Ontario moving into $4.4M addition

FRANKLINVILLE Last June 5, Ontario Knife Co. held a groundbreaking outside its Empire Street plant for a 28,000-square-foot addition designed to make the company more efficient and competitive.

The move into the completed $4.4 million expansion is underway, and some machines including stateof-the-art equipment are already up and running.

The addition also houses shipping and assembly operations, which were formerly located on the second floor of the factory.

Robert Breton, executive vice president and chief manufacturing officer at Ontario Knife, said the addition will house some manufacturing, as well as shipping and receiving. The companys kitchen line and machetes were assembled on the second floor.

This makes for a better production flow and other efficiencies, Breton said during a tour of the new facility Monday.

Instead of having to haul parts up to the second flood for assembly and shipping, then back to the first floor, it will all be done on the first floor. The addition brings the total factory space to about 100,000 square feet, Breton said.

Reconfiguration of manufacturing and shipping operations within the existing factory and the expansion is the key to efficiencies and future growth, he said.

Were trying to be as efficient as we possibly can, said Breton, who has been with the company for 40 years. Weve still got room for expansion.

One state-of-the-art piece of equipment has been installed in the addition a laser used to etch Ontario Knife and its logo into knife blades. Another that is waiting to be installed is a computer-assisted grinder.

Well be able to do multiple grinds with more consistency, Breton said.

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Ontario moving into $4.4M addition