Berry Plastics’ Belleville Plant Manager Rick Smith listens to an address from MPP Lou Rinaldi, during a funding announcement in the Belleville Industrial Park, on May 6, 2016. (Photo: David Foot / QuinteNews)
Belleville’s Berry Plastics plant has received its first major investment in new equipment since the early 90s.
The company itself is investing $7.8 million in the Belleville facility, which will pay for the addition of new equipment and add 16 staff members.
The province is pitching in as well, with $780,000 from the Eastern Ontario Development Fund.
Plant Manager Rick Smith says the new equipment will allow the facility to up the rate of production on current products and also start producing something new, to be sold to companies in Europe.
Smith says he expects to start getting parts for the new machine by this fall, with production of the new product set to start, hopefully by the end of January 2017.
And he added the investment will also help employee confidence and morale, as they’ll have less concerns about job security moving forward.
