By KELLY LOUISEIZE
Building a competitive edge is the name of the game in the value-added wood products sector.
Flakeboard Company (formerly G-P Flakeboard) is going after that demand and aims to increase international market share with a major expansion at their Sault Ste. Marie operations.
Their medium-density fibreboard (MDF) plant produces an estimated 160 million square feet of product in full sheets annually. The newly built 52,500-sq-ft. lamination plant provides a second phase of production on-site, slashing shipping costs and shortening product timelines.
A further 18,750-sq-ft expansion was recently announced to make room for a second 150-ft lamination line.
“Worst case is that we have a back up, but the best case is to fill both lines up with orders,” says Lloyd Hotchkiss, Flakeboard’s lamination plant manager.
The company received a small parcel of land owned by the city to expand the facility and a $575,000 loan from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. A loan request of $325,000 from the Community Development Corp. is still pending approval, but the city will bridge the loan until additional money is obtained. The expansion is expected to cost approximately $1.4 million.
Press lines from the Mississauga operations were going to be mothballed when the company decided to bring the equipment up North. More machinery and infrastructure is being bought and the company is hiring.
The idea is to add as much value to their product for their existing customers as possible and build relations with new prospective clients. The expansion is a result of the company growing due to national and international customer demand.
