A Barrie manufacturing company unveiled a new 75,000-square-foot expansion to its distribution centre on Veteran’s Drive in the city’s south end.

“It’s a great opportunity to showcase our growth. Since we came to Barrie in 1974, we’ve been growing as a company. This site is actually our second site because we outgrew the space for our production site on Patterson Road,” said the president of Canplas Industries Ltd., Rich Schlieker.

While the added space allows more room for the company’s plastic construction products, it’s also expected to create eight quality jobs on top of the engineers and highly skilled trades workers Canplas already employs.

“Within this site we’re talking about mostly a logistics warehouse facility but all the jobs here are high paying jobs,” explained Schlieker.

The announcement comes at a time when Barrie’s mayor wants to make the city a hub for people in the region to live and work, but he said planning for the future is difficult due to the lack of industrial supply.

“We need to make sure that there’s enough jobs in Barrie for the folks who live here and in the surrounding areas. And certainly, there’s enough space and land available for those we are employing people to be able to expand their businesses here,” said Mayor Alex Nuttall.

“Barrie is perfectly located to have people work and live close to home, so we’re excited about being part of that, and we’d like to see more of that in Barrie for sure,” added Schlieker.

Nuttall said seeing the company’s commitment to the community is great. Not just moving here but growing here, too.

“Barrie’s proven to be a great home for us as far as the labour force is concerned and the ability to find skilled labour as well. We’ve been able to grow from there and reach right across Canada and into the United States and around the world for export with our products,” said Schlieker.

While Canplas only broke ground on the major expansion early in the summer, the new wing of the distribution facility is expected to be active and operational within the first few months of 2024.