A Windsor mold making company is using a $700,000 investment from the federal government to diversify beyond automotive to include the defence and aerospace sectors.
Secretary of State for the Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions Wayne Long announced the investment Friday at NextGen Mold Technologies at 3293 St. Etienne Boulevard in Windsor.
President of NextGen Mold Technologies Dennis Goggin says when the tariffs started, it was a scary time, so this is a very important investment to help them hire more people and invest in new technology to diversify our customer base, not only in Canada but also abroad.
Goggin says over the span of the next 12 months, the company will invest over $5 million into its operations.
He says they've already been able to add 15 new employees as a result of this grant funding to bring the workforce to 85 total people while investing in new technology to reduce their dependency on outside sources.
"Our biggest input is steel, and we export 75 per cent of our products to the United States. It's a rude awakening to find out that what you think is our country's biggest ally and our biggest customer base is all of a sudden closing the door on us. To know that our government is backing us up is emotional, I will say," says Goggin.
Goggin says they are already diversifying, with 65 per cent of their business today in automotive and 25 per cent aerospace and consumer goods and they will be moving to increase their exposure to aerospace opportunities across Ontario and Quebec.
"Eventually start working on a different level of certification so that we can work on defence contracts, construction, and consumer goods," he says. "There's a lot of consumer goods manufacturers in the Toronto region that we're able to diversify and start working with."
Secretary of State Long says it is a big market and a big world out there.
"Maybe to our own fault, a little too reliant on the U.S. economy. It's been easy to trade with the U.S. economy, but I think what's happened over the last year has really woken our country, our government, up, saying, 'We need to forge and form strong trading relationships around the world,'"says Long.
The funding from the Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI) from the federal government, which is providing $1 billion to businesses impacted by tariffs so they can diversify their markets, create new revenue sources, and adopt innovative technologies to boost competitiveness.