Barrie-based Southmedic is investing $3.5 million in oxygen-related products in Canada and internationally, it was announced Friday.
And the province is supporting that investment with $1.75 million through its Ontario Together Fund, designed to help stabilize the supply chain, increase production capacity of oxygen delivery products and mitigate supply chain disruption.
“This grant gives our operations further opportunity to reduce its dependency on a fragile supply chain, while at the same time creating additional opportunities within our community,” said Lee McDonald, Southmedic president and CEO. “It allows Southmedic to create 25 new jobs here in Barrie.”
“It is critical that we support homegrown manufacturing to provide stability, encourage ingenuity and create jobs while allowing for flexibility in the future,” said Doug Downey, MPP for Barrie-Springwater-Oro-
Southmedic plans to invest in a new, faster extrusion machine that makes medical-grade tubing to supply oxygen.
“This has created jobs in Barrie,” McDonald said. “We will continue to create jobs and focus locally.”
“We need to invest with the people who invest in Ontario,” Downey said. “It’s this type of thing we need to support.”
The Ontario government has invested another $50 million in the Ontario Together Fund in 2021-22, Downey said, in part to promote the province’s medical technology system.
Established in 1983, Southmedic is a private corporation specializing in medical device production, development, design, manufacturing and distribution. Its products are delivered to hospitals across Canada, and sold through distributors in more than 60 nations.
