About 18 months after breaking ground, Latham Group Inc. has completed its newest manufacturing facility near Kingston, expediting the company’s expansion into the region.
The company, based in Latham, N.Y., is the largest designer, manufacturer and marketer of in-ground residential swimming pools in North America, Australia and New Zealand. The new 148-acre manufacturing plant in Loyalist Township, west of Kingston, will allow it to further scale its operations.
At 160,000 square feet, the facility, built on industrial land just off Taylor Kidd Boulevard, is Latham’s biggest manufacturing plant and marks the largest investment made by Latham in its 66-year history, the company said.
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For Ginger Bertrand, some of her earliest childhood memories in Ottawa are centred around healthcare. “I grew up across the street from what was originally the General Hospital,” she explains,
“Last year, we broke ground here to build our largest fibreglass pool manufacturing plant,” said Scott Rajeski, president and CEO of Latham, in a news release. “As we continue to drive the material conversion from concrete to fiberglass, the Kingston plant will allow us to better scale our operations across North America by reducing our lead times and expanding our manufacturing capabilities in attractive markets.”
“We are excited to begin production in this new world-class facility, which will enable us to better service homeowners and create job opportunities for the residents in the Loyalist community and greater Kingston area,” said Sanjay Jain, fibreglass operations director for Canada for Latham. “This was a fast-paced project completed in record time.”
Loyalist Township was excited to celebrate the plant’s recent opening, said Mayor Jim Hegadorn.
“Latham is an international company and a global leader in the swimming pool industry, we are very pleased that Latham has chosen Loyalist as home for the company’s newest facility,” the mayor said. “Already, Latham has made a profound impact by sponsoring community events and offering meaningful employment opportunities to residents.”
Latham has more than 30 manufacturing plants around the world making fibreglass and in-ground vinyl liner residential pools and components, including automatic pool covers and solid and mesh safety covers. The company employs more than 2,000 employees.
The company already has two plants in Canada outside Toronto that manufacture packaged pools, vinyl pool liners and pool covers.
The publicly traded company has been looking to improve its capacity to serve the Canadian and northeastern U.S. markets for some time. In 2021, the company chose Loyalist Township because of its location between Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa and its easy access to markets in eastern Canada as well as the northeast and upper-midwest of the U.S.
Latham plans to manufacture more than 100 Latham and Narellan pool models at the new facility. Late last year, the company said it planned to hire about 200 people in the area.
