Manufacturer creating jobs
Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA, Citizen staff
10 December 2008
Del-Tech Manufacturing fabricator-welders Rob Snider, left, Dean Enders, and Bret Ferguson, look at the coils in a large oil heater.
A $30-million Northern Trust program is helping Del-Tech Manufacturing Inc. to expand its manufacturing base and create at least a dozen new jobs.
The Prince George company's program approval -- it provides up to $10,000 for every new job created through capital rebates and training support -- will help it to start manufacturing two types of heating equipment.
The equipment -- which includes thermal oil heaters used largely in the forest sector -- normally have come from Europe and the U.S. for projects that Del-Tech, and its BID Group partner, Nechako Mechanical Ltd., have worked on in north-central B.C.
Del-Tech also wants to begin building wood pellet-fed boilers for institutional heating.
Building this equipment in Prince George will help beef up critical engineering and design skills essential if the city is to continue to expand its manufacturing base, Del-Tech general manager Keith Spencer said Wednesday.
Spencer said he sees huge growth opportunities to manufacture equipment directly in Prince George for the emerging bioenergy sector, as well as in the oil and gas and mining sectors. However, he said companies here will have to design and build equipment that can compete both on an efficiency and environmental level, particularly with equipment from Europe. Spencer added that building up the city's manufacturing base may even given UNBC impetus to consider creating engineering programs.
Spencer said the assistance from Northern Trust has helped them decide to go ahead with the project, which includes construction of a new $700,000 building at their Del-Tech location in the Danson industrial site, about 10 kilometres south of the city centre.
"At the end of the day it'll reduce the cost and improve the service to the customer. It's a win-win," said Spencer, who acknowledged he had been a skeptic of whether Northern Trust could help the local firm.
The new manufacturing capability will also allow Del-Tech to have more control over its project, including delivery time. Spencer noted they had expected delivery soon on two thermal oil heaters from the U.S. for a project in Fort St. John, but have been notified the supplier can deliver only one heater on time. Spencer said they are now going to build the other heater in Prince George.
Eventually, as the city builds up its engineering and manufacturing capacity for this type of equipment, there's no reason it cannot be exported, said Spencer.
The Northern Trust created its capital investment and training rebate program earlier this year, announcing the program was helping support 260 jobs in Fort St. James, where a new forest company, Conifex, was taking over the bankrupt Pope and Talbot sawmill. Conifex has pledged to locate its headquarters in Fort St. James and is training people to provide accounting and other support jobs.
The goal of the program is to help create 3,000 jobs in northern and central B.C. by 2012.
Northern Trust CEO Janine North said they expect to announce more projects in the coming months in Prince George and other communities.
Northern Trust chairman Bruce Sutherland added there is no other program like it in Canada. "The 40 communities in within the northern development region are absolutely welcoming businesses by providing a great investment climate through their commitment and support of this program," said Sutherland.
The Northern Trust was funded with two installments from the province totalling $185 million, the first from the sale of B.C. Rail to CN. The agency is managed by a 13-member board that includes municipal leaders, regional representatives drawn from the business community and one First Nations representative.
It has contributed money to projects like the $33-million Prince George Airport runway expansion. Other recent funding has included nearly $500,000 to upgrade the Vanderhoof airport and $1.15 million for a geological high-level survey.
