Ontario construction News staff writer
A $351.5 million expansion project is underway in Sherbrooke, Que. including construction of a double-wide tissue machine featuring LDC technology and installation of two additional converting lines, one in the existing Sherbrooke Plant and the other in the new plant.
The construction project, which is to be carried out over the next two years, will require some 660,000 person-hours of work and generate substantial economic benefits for the region.
“With this expansion project, we are extremely proud to deliver on our vision to make Sherbrooke a major tissue-product manufacturing hub in North America as well as an outstanding technological showcase that spotlights the Company, the region and our employees’ know-how,” said M. Dino Bianco, Chief Executive Officer, Kruger Products L.P. “I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the construction of the first plant, as well as our employees in Sherbrooke who contribute to its success on a daily basis.”
Kruger Products broke ground at the site where a second tissue plant will be built adjacent to the Sherbrooke Plant by 2024. This second project, which will cost $351.5 million, will feature Canada’s most advanced and best-performing TAD tissue machine. In total, the company will have invested about $1 billion in the Estrie Region.
“Kruger is a good example of what we want to achieve in Québec: to push innovation so we can adapt to the transformation of our economy, to develop new technologies right here, to increase the competitiveness and productivity of our businesses, and to reduce the wealth gap with Ontario,” said François Legault, Premier of Québec.
Built in the Brompton Borough, along the Saint-François River, the Kruger Products Sherbrooke Plant required nearly one million person-hours of work and helped to create some 1,700 direct and indirect jobs during the construction phase, which ended on time and on budget in early 2021 despite the challenges of the pandemic.
“With its new tissue plant and another one already under construction, Kruger is demonstrating that it is at the forefront of new product development,” said Pierre Fitzgibbon, Québec Minister of Economy and Innovation. “The pulp and paper industry has evolved at a fast pace these past few years, and it is thanks to companies like Kruger that Québec continues to be a leader in that field.”