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Kruger Products inaugurates Sherbrooke Tissue Plant; begins expansion project

Kruger Products officially inaugurated its Sherbrooke Tissue Plant on June 20. It also kick-started its $351.5 million expansion project for another tissue plant being built at an adjacent site.

In a statement by the company, Kruger Products explained that the second project, expected to be completed by 2024, is aligned with its vision to make Sherbrooke a major tissue product manufacturing hub in North America. The plant is to feature one of Canada’s most advanced and best-performing TAD tissue machines. In total, the company will have invested nearly $1 billion in the Estrie Region since 2018.

The inauguration of the Sherbrooke Tissue Plant and breaking ground on the expansion project took place in the presence of  Joseph Kruger II, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Kruger Inc.; François Legault, Premier of Québec; Pierre Fitzgibbon, Québec Minister of Economy and Innovation; Geneviève Hébert, Member for Saint-François and Deputy Government Whip; Évelyne Beaudin, mayor of Sherbrooke; Dino Bianco, chief executive officer, Kruger Products L.P.; and Patrice Bégin, general manager, Kruger Products Sherbrooke Plant.

“With this expansion project, we are extremely proud to deliver on our vision to make Sherbrooke a major tissue-product manufacturing hub in North America as well as an outstanding technological showcase that spotlights the company, the region and our employees’ know-how,” said Dino Bianco, chief executive officer, Kruger Products. “I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the construction of the first plant, as well as our employees in Sherbrooke who contribute to its success on a daily basis.”

Early success of the tissue plant

The Kruger Products Sherbrooke Plant is built in the Brompton Borough along the Saint-François River. Nearly one million person-hours of work went into building the plant, which created 1,700 direct and indirect jobs during the construction phase. Construction of the plant ended on time in early 2021.

The Sherbrooke Tissue Plant has 180 employees. It has been performing above expectations since it was commissioned last year.  The plant benefited from an additional $25-million investment to implement artificial intelligence (AI) functions that make it one of Canada’s most technologically advanced manufacturing facilities.

The plant was recently honoured with two awards at the Sherbrooke Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 35th Estrie Recognition Gala: the Manufacturing Business Award and the International Visibility Citation Award.

Expansion project

The $351.5M expansion project includes the construction of a double-wide tissue machine featuring LDC technology. Two additional converting lines will also be installed, one in the existing Sherbrooke Plant and the other in the new plant. The additional lines will bring the site’s overall production capacity to more than 130,000 metric tonnes of tissue products, including Cashmere UltraLuxe, Scotties facial tissue and SpongeTowels UltraPROTM.

The construction project will be carried out over the next two years. The expansion will require some 660,000 person-hours of work. Kruger Products expects the project to create 141 additional direct jobs.