Mattr Infrastructure Technologies expands and modernizes tubing business

Shawcor Ltd. — doing business as Mattr Infrastructure Technologies — is relocating operations from a Canadian plant and a U.S. distribution hub.

The Toronto-based company said it expects to invest about C$35 million (US$26.2 million) to move its production of industrial heat- and cold-shrink tubing and highly specified custom wire and cable to existing buildings elsewhere.

DSG-Canusa, Mattr's tubing business, will move almost 500 miles from western Toronto to a larger, more efficient facility in Fairfield, Ohio, near Cincinnati. The new location is closer to its main vendors and most of its customers, Mattr said in a news release.

Also moving to the Fairfield site will be DSG-Canusa's North American distribution hub, currently about 20 miles away in Loveland, Ohio. The Ohio project will create 48 jobs on top of retaining the current 26-member workforce. State officials pegged the expansion there at US$8 million, a figure Mattr declined to confirm.

DSG-Canusa also makes accessories for electrical/electronics, energy, communications and automotive markets.

Mattr's Shawflex wire and cable business will be relocating as well, moving about 30 miles from Toronto to Vaughan, Ontario. This new site will also house Kanata Electronic Services Ltd., which Mattr recently acquired and is integrating into Shawflex. Kanata makes wire, cable and connectors for nuclear, aerospace, military, medical and commercial applications.

The two new facilities will replace a 285,000-square-foot facility in Toronto that Mattr has been leasing for DSG-Canusa and Shawflex. The Ohio site will be 204,000 square feet, and the Vaughan facility will be slightly larger, Meghan MacEachern, Mattr external communications director, said in an Aug. 3 email.

The new plants are designed to expand production in Mattr's Connection Technologies segment, formerly the Automotive and Industrial segment.

Frank Cistrone, Connection Technologies president, said in a news release, "These substantial organic investments are an important part of our overall strategy to elevate returns for the entire organization.

"Our Shawflex business has grown dramatically over the last few years, and a larger, more modern Ontario facility will allow us to meet continued demand expansion, with greater efficiency," Cistrone added.

Mattr said it will relocate equipment from the current Toronto site in phases to the new sites, which should begin operating in 2025. As they approach normal production capacity in 2026, the plants could generate more than C$50 million (US$37.4 million) in annual sales.

In addition to Connection Technologies, Mattr's units include Composite Technologies and Pipeline & Pipe Services. MacEachern said the company "is still committed" to divesting Pipeline & Pipe Services, which doesn't actually make pipe but handles management and engineering services, pipeline performance and integrity management consulting.

In April, Mattr announced it would invest US$44 million to build two new facilities — one each in Texas and South Carolina. MacEachern said the company has now revealed the cities: Rockwall, Texas, and Blythewood, S.C.

Combined, the plants will total about 300,000 square feet. Construction should begin this year and wrap up in 2024.

The new Texas site will expand the company's production of spoolable Flexpipe flexible composite pipe. Mattr's Xerxes subsidiary will manufacture fiberglass-reinforced plastic underground storage tanks at the South Carolina facility.

Mattr employs more than 5,000 globally and reported 2022 sales of almost US$929.5 million. Its U.S. headquarters is in Houston.

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