The Government of British Columbia (B.C.), Canada, is contributing as much as $3.4 million through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund to help Nanaimo-based VMAC Global Technology Inc. grow its operations by establishing a new 465-square-metre (5,000 square feet) manufacturing facility. It also will help buy equipment to scale up the production of lightweight air compressors for the heavy-duty commercial electric vehicle (EV) market, including semi-trucks, buses and other specialized vehicles requiring air brakes and air suspension.
Two Island-based wood-product manufacturers are receiving funds from the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund to grow their businesses, while creating and maintaining local jobs:
- Port Alberni – Franklin Forest Products Ltd. will receive as much as $425,000 to buy new equipment that will allow it to shift from processing old-growth logs to a broader range of log sizes and grades, helping the company protect 37 existing jobs and create five new ones; and
- Chemainus – BioFlame Briquettes, which manufactures briquettes from waste sawdust and logging residual from the forestry industry, will receive as much as $117,320 to buy and commission a hammermill and briquette press that will increase fibre diversity and production at its facility, allow it to take logging waste directly from the forest to reduce wildfire risk and decrease risk of fibre supply uncertainty, and create four new jobs.
Mike McKay, president, Franklin Forest Products Ltd., says: “Franklin Forest Products appreciates the financial support from the Province. The funds will help retool the operation to become less reliant on old-growth timber and protect the nearly 40 jobs in the Port Alberni community.”
