A North Bay-based welding company is getting a large cash injection from the province to aid in the development of a new, innovative way to maintain and repair bridges in the province.
David Zimmer, minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation, was at Central Welding on Nov. 1 to make a funding announcement of $480,000, from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp.’s Northern Innovation Program.
Central Welding has been around for 50 years and is the one of the largest steel bridge fabricators in Canada.
The North Bay facility, which employs 80 people, will use the funding to weld stainless steel on bridge girders, a new technique that experts believe will increase the life of a bridge by 25 to 30 per cent.
“Bridge fabrication has essentially been the same for many, many years and this is the first new thing to come,” said Central Welding’s Erik Thomsen, vice-president of operations.
“We are always hearing in the news that our bridges need work, and this new type of material is going to extend the service life of any new work we do now, so it’s going to help.
“This new concept, this new type of steel, it’s the first one that anybody has built in Canada, so we are really starting from scratch,” he added.
“We are starting on the ground level, so the funding helps us buy equipment. It’s a different type of equipment we need to actually work with this stuff.”
Thomsen, whose family has operated the business since 1955, said even though bridge fabrication is a competitive business, he’s optimistic this will set a new standard for bridge fabrication in Ontario.
“The steel that the ministry may want to change to, it’s got more nickel and chromium in it, so it will last longer,” Thomsen said. “You get a longer service life which reduces costs over the life of the bridge.”
The North Bay company is expected to add four more jobs thanks to the new project.
“Everybody is going to want to beat a path to North Bay to find out how to do this,” said Zimmer.
