Blue Giant Equipment Corporation, a Brampton manufacturer of loading dock and material handling equipment, says no jobs will be lost at its local headquarters as the company opens a new manufacturing facility in Greensboro, North Carolina
The company just opened a small plant in Greensboro, a regional transport hub in the southeastern United States and plans to expand the operation, while remaining firmly committed to its main plant in northern Brampton.
Blue Giant president Jeff Miller said the company will not be transferring any production or reducing its Brampton plant and head office on Heart Lake Road South, where 175 people work on the factory floor, and in engineering, support and a direct selling dealership.
“We’re committed to the Canadian market and Brampton here,” Miller told YourMississaugaBiz.com, noting the company will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary in the Peel Region city, as major warehousing centre for the GTA.
“There’s no transfer. It’s really just a growth manufacturing facility to align with our strategy of really growing in the U.S. market,” he said.
Three weeks ago Blue Giant opened its new North Carolina plant, hoping to cut down on shipping costs to key markets in the U.S. southern states and its growing presence in South America.
“We have five full-time employees right now and two temporary employees and we’re expecting that to grow by the end of this year to the 10, 15 person headcount,” Miller said.
Since the plant opened, Miller said, all the new staff have been hired locally and they have already shipped large orders to Colombia and the U.S. market. “We’re up and running, we’ve got a backlog, we’re doing business and we’re very aggressive on the front end.”
After 18 months of planning, Miller said the 20,000 square foot location in Greensboro was chosen for its ability to expand up to 57,000 square feet and its close proximity to major transportation ports. “65-70 per cent of our Blue Giant business is very close to that location,” he said. “So it made sense from a logistic standpoint.”
Sales office manager also pointed out that Greensboro is within 650 miles of half of the entire population of the United States.
Blue Giant is also launching a brand new seal and shelter product in conjunction with its U.S. expansion that will be exclusively manufactured at the Greensboro facility. It will also be distributed to the company’s American and International customer base, but not in Canada. “Something already exists here,” Miller explained.
As for the future, Miller said the company also has a lot of interest in South America from its business in Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Peru. “We are looking at possible manufacture ventures there but there’s nothing concrete that I’d really want to announce to the public yet,” he said.
Blue Giant builds everything from skid handling forklifts to dock seals — which provide an airtight compartment at the back of transport trucks when they deliver everything from groceries to auto parts and pharmaceuticals at the back door.
Blue Giant was founded in 1963 and is a U.S. owned corporation under the auspices of Golub Capital, New York.
Karen K. Ho 