Provincial issue: Energy cost too high for manufacturers, Belleville a nice place to do business, says plant manager

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By Greg Murphy ^[3]

BELLEVILLE – The cost of electricity is simply too high for manufacturers, says Sigma Stretch Film ^[4] plant manager Kevin McCaughen.

QNet interviewed McCaughen as part of our summer municipal election project ^[5]. He is the second member ^[6] of Belleville’s manufacturing community that we’ve spoken to to learn what issues local manufacturer’s care about most.

Sigma Stretch Film ^[7] is an American manufacturer of industrial stretch film, which is a thin plastic sheet used primarily for wrapping and packaging. Belleville’s Sigma plant, which opened in 2000, is the only one in Canada, and it ships stretch film all over the world.

Though it is a provincial issue, bar none, energy consumption is the biggest barrier for his plant, McCaughen said.

McCaughen said his company has exhausted all resources to utilize in-plant energy saving measures. And yet, the cost is still too high.

Manufacturers don’t really want to look to the city for help to offset high energy costs, he said.

McCaughen listed a number of things that he said would be nice to see from the city, though overall he said Belleville is a great place to do business.

We ended the interview by talking about the future of jobs for both local manufacturers and his plant specifically. McCaughen said he feels optimistic about the growth of his plant and the community it’s in.

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