Canadian government throws support behind Bélair Mechatronics
by CM Staff
$1.13 million to help Omemee manufacturer scale up to enhance productivity and create jobs.
OMEMEE — As technology advances the manufacturing industry, southern Ontario companies are innovating and adopting new processes to stay on the cutting edge as they find ways to grow and recover in the wake of COVID-19.
New equipment to increase productivity
On Jan. 29, the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Member of Parliament for Peterborough–Kawartha and Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, announced a FedDev Ontario repayable contribution of $1.13 million to support the scale-up of Bélair Mechatronics (operating as Kawartha Controls). The announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).
Kawartha Controls designs and manufactures hydraulic manifolds used in areas such as construction, farm equipment and power generation. With this funding, the company will set up a new machining cell and refine its innovative “smart factory,” which is driven by artificial intelligence processes. This will increase production capacity by 300 percent to meet growing market demands and create six jobs in rural Omemee.
Ontario’s manufacturers have shown their resilience as they continue to find ways to grow and create good jobs, even in these challenging times.
“Today’s investment is great news for the Omemee community. Our Government is proud to support Kawartha Controls as it adopts new equipment, ramps up productivity and creates new jobs. By making investments that will help businesses in southern Ontario to scale up and access the capital needed for success, we are building for a resilient economic future.” said the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Member of Parliament for Peterborough–Kawartha.
“As we have been growing, we have been successful in creating high-value jobs for our local community. We have heavily invested in developing our “smart factory” and the demand for our product is 300 percent greater than we can currently produce. With support from FedDev Ontario, scaling our “smart-factory” will allow us to fill that demand and continue to create additional high-value advanced manufacturing jobs.” said Robert F. Bélair, Founder, Chief Technology and Executive Officer, Kawartha Controls.
