A3 Surfaces: The anodized Aluminium surface treatment firm to set up its first factory in Saguenay, Canada

A3 Surfaces, the company that offers a treatment service for anodized aluminium surfaces to make them antimicrobial, will install its first plant in the former Groupe Gagnon Frères warehouse in the Henri-Girard industrial park in Chicoutimi, Saguenay.

According to Dr Guy Leblanc, Spokesperson and Vice-President of the health component of A3 Surfaces: “The leaders of the company signed a lease of several years with an option to buy from the owner Michel Lavoie.”

“The plant will be operational in January 2021. The anodizing line alone represents an investment of $ 3M. The layout and equipment are in the order of $ 4.5 million out of the $ 7 million provided for in our business plan”, underlines Dr Leblanc.

The work to fit out the building has begun and there are around ten employees. “Eventually, we'll have about 20 when we start-up. For the anodizing line, it is a specialized Quebec engineering company that will look for different pieces all over the world. They assemble it, disassemble it and then come to reassemble it to us. "

The spokesperson added: “We are not a foundry. We do the surface treatment. Customers already make their products out of aluminium and we process them. Customers may want us to do everything from A to Z. At that point, we deal with sub-contractors in the region to make the aluminium parts that we will then process.”

Guy Leblanc admits: “Using a building that has already been built makes it possible, for his start-up plant, to avoid additional costs of $ 2 to $ 3 million.”

The business plan of A3 Surfaces also includes a second plant in the Montreal region.

However, Dr Leblanc stated on the above point: “It's a bit early to talk about it. Above all, our factory in Saguenay must operate at maximum capacity with three eight-hour digits. We depend on the speed of American, European and Canadian certifications. It's very hard with Health Canada and the Americans as well, because of microbial affect health. But, it seems to be unlocked quickly. Anyway, we are looking to Montreal for 2022 or 2023. There is an incredible amount of customers all over the world who are interested in.”