A new shop officially opened in Thunder Bay Thursday that can compete for fabrication across North America its president said.
Venshore Mechanical opened the doors of its brand new 18,000 square foot facility showcasign state-of-the-art machinery which constructs piping and fabricates metal for comapnioes from the oil industry to hydro. Venshore Mechanical president John Jurcik said with the machinery housed in the $2.8 million facility means his 24 workers can now weld things in minutes instead of hours. Because of Thunder Bay’s central location. Jurcik said the shop can compete with any other shop like it in North America.
"We are logistically located right on the Trans Canada Highway. We have CN and CP rail access. We have a port and we have direct access to the States so anything we do here can go anywhere,:" he said. "We’re in the centre of Canada. We can ship anywhere," he said.
Jurcik said he got the idea for the shop wil participating in the Thunder Bay Oil Sands Consortium. While Venshore had been losing a lot of its traditional pulp and paper client base, he said the company realized it could fabricate and weld for industries outside of the area.
"We needed to stretch our wings and get outside the box and see what else was out there," he said. "So really the main reason for this facility was not driven by a need for Thunder Bay it was driven by a need throughout North America."
Although the shop was completed just this past June, Jurcik said he can’t wait to expand. While Venshore didn’t build the facility with the region’s mining industry in mind, he’s excited at the potential the mining sector has.
"I’m hoping we generate enough work that we need a building twice this size. I’d like to see more of Thunder Bay’s metal trades employed not only by my company," he said.
Venshore received $1million from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund for the venture.
