Chester, Nova Scotia-based GN Thermoforming Equipment Co. is seeking a development agreement with local authorities to build out its facility with a 66-foot by 80-foot expansion.
“This addition is to provide additional space in our production facility to build the thermoforming machines we export worldwide, currently to over 70 countries,” GN Thermoforming President Jerome Romkey said in letter to the Municipality of Chester. “The use of our property remains the same.”
Local officials directed the development staff to move forward with the application submitted by the manufacturer of thermoforming machinery and tooling that has been in business since 1978.
Allen Webber, the municipality’s warden, told a local news source, LighthouseNOW, that the expansion is expected to create 8-12 jobs.
The company has about 100 employees working mostly at the East Chester plant but some also are based at the company’s technical center in the Czech Republic.
The local news source also reports that GN Thermoforming officials have received government approvals in the past, including a $48,567 contribution in 2019 from the federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) to “hire expertise to help achieve maximum production capacity and efficiency.”
Also, in 2018, ACOA agreed to a $500,000 repayable contribution to GN so it could “modernize and enhance production capacity and competitiveness.”