Woodbridge Foam Corporation gets $20M to ‘modernize’ 2 plants

Investment is part of $100M project to boost the facility’s competitiveness

Yorkregion.com
July 11, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

To boost its “competitiveness,” Woodbridge Foam Corporation has received up to $20 million from the government to create 110 jobs, Navdeep Bains, minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, announced Tuesday.

The investment is part of an overall $100-million "modernization project" run by Woodbridge Foam Corporation, said Bains at the company’s headquarters in Woodbridge, adding that this will maintain more than 727 jobs in Woodbridge and Blenheim and sustain middle-class manufacturing positions.

Investments like this “reaffirm Canada’s position in the auto sector” on an international level, he said, adding “when companies go abroad, they will create jobs more at home.”

The investment, which is part of the federal Strategic Innovation Fund, is also to expand its collaboration with high schools and post-secondary institutions. About 90 co-op positions will be created, the minister who himself started as a co-op student in the auto sector, said.

Woodbridge Foam Corporation started with a single Canadian plant in 1978 and specializes in the manufacturing of foam polymers and moulding for the automotive industry. It now operates 67 facilities around the world.

To spur innovation

The new funding will also create a centre of excellence to centralize the corporation’s global research and development activities in advanced materials and product design of moulded foam products, such as car seats and armrests.

This will also help the company increase production, better meet market demand for products and secure new business.

So far, the Government of Canada has invested $434 million in 40 projects in the automotive manufacturing sector, attracting investments worth over $6 billion.

Charles Daly, Woodbridge's president and chief executive officer, said both the Strategic Innovation Fund and this “significant investment” will “result in world-class manufacturing capabilities and accelerated innovation in our technology advantage.”

“We view this as an investment in our global competitiveness, supporting our purpose to create and sustain rewarding jobs, as we prepare for the future of a rapidly changing global automotive marketplace.”

In February, both Doug Ford and Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Todd Smith unveiled a $40-million plan to boost the auto industry at the Vaughan manufacturing plant. Part of the plan is to invest $19 million for new internships and other experiential learning opportunities.