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."