AM 800 CKLW/Rusty Thomson
The Ontario government has announced funding to support nearly $20 million worth of investments by four local groups that will create 29 new jobs.
Windsor-Tecumseh Conservative MPP Andrew Dowie announced Friday that the province is providing $3.6 million in grants and loans through the Regional Development Program’s Southwestern Ontario Development Fund.
Dowie says these grants and loans are a source of income the groups can take to their financial lenders to show they have the support of the province.
“The opportunity to get capital for expansions has been tightened up. They’re not finding lenders willing to come to the table as much as in the past,” he says. “They have the know-how, they have the expertise, they have the people, but they can’t find the capital to let them build. This lets them address that.”
Crest Mold Technology Inc. in Oldcastle will receive $1.3 million to support an $8.7 million investment by the company for a 7,000-square-foot expansion of its facility and adoption of equipment that will allow it to increase capacity and reduce labour-intensive processes.
The project will also enable the company to make larger, more complex molds with the new machines, reshoring work currently outsourced overseas and creating 10 new skilled jobs, increasing the company’s workforce to more than 90 employees.
President of Crest Mold Technology, William Cipkar, says this expansion will sustain the company.
“If we’re not going ahead, we’re going backward,” he says. “So we need to always invest in the highest-tech equipment that money can buy. That guarantees a future for everybody, the team that works at Crest Mold.”
Bear’s Performance Inc. in Oldcastle is receiving $500,000 to support a $3.7 million investment in new equipment to increase automation in its production processes, expand capacity, and enable the company to handle more orders by improving control over quality and time-to-market, an investment that will create five new jobs.
Select Tool Inc. in Oldcastle is being supported by $375,000 in funding as part of a $2.5 million investment to expand its facilities by 26,000 sq. ft. and add new equipment to enhance operational capacity. Additionally, the company will expand its manufacturing facility at 3015 North Talbot Road by 12,000 sq. ft. to alleviate congestion at its CNC machining facility at 3065 North Talbot Road, an investment that will create 14 new jobs.
The City of Windsor is receiving $1.5 million from the fund to support a $4.8 million investment to provide infrastructure upgrades and site servicing, which will support the construction of the NextStar Energy Inc. EV Battery Plant and adjacent municipal infrastructure areas.