1 Division 2, ISO 9001:2015, AS9100D. Link the certificate.
- 0361%of sites here don't show it
The jobs you take
One-offs, prototypes, short runs or production only. If there's a minimum, say so.
Source
Where these numbers come from
For Winnipeg, Metal Shop Guide covers Winnipeg and area and lists 107 shops. All of them have a website of their own, and we read them, as of October 28, 2026. “Not shown” means we didn't find it on the pages we read. A blind check of 40 shops suggests each share is a few points high.
One shop is 0.9% of the Winnipeg total, so small gaps can be chance.
Cite this page: Figured Media, “How Winnipeg's metal shops show up online”, October 2026, with data from Metal Shop Guide. https://figuredmedia.com/research/metal-shops-online-2026/winnipeg/
Photo credits
- Winnipeg, at the top: Photo by Ethan Sahagun, CC BY 4.0, edited (cropped)
- Shop floor, behind the quote: Photo by Contour, CC0, edited (cropped)
Shop map: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census boundary files, Open Government Licence, Canada. Country map: Natural Earth, public domain.