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Raufoss brings hi-tech auto parts manufacturing to Boisbriand
Boisbriand, November 15, 2001 - Boisbriand has been chosen as the location for the first North American manufacturing site for the Raufoss Group, Leif Bronken, executive vice president for the Raufoss group, announced today.
"Locating in Boisbriand is the start of our ongoing strategy to expand into the North American automotive industry. We are excited about this new business supplying General Motors with lightweight aluminum suspension components. We have strategic knowledge in lightweight materials and manufacturing processes that enable us to offer the industry innovative design and product solutions. With our new partner, SGF Mineral, we intend to aggressively develop additional opportunities with General Motors and others," said Bronken.
The plant will be located at 4050 Lavoisier St. in Boisbriand. Given the access to the broader North American market and access to highly skilled workforce in the greater Montreal area, Boisbriand is an outstanding location for auto parts manufacturing.
President and General Manager of General Motors of Canada, Maureen Kempston Darkes said, "The supply agreement with Raufoss will create 60 high skilled jobs in Boisbriand and add to Quebec’s capability in lightweight materials. Quebec has an advantage in lightweight materials and a promising future in this sector. Processing knowledge and availability of resources puts Quebec in an excellent position to develop new jobs in this growth area. GM is working with innovative suppliers like Raufoss to enhance the capability in Quebec. In fact, GM sources $C850 million in goods and services in the province each year."
"This initial $60 million investment by Raufoss and SGF Mineral is just the beginning of our strategy for the development of lightweight materials suppliers in Quebec for the automotive industry. These supply agreements trigger high volume production and create quality jobs, and we are proud to be associated with a quality company like Raufoss. The new plant will be located within the just‑in time delivery range of other auto industry customers thus providing us with a significant competitive advantage," said Claude Blanchet, President of the Board and CEO of the Société générale de financement du Québec.
"Boisbriand is an exciting place to be located," said Robert Poirier, Mayor of Boisbriand. "We are pleased that Raufoss and their partner, SGF Minerals, have located their first manufacturing facility here. We will work with them in a cooperative spirit and we wish them success in earning new business and more high quality jobs for the citizens of the greater Montreal region, and take a step towards the Automobile City project."
Raufoss ASA has 2,300 employees and an annual turnover of 2 billion Norwegian Kroner. The group has subsidiaries in Europe and North America and produces components for all the major automotive manufacturers. For more information, please visit .
General Motors of Canada has 26,000 employees, nine manufacturing facilities in Canada and is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation. For more information, please visit www.gmcanada.com/english/home/home.html.
SGF Mineral is a subsidiary of the Société générale de financement du Québec whose mission is to carry out economic development projects meeting normal profitability requirements, in collaboration with business partners. Since it was restructured in 1998, SGF has generated investments of about $4.4 billion, creating over 19,400 direct and indirect jobs in the operating phase, not counting the thousands of jobs created during the construction phase. As at December 31, 2000, SGF’s consolidated assets totalled $2.3 billion. SGF has 53 international partners operating in Québec. (https://sgfqc.com).
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For more information, please contact:
General Motors of Canada:
Stew Low
Richard James
Raufoss:
Leif Bronken
SGF:
Sylvie Brousseau
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