Forage equipment maker PhiBer Manufacturing has picked up a $441,000 federal loan to go toward expansions at its south-central Manitoba factory.
PhiBer will use the repayable stimulus funding, announced Tuesday, for a planned 6,300-square foot building and new manufacturing equipment, expanding the production capacity of its plant at Crystal City, about 70 km west of Morden.
“This stimulus package positions our company to accelerate our research and development program by cutting lead times to hours and not weeks,” PhiBer marketing and product development vice-president Derek Friesen said in the government’s release.
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The money will flow through the federal Community Adjustment Fund, from which the western provinces get $306 million over two years through Western Economic Diversification Canada, to spur development in the region’s “most affected” communities.
Candice Hoeppner, the local Tory MP, said in the release the funding “will help take this company to the next level” and allow PhiBer “to meet the demands of expanding export markets while safeguarding jobs in the community and creating opportunity for future employment expansion in this rural farm-dependent economy.”
PhiBer’s current product lines include swath mergers/turners, bale accumulators, bale grabs and straw-spreading bale processors.
