Olymel closes poultry plant in Paris, Ont., invests $8M in Oakville plant

Olymel is closing its poultry processing plant in Paris, Ont. and investing $8 million to increase capacity at its plant in Oakville.

Production from the Paris plant will be transferred to Oakville. The 93 employees from the Paris plant were informed of the closure, which is set for Dec. 22.

Major renovations at the Oakville plant are expected to begin in the coming weeks, the company said. Among other things, one of two production lines from the Paris plant will be installed in Oakville.

Olymel said the redevelopment will have a positive impact on the poultry products plant on Orenda Road in Brampton, Ont., particularly for tumbling operations. 

The reorganization will also make way for equipment to be transferred from the Paris plant to the poultry further processing plant in Sainte-Rosalie, in the Montérégie Est region of Quebec.

Once the work is completed, operations at the Oakville plant will require an additional 62 employees, bringing the total number of workers in the facility to 180.

Olymel said it is assessing all options for the Paris facilities, including putting them up for sale. 

"The decision to close the Paris plant definitively was much thought-over, and the choice to consolidate the Paris operations with those in Oakville was taken to ensure efficiency and cost savings. This decision will prevent the projected costly investments needed to update the company's equipment at the Paris plant, notably to eliminate noise and odour disturbances for the neighbourhood,” said Yanick Gervais, president and CEO of Olymel, in a statement. “After renovations are complete, the Oakville plant will be able to carry out its current operations while integrating the activities from the Paris plant into its production lines.”

Following the closure of the Paris plant, Olymel will have 5 plants in Ontario: the Port Colborne poultry slaughtering, cutting and boning plant; the Oakville further processing plant; the Westwyn poultry boning and further processing plant and the Orenda breaded products plant, both located in Brampton; and the pork further processing plant located in Cornwall. 

In total, Olymel operates 24 pork and poultry processing plants and 5 distribution centres in Canada.