The president of a Vancouver-based company that is expanding its operations to Windsor says “you get a positive energy” when you come here.
NEXE Innovations’ president Ash Guglani says there’s a highly skilled workforce in Windsor and the automation and automotive knowledge in this area is helping them scale up their business faster than they expected.
NEXE is moving to streamline its entire operations in Windsor to produce single-use fully compostable beverage pods, a move to provide an environmentally-friendly option to the current plastic pods.
Guglani says because they are now making their own components at the Windsor facility, they would like to get into other products like yogurt cups.
“Obviously the focus right now is the single-serve coffee pods. Our goal is to not just to stick to coffee pods, it’s really to get into other formats where we know we can be disruptive and there is a massive plastic waste issue,” he says.
The company’s pods are compatible with machines that use Keurig and Nespresso pods, and is in talks with companies that produce those pods that would like to use the compostable alternative.
NEXE also has coffee roasting and grinding capabilities on-site as it produces its own line of coffees.
The company is currently preparing it’s high-tech equipment in the the Windsor facility as the company has developed resin, injection molding components for the new pods.
Guglani says there’s a highly skilled workforce here and that’s helped them realize ways to scale their business a lot quicker than expected.
“The automation skill, the history, the know how, it’s all here. There’s companies and partners here that we’re working with on our processes that, they’ve got the know how and knowledge, and they’ve shown us ways on how to grow our business quicker and more efficiently,” he says.
Guglani says Windsor seems a very resilient community and that’s what they need to build their business.
“I notice every time I come here, there’s just positive energy, people want to work. It’s a community that just keeps its head down. Windsor has gone through its challenges since 2008 but I think it’s on its way up with everything that’s coming here now,” he adds.
NEXE hopes to begin production as soon as possible with the goal of having 50 employees at the Windsor facility, producing 500-million pods every year.
The facility is located at 6845 Hawthorne Dr., just off Lauzon Parkway.