Testori Americas will expand its current Summerside operation into a newly constructed 54,300 square foot plant in Slemon Park. The aerospace company has purchased a 4.2-acre site in Slemon Park’s new industrial park and will begin construction immediately. The Testori Slemon Park expansion will create 40 new positions.
“Last year, Lindo Lapegna, President of Testori Americas, was awarded the Exporter of the Year Award at the Progress Top 101 Businesses in Atlantic Canada reception held in Charlottetown, and most recently, Mr. Lapegna was named as one of the finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award,” said Mike Currie, Minister of Development and Technology. “We are grateful that a businessman like Mr. Lapegna chose western Prince Edward Island as the place to expand his business and employ Islanders.”
Testori now has 75 per cent share of the North American market for mass transit rail interiors. Testori has also expanded into a leased 35,000 square-foot facility in Bloomfield, PEI to house a portion of the Testori product offering a division of Wiebel Aerospace, which will be co-located to service their considerable metal needs.
Testori has been exporting products for the aircraft and mass transit industries since 1996. Wiebel, a precision machine shop which manufactures hydraulic components for the aerospace market, has been operating in PEI since 1995.
“The construction has already begun here at Slemon Park and we are excited that Testori will have a new facility in the near future,” said President Lindo Lapegna. “This new facility will house our equipment and employees under one roof in the Slemon Park Business Park and make production more efficient for our growing customers’ needs.”
Today, Testori currently employs 245 people at its Slemon Park facility. Their main customers include Bombardier and Alstom who collectively control most of the mass transit industry in North America.
This sector now represents 25% of total provincial exports and the industry continues to gain momentum in our province.
The Department of Development and Technology provided a $2.7 million Forgivable Performance Loan through Prince Edward Island Business Development, one of the lead business development agency’s for the province.