Expanding real estate portfolio: North Bay mining supplier finds new home at airport.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: NORTH BAY

Expansion was always in the plans for John Daniels. When the president of Drillers Edge started his 11-employee company in 2010, at first he intended to keep the North Bay manufacturer of drill bits and core drilling tools very small and manageable.

But when your company makes products geared to clients in deep mining projects, storage space is always at a premium.

"The amount of space the drill rods take up is enormous," said Daniels.

Initially, the company operated its bit plant out of a 2,500-square-foot building on Main Street and rented a 10,000-square-foot space for its rod manufacturing and warehouse about a kilometre away in the Couchie Industrial Park.

"We knew it was too small when we started," said Daniels.

But when the City of North Bay announced plans to open up a 600-acre industrial business park at Jack Garland Airport, the opportunity to relocate was too good to pass up.

Now grown to 22 employees and with a new amalgamated plant under construction, Daniels' company is set to move into new digs in early November. The company signed a 10-year lease at the airport with a local realtor.

"That's been magic for us." said Daniels. "I've been able to drive by at the airport and see this new building going up and it hasn't distracted us from our business."

The shop's 30.000-square-foot design will allow for some flexible space to grow out to 80,000 square feet. The company also retains an option to expand their 3.5-acre property to five acres if needed.

Daniels said land was obtainable at a reasonable rate and the entire park was smartly set up with one huge drainage basin. "Every square footage of land, we can use," instead of having to install their own basin.

The city also provided plenty of perks with a graduated municipal tax rate for the first three years and breaks on development charges, landfill tipping and permitting fees.

"For a small company growing into our revenues, that's a very attractive option," said Daniels.

The new building will house five CNC lathes, two custom-built heat treaters for strengthening drill rods, and a new bit furnace. The improvements will allow them to quadruple production capacity.

The extra space will also help them navigate through a recent merger with Di-Corp, an Edmonton-based industrial supplier to the energy, mining, and drilling fields.

With 80 per cent of Drillers Edge products exported through its global distribution network in North and South America, Asia-Pacific and Europe, Daniels...