Olymel, a Canadian producer, processor, and distributer of pork and poultry meats, announced the construction of a major expansion of its La Fernandière plant in Trois-Rivières, an investment of $142 million that will allow Olymel to better serve its customers in Canada and abroad. The work will begin in the next few days, with the start of operations scheduled for spring 2026.
Olymel is pursuing several objectives with this project and significant gains are expected in the first year of operation. The plant, which essentially manufactures sausages at the present time, will expand production to include a wider range of pork and poultry products. It will also be converted into an integrated facility where products can be fully processed and packaged onsite, thus reducing the transport of raw materials, better aligning processes, and improving the company's productivity. Finally, this new plant will considerably increase Olymel's production capacity.
"We're very proud to announce this major expansion of our Trois-Rivières plant. It's a big step forward for Olymel. Having this state-of-the-art plant will create new possibilities for expansion and significantly improve our efficiency, which is central to our company's performance. The project is perfectly aligned with our strategy of capitalizing on the creation of value-added products made with meat of superior quality that's produced by local farmers," says Yanick Gervais, CEO of Olymel.
The company says that innovation will be at the core of the project, with new systems optimized by artificial intelligence. The connectivity of all the equipment and components will be used to ensure optimized operations management. The technologies include a unique industrial battery system, a continuous cooking line, completely autonomous operations (slicing, packaging, boxing, and palletizing), and autonomous vehicles.
The modernization of operations is expected to create more consistent production. The plant to utilize the latest packaging technology for increased flexibility that fosters the use of eco-friendly solutions.
Finally, the plant will serve as an innovation hub for new artificial intelligence solutions that Olymel can deploy elsewhere in its network, with the goal of increasing its productivity and optimizing its operations.
In terms of occupational health and safety, the new ergonomic equipment will reduce the number of physically demanding tasks for employees, improve employee comfort at operating stations, and free up workers so that they can focus on tasks requiring more precision.
Everything in the project was designed to optimize energy consumption, with measures that include heat recovery, net–zero water-based cooking, and a heat exchanger to recover heat from wastewater. Onsite industrial batteries will be used to store energy and better manage the plant's power consumption when the grid is at peak demand.
The ham cooking systems will utilize closed-circuit water management to save more energy and water. In addition, a primary and secondary water treatment plant will be built onsite, along with the necessary retention pond, to manage stormwater runoff.
Finally, reduced greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and the improved management of natural gas, refrigerants, electricity, and residual materials will all result in environmental gains.
Locally, the plant will generate new economic opportunities, including the creation of some 50 direct jobs—bringing the total number of employees up to 400—and many indirect jobs.
To help power Quebec's economy, the vast majority of building materials chosen will be made in Quebec. The contractor chosen for the construction work, Construction Bertrand Dionne, is from Drummondville, and the palletizing and boxing services will be designed by Premier Tech, a company from Rivière-du-Loup.
Parallel to this project, and with a view to optimizing its operations and capturing the full benefit of the new plant, Olymel will permanently close its Anjou facility (140 employees) and its Cap-de-la-Madeleine facility (150 employees) in spring 2026. All personnel will be offered positions in neighboring Olymel plants, particularly the newly built facility, which will be located a dozen kilometers from the Cap-de-la-Madeleine plant.
