Sudbury manufacturer moves into new location: Squeezed for space, Rezplast Manufacturing expands to 29,000-square-foot shop.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay

Rezplast Manufacturing is on the move.

Growth and expansion have spurred the need for more space, and so the Sudbury manufacturer, which has been in business for 27 years, is moving into the third location in its history.

"As we're growing and expanding our operations, we needed to find a suitable location," said Sandro Spadafora, Rezplast's vice-president of operations.

Specializing in the design and manufacture of products from advanced composite materials, such as fibreglass and plastic, the company has been a key player in the Northern Ontario mining industry, but offers services across many sectors.

Among their standard products are fibreglass tanks, brine makers, pollution control scrubber systems, fans, ducting, stacks, grating, platforms, walkways and ladders, in addition to custom work. The company is also a distributor for Swish maintenance products.

With a limited stockpile of industrial commercial buildings available in Sudbury, the company searched widely before settling on a 29,000-square-foot building, strategically located on Long Lake Road in the city's south end, just minutes from the Highway 69 bypass.

Rezplast's space will more than double in size, going to 20,000 square feet from its current 8,000 square feet.

The new location will also host Rezplast's two sister companies: Stick Fix, which offers hockey stick repair and skate-sharpening, and Northshore Docks, which builds docks for lakefront properties.

Since acquiring the property, Rezplast has undertaken extensive interior and exterior renovations at the site, which had been neglected for some time before the acquisition.

On the outside, the company pulled out old fencing and trees, re-graded the property, and added all new cladding, windows and doors.

On the inside, the entire building was insulated, new lighting systems were added, along with new power systems, controls and offices.

"We figured we'd spend some time and put some pride and ownership into the building, fix it all up," Spadafora said. "It's not just cosmetic; it's a little bit of everything."

One of the biggest upgrades is a new spray booth, acquired from the U.S., to enable epoxy coatings and painting, with built-in atmospheric controls to help flow fresh air through and reduce the amount of dust and particulate being churned up.

Spadafora said, once operational, the booth will allow Rezplast to cut its emissions by more than...