A new armoured vehicle manufacturing facility is expected to bring 75 to 120 new jobs to Midland.
Streit Manufacturing, which has production facilities in 12 countries including the United States, Turkey, Thailand and United Arab Emirates, is relocating its Innisfil plant to Midland.
“It is such a vote of confidence for north Simcoe,” said Midland Mayor Gord McKay. “This is a manufacturer that could be anywhere in the world. They could have easily moved to Dubai, Africa or the United States, but they have chosen Midland.”
“With everything getting so crowded and busy the closer you get to Toronto, we were looking for an area where we could expand and grow,” said Florin Fleseriu, Director of Streit Canada.
The company is in the process of retrofitting the old Pillsbury plant. While the initial plan was to have the facility operational by October, it is looking like it won’t be up and running till the end of the year.
“We are looking at having a ballistic glass production facility installed here, which will bring another 25 jobs, on top of the 70 to 100 jobs we will have in normal production,” said Fleseriu.
He said employees they hire for the facility will need to be jack-of-all-trades, as the armoured vehicles are produced from scratch on site.
Designs for their armoured vehicle models are located on their servers. The designs are used to laser cut and assemble the parts for the vehicles locally.
“(Employees) will need to be able to take care of all stages of the manufacturing process; upholstery, electrical wiring, body work, all of it,” said Fleseriu.
The “flagship vehicle,” which they provide for law enforcement, governments and military, is built with ballistic plates and ballistic glass so it can withstand sniper rifle rounds.
All buyers are vetted by the Canadian government. These vehicles are not allowed to be sold to private individuals or security companies.
“I am not concerned about this at all,” said McKay. “It is a good quality manufacturer, well-respected and fully compliant with all the Canadian laws. It is a good addition.”
*Original article can be found at Midland Mirror