Polycorp grows in Canada

TORONTO—The ongoing growth and success of Polycorp Ltd. has made the 22-year-old supplier of specialty rubber components highly sought after by a number of U.S. metropolitan regions.

The Toronto-based company even had an unannounced visit from Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in an effort to persuade the manufacturer to move its facilities to the Old Dominion State.

However, with the help of a roughly $1.9 million grant from the province of Ontario, Polycorp will expand its presence at its factory in Elora, located about 75 miles from its Toronto headquarters.

Polycorp has committed to investing $14.5 million over five years in that location, and hiring a minimum of 26 employees during that time, said Peter Snucins, Polycorp president and CEO.

The project will add about 110,000 square feet of space, nearly doubling its current size. Polycorp employs about 150 people.

Polycorp increasingly is providing niche products, Snucins said. The firm is targeting highly trained and technical engineers, chemists, machinists and more for its newly created positions. These new hires will help to expand Polycorp's product line.

"We actually think that 26 new employees is a very conservative number given the growth we are experiencing, so it could easily be well above that," Snucins said. "But that is the number we committed to as part of the grant process with Ontario."

The firm makes engineered rubber products that reduce risk factors associated with corrosion, abrasion, impact, noise and vibration in the transportation, mining and protective linings industries. Within transportation, it concentrates efforts on track encapsulation systems.

Within each of these industries, Polycorp sells polymer-based materials—primarily rubber—for abrasion, impact, contamination and/or chemical protection. Each of the three divisions have different manufacturing processes, different formulations, suppliers, technical specifications, markets and competitors. It has long-term contracts with many large companies, Snucins said.

The grant money is courtesy of Ontario's Jobs and Prosperity Fund. Added to Polycorp's financial commitment, the money will be used to purchase nearly two acres of adjacent land, new equipment and a testing laboratory, along with funding needed to hire new employees, Snucins said.

The project is expected to be completed in 2022 and will help boost productivity and competitiveness, and increase exports and revenues. Polycorp will receive the grant money in multiple distributions over the next five years.

A new press has been ordered and new molds have been designed for some manufactured products. Snucins said the extra acreage in part will be used to house finished products, which are often bulky, and as a transportation staging area.

"We're running 24/7 as it is now and our loading bays are jammed so this will all kick off around Nov. 1," Snucins said. "Most of our growth is coming internationally and a majority of our business is now global."

Polycorp also is investing heavily to protect its intellectual property with patents in the coming years, Snucins said. It has been recognized with the Ontario Export Award from 2014-16, and has received several other national awards, including the Grant Thornton Price Business Growth Award in 2014. The Ontario Export Awards is considered to be the province's most prestigious award for companies that export products.

"This investment will allow Polycorp to strengthen its innovative product offerings and increase its global competitiveness. Ontario is committed to strategic partnerships like this, which help create jobs and build a competitive business environment," Brad Duguid, minister of economic development for Ontario, said in a statement.

When Polycorp was first established more than two decades ago, the company's goal was to be the largest in its sector in North America, Snucins said. He sees specific opportunities for growth in the $1 billion mining sector, and general growth in Europe.

"We focus on solutions, not being everything to everyone," Snucins said. "Our role is to fix problems. We also do everything we can to maintain a high level of quality of the products we sell, because that quality is one of our big differentiators."