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Norbec is opening a new insulated metal panel manufacturing plant in Strathroy, its first plant in Ontario, with the hope the product it manufactures will help address some of the challenges the construction industry is facing.

Norbec manufactures prefabricated walk-in coolers, freezers and doors as well as architectural insulated metal panels for building envelopes.

The grand opening for the $45 million plant, was Sept. 18.

“We’re really excited that we can support the growth of insulated metal panels,” Jan Lembregts, president of Norbec, told the Daily Commercial News. “We feel it will really help the construction industry in Ontario to have good access to this product and play a role in supporting a product that really makes a difference and its ability to address some real issues in construction.”

The new facility is 156,000 square feet, which is equivalent to about 2.7 American football fields. It is located in Middlesex County, about 40 kilometres from London, Ont.

“We want to participate more in the Ontario market and be a local supplier,” said Lembregts. “We have been supplying Ontario from Quebec for a long time but given the growth and the excitement around this product we felt it was the right time to invest in Ontario.”

The company chose to locate its first plant in the province in southwestern Ontario for a few strategic reasons.

“One, there is a very good established workforce in the area with automotive experience and manufacturing experience,” Lembregts noted. “All our steel comes from Hamilton…so we’re close to our steel manufacturer. We’re in a really good position to service Ontario, with good access to the Midwest, a good workforce, and the town of Strathroy has been very welcoming in accommodating us. It was a natural choice.”

Over 400 people were involved in building the new facility which took roughly 14 months to complete.

“For the size of the facility we built it was very fast,” Lembregts said, adding the general contractor was “We are in start up mode, everything is fully built and we are in the midst of ramping up.”

The fully automated production line components are from Italy.

It’s more than a plant, he added.

“It’s also a showroom. It’s made with our insulated metal panels…It’s a showroom for what we do. It’s a large industrial facility with all prefabricated walls.”

The panels produced at the plant will be used primarily for industrial and commercial buildings including warehousing, industrial and manufacturing plants.

“Ours, for example, is made with our own products that we manufactured in Quebec,” said Lembregts. “Cold storage warehouses are made with insulated metal panels, hockey arenas, multi-purpose sports centres and data centres.”

Theres two major benefits of insulated metal panels, one is its premium insulation.

“Because it’s factory made, its premanufactured so the insulation is very controlled and it has really superior insulation value,” Lembregts explained. “There is a big drive for sustainability with building codes becoming more stringent…Insulated metal panels really are the prime solution in terms of energy performance.”

The second advantage addresses the labour shortage and the need to build more housing.

“��������ion labour is a big issue and insulated metal panels they’re prefabricated so they install extremely quickly. You don’t need much onsite labour to install them,” Lembregts pointed out.

The Strathroy facility is the company’s third plant in Canada with other facilities in Boucherville and Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.

Norbec has supplied insulation panels for many large-scale projects including Woodbine Theatre in Etobicoke, the Molson Coors Canada building in Quebec, the Telus Stadium at Université Laval in Quebec, the new Lactalis refrigerated and frozen products distribution centre in Oshawa and the Magellan Aerospace building in Mississauga.

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