News
Grundfos Canada to double plant size

Oakville, Ont. – On July 11, Grundfos Canada broke ground on a $3.5-million expansion of its Oakville location at 2941 Brighton Road that will more than double warehouse and assembly space to accommodate expected growth.

“This investment underlines our continued commitment to the Oakville community and will have a long-lasting impact on the local economy and beyond,” said a news release from the company, which was established in 1981 to distribute in Canada pump, motor and other products from Grundfos plants worldwide.

Grundfos Canada is the Canadian distributor of Grundfos products, some of which come from Denmark, U.S. and international Grundfos locations.

The company employs more than 100 people. The expansion of its current facility by Maple Reinders Construction will more than double warehousing and service capabilities to 48,000 square feet. This will enable the company to add new skilled jobs and apprenticeships. They expect to complete the work by July 2020.

The expansion is being done to accommodate $150 to $170 million in sales that is expected, said Simon Feddema, president of Grundfos Canada.

“We are betting on growth in the ground water sector,” said Dieter Sauer, regional managing director for the Americas, who helped officiate the ground-breaking ceremony. Also on hand were Stéphane Simonetta, group executive vice-president and chief operating officer, and Eric Boutot, regional operations vice-president for the Americas.

Attendees heard from Feddema, Simonetta, Oakville mayor Rob Burton and other Oakville dignitaries.

Grundfos staff led tours of the office, assembly plant and warehouse.

Rehan Yousufzai, operations manager, told attendees the 5,000-square-foot office houses inside sales and technical support staff.

There are more than 30 outside sales staff working in their regions and 65 to 70 inside sales and assembly staff in the building, Yousufzai said.

The 20,000-square-foot warehouse, which does about $88-89 million in sales, will more than double to 48,000 square feet with the expansion. They’ll need that space to accommodate assembly and storage as they take on more orders, Yousufzai said.

Production and assembly staff work in the warehouse, where 30 to 35 per cent of products is assembled and the remainder comes to them boxed from other company locations.

The bulk of the company’s products are pumps and motors, said applications engineer Dylan Zai. Zai showed guests a testing trough and the storage area and highlighted Grundfos Canada’s bestselling product, a UPS cast-iron circulator pump – a homeowner favourite ideal for underfloor heating applications and designed to last more than 15 years.

Based in Denmark, the company employs 19,000 people worldwide and produce more than 16 million pump units, circulator pumps, submersible pumps, and centrifugal pumps.

Grundfos opened its doors in Canada in 1981 with a small sales office reporting to the U.S. company, Grundfos Pumps Corporation. In 1988, Grundfos set up a distribution centre of 4,000 square feet in Mississauga, Ont., providing inventory, order entry and repair service. Grundfos Canada Inc. was established on May 1, 1992, with nine employees, and moved to its current location in early 1997.