A Quebec company is expanding its plastic pipe business by establishing a plant in McAdam, New Brunswick. Soleno S.P.D. Inc. of Iberville, Quebec, will invest about C$3.3 million (US$2.4 million) in the subsidiary operation, which will produce pipe for Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and the New England states.
Paul Charrette, general manager of Soleno S.P.D. (Maritimes) Inc., said his firm will begin producing corrugated, high density polyethylene drainage pipe aslarge as 10 inches in diameter by late May.
A second production line will begin extruding single- and double-wall HDPE culvert and storm sewer pipe up to 24 inches in diameter by mid-June.
The McAdam operation eventually plans to add a third extrusion line to make pipe as large as 48 inches in diameter, Charrette said in a telephone interview.
Soleno Maritimes recently bought a 20,000-square-foot plant in McAdam. Charrette claimed his company will be the first large-diameter HDPE pipe producer in Canada's Atlantic provinces, which have imported such pipe from Ontario, Quebec and the United States.
The parent company, Soleno S.P.D., has three extrusion lines mainly making drainage pipe up to 10 inches in diameter, said Charrette, who is one of the shareholders of the 25-year-old private firm.
The Iberville plant also molds fluoropolymer chair leg tips that reduce friction on flooring. Charrette said Soleno's annual sales are about C$5 million to C$8 million (US$3.7 million to US$5.8 million).
Soleno Maritimes also will distribute PE septic tanks made by Xactics Containers Ltd. of Joliette, Quebec, and PE sheet membrane for waterproofing household basements.
Initially, Soleno expects to employ 13 in McAdam.
Canada's federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency will loan Soleno C$500,000 (US$365,000) to assist the project. New Brunswick's Department of Economic Development and Tourism will loan Soleno C$300,000 (US$219,000) and a federal/provincial program will provide a combination loan and grant of C$400,000 (US$292,000).
Soleno is the second plastics company recently awarded a federal loan to expand into New Brunswick. Intertape Polymer Group Inc. of Montreal plans to build a plant in Edmundston to make woven polyolefin flexible bulk containers.