A Sudbury company is investing close to $10 million to upgrade and expand its manufacturing facility in order to better serve mining clients around the globe.
Plans are in the works at JENNMAR Canada to relocate equipment from one of its U.S. locations, purchase new robotic equipment for the shop floor, and add 8,500 square feet onto its existing 30,000-square-foot facility in the northeast end of the city.
The company, a subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based JENNMAR, manufactures ground support and tunnelling products primarily for the mining industry.
David Hurd, the company’s managing director, said the expansion marks significant growth for the company, which — after a six-year absence — returned to Sudbury to set up shop in 2020 with a small team of 10 people.
“It really is a great story. And we're proud. We're proud of what we've done.”
Hurd said expansion plans got underway a few years ago during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the equipment was built for Ontario, ongoing pandemic restrictions made it difficult to get the equipment up to Sudbury. So they placed it in Pennsylvania “out of necessity,” he said.
Now, with the U.S. imposing trade tariffs, the timing is right to relocate everything to Sudbury.
“Because of the tariffs, it’s just pushed us a little bit faster than we would have liked to go,” he said.
“Ideally, I would have wanted to wait until this addition was up, and then we’d move, but because of the tariffs and the impact that has on not only us, but potentially our customers, we’re expediting that process.”
That now means that the shop will be able to manufacture components in Sudbury, using Canadian steel, bringing the manufacturing closer to clients, he added.
About 1,000 tonnes of Canadian steel now moves in and out of the facility each month, Hurd added.
There’s even a savings to be had in their carbon footprint. Currently, 22 tractor-trailers are travelling between Sudbury and the U.S. every month. But that will no longer be needed, Hurd said.
In the last six months, JENNMAR Canada has expanded its geographical reach into new mining jurisdictions including Mexico, Colombia and Peru, and Hurd said he’ll be in attendance during a city-led trade mission to Kazakhstan coming up in June to look for more business opportunities in that country.
Paul Lefebvre, Greater Sudbury’s mayor, said it’s encouraging that companies like JENNMAR see Greater Sudbury as a place to grow their business.
The expansion is being made possible in part thanks to the city’s decision, in 2023, to invest $19 million to upgrade water and sewer infrastructure in the Lasalle/Elisabella industrial area where JENNMAR is located.
“The cost of servicing industrial land is really expensive, so that's why we're working hard to address that,” Lefebvre said.
“But that, to me, is how we're going to grow our city and be able to offset so they keep taxes from being raised too much by being able to have more businesses, more residents.”
The city has already finished phase one of its plan, and the second phase is expected to be completed by November.
Lefebvre said the city is seeing a lot of new builds right now, driven in large part by heightened mining activity, citing Vale and Magna Mining as two examples of companies that are investing in their Sudbury operations.
JENNMAR Canada’s expansion will mean additional job opportunities. The company currently employs 41, with another five expected to start imminently and an additional 10 being prepped to come on board.
By the time the new expansion is complete, Hurd expects the shop to employ well over 50, with potential for still more.
“The idea is not to eliminate jobs,” he said of the move to bring automated equipment into the shop. “It’s to use them to the best of their ability wherever I need them.”
The company is unique in its training approach, he noted, using an intensified step training process that cross-trains any willing employee on multiple pieces of equipment, with a financial incentive if they do.
“Every piece of equipment in this shop, we give every employee an opportunity to get trained on it,” Hurd said. “Every piece of equipment they get trained on, signed off, they earn $1 an hour more.”
That gives the company flexibility to fill a position in the case of an absence, without a major hit to production.
Hurd is a supporter of bringing more female employees into the shop and recently promoted one woman to shop foreman, which he said was a first for JENNMAR.
He's also been in contact with all three of Sudbury’s postsecondary schools — Cambrian College, Collège Boréal and Laurentian University — to discuss setting up an internship program for engineering students to get hands-on, real-world experience and training in the shop. The program will get underway within the next few weeks.
“Being book smart’s one thing, but understanding what it means when you hit the manufacturing floor is a different animal, right?”
JENNMAR has 30 locations around the globe, and so there may be opportunities for employment for students down the road, Hurd said.
“We’re always looking for people.”
While the company awaits building approvals from the city, Hurd said plans are being finalized by their design team at Bélanger Salach Architecture.
His aim is for final approvals to arrive in time to get construction underway in early spring or summer, with the plant fully operational by December.
“This time next year, we’ll be banging out bolts and making new products,” Hurd said.
