Label supplier Labelink is celebrating its 20th anniversary by opening a brand new factory in Granby. This will be the first time that one of its teams will move into premises custom-built for its needs.
Posted at 1:05 a.m.
Updated at 8:00 a.m.
The building will be built not far from the Yamaska River, and the office windows will overlook a wooded area.
“It will improve production processes, but the more important element is that it will allow us to create a living environment for employees. We see the trends in the market, it’s harder to find employees, we have to find a work environment more in line with their needs,” says Stephen Bouchard, president of Labelink.
He even says he is in discussions with his future neighbor, Artopex, to develop a walking path along the river which could benefit the employees of both companies.
Labelink distributes its production between nine factories and was already present in Granby, as the tenant of a factory. The team that worked there will gradually move to the new premises starting in the spring.
The new factory represents an investment of 15 million and will have an area of 6,320 square meters (68,000 square feet). The plan contains a rental suite of 1710 m2. (18 400 pi2), but Labelink hopes to succeed in concluding a major project with an American company, which would allow it to occupy the entire building and create around twenty jobs in Granby.
Labels on all shelves
Labelink was founded in 2004 and today has 400 employees across its factories in Canada and the United States. The labels and packaging components that it produces for its approximately 3,000 customers can be found on various objects found on the shelves of grocery stores and pharmacies, such as bottles of wine, jars of mustard or even laundry detergent containers.
That’s without counting the RFID tags that he designs for companies that use them internally. These include technology that makes it possible to track the item to which they are affixed, a practical feature especially for managing inventory.
Coming soon to Chicago
The company, headquartered in Montreal, has grown through acquisitions in recent years, and will soon add a Chicago factory to its production sites.
In an industry where only a few weeks – and sometimes only a few days – pass between receipt of an order and its delivery, Labelink must focus on speed of execution to ensure that it retains its customers.
“It requires being very agile, being customer-centric. It’s an overused term, but it’s really important in our world. We invest massively in computer systems to speed up decision-making,” underlines Stephen Bouchard, who adds that programmers work full time for the company.
This quest for speed was there from the beginning of the company, when it had only seven employees. “We have become a bigger machine, but I don’t want to lose that essence. Nothing breaks my heart more than a customer who tells me it’s not like it used to be. When it happens, we immediately try to understand why and find solutions,” says Stephen Bouchard.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FORMEDICA
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46 %
This is the proportion of Canadian small business owners who say they do not have a digital transformation plan in place, according to a survey conducted by Scotiabank. The financial institution points out that the absence of such a plan can make a business less attractive to potential buyers, in addition to complicating the transfer process.
