New remanufacturing plant in Bradford, Ont. gives machinery a second life

Toromont Cat, a brand new remanufacturing facility in Bradford helps take ‘near end-of-life’ Caterpillar machine parts and refurbishes them for future use.

The company, formerly located in Vaughan, broke ground on a new facility in 2021 off of Line 5 in Bradford. They facility is 143,000 square feet.

Terry Harkness, general manager of Toromont Remanufacturing said the remanufacturing plant offers new life to the machinery.

“We call it the circular economy because we keep it back and put it back into life,” said Harkness. “On a lot of our components, we can reuse up to 60 per cent of the original, parts.”

Harkness adds a lot of machine parts will be reused and not end up in a landfill or another recycling plant.

“The parts will last upwards of 20 to 25,000 hours depending on the use,” said Harkness. “When the component comes here, it will generally stay in our plant for four to eight weeks before being sent back out.”

Harkness said there were many benefits to relocating the plant to Bradford.

“We looked for a site for many years and landed on Bradford because of the access to the skilled people and the open arms we have seen from Bradford West Gwillimbury,” said Harkness.

Employees are also appreciative of the new location. Matt Koski has been an employee for more than 30 years.

“I remember when I started, I wanted a pair of coveralls that say my name on it,” said Koski. “It took me a while to get in, but I did get in, and I have a passion for caterpillar products, and I thoroughly enjoy every day that I work.”

Koski adds the work he does a on a day-to-day basis is fulfilling.

“I ran the High-Performance Dino for many years and diagnosing, making the product perfect before the customer gets it is the main goal,” said Koski.

Now that Toromont Cat is settled into their new location, they plan on getting out into the community and expand their workforce.

The company currently employs more than 150 people with plans to add more than 50 jobs in the future.