By IAN ROSS
The Flakeboard Company melamine lamination plant that opened last year in the city’s west end is set to expand again this spring by adding a second press line.
During the first week of April, with the 18,750-square-foot addition erected, contractors were preparing to cut the pit for the press, which was imported from the company’s shuttered Mississauga plant.
Lamination plant manager Lloyd Hotchkiss says after the MDF (medium density fibreboard) lamination plant began production last year following the summer changeover from the southern Ontario facility, their order file “went out the roof.”
While demand has since leveled off, forest product mill closures elsewhere has renewed demand for laminated products again.
Flakeboard plans to begin commissioning of the newly situated line in August with production commencing in September.
The new $1.5-million expansion is being tacked on their north end of the original 52,500-sq.-ft. building, which went into operation in August. The facility, located on Base Line Road, has a rail spur running into the property on the west-end industrial park.
“We had two lines in Mississauga that we were running simultaneously, one we’ve shipped to our (St. Stephen) New Brunswick facility and the other we’ve shipped here.”
The second laminating line, with slightly old equipment, will add another 20 million to 30,000 million square-feet of production onto their existing capacity of 60 million to 65 million square-feet.
“The main reason for it being here is to be closer to the market, and closer to their adjacent Medium-Density-Fibreboard plant.”
Last year, Flakeboard Co. acquired Georgia-Pacific’s MDF assets in Sault Ste. Marie as part of their new business integration strategy.
Hotchkiss attributes their success to being a low-cost producer and having a dedicated workforce “willing to do other jobs for better utilization.”
He explains two things they’ve excelled at in the last few years are producing a high quality, value-added product and their commitment to customer service. “Having the high quality, we have been able to get higher premium that others wouldn’t. And in any customer survey we’ve done, those small, short orders and quick turnaround is separating us from the rest.”
The closure of the Mississauga plant will add about a half dozen new employees to their 17-person workforce and resulted in their southern Ontario logistics and scheduling co-ordinator, Jesmond Gauci, moving North.
Most of the customized product is used for kitchen cabinetry with Flakeboard delivering a full sheet backer that is laminated on one side.
About two-thirds of the plant’s product is sent to American kitchen cupboard manufacturers and makers of ready-to-assemble furniture.
“If we can get into laminating particle board, which we don’t do locally, we’ll get into more of the furniture.”
Hotchkiss says Flakeboard president and CEO Kelly Shotbolt strongly believes in the cluster concept, similar to what the company has established in St. Stephen, New Brunswick.
“His philosophy that in order to survive you’ve got to get bigger, not get smaller.”
He says the Flakeboard philosophy is if the company doesn’t grow and integrate operations, it won’t survive.
“We’ve got an extremely motivated president, which is great for Flakeboard and its employees.”
Last year, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. contributed a $575,000 loan for the expansion. The company is still awaiting approval on a loan request of $325,000 from the Sault Ste. Marie Community Development Corporation.
“Whether that funding comes through depends on whether we see any more expansion on value-added or backward integration like burners or resin (plant).”
Hotchkiss says there is room to expand with five acres on site and another 20 acres of industrially zoned property adjacent to their lamination plant. “This whole industrial site is prime land for continued growth.”
