Kitchener company getting $3 million to help meet growing demand from EV market

Kitchener manufacturer Kuntz Electroplating (KEI) is getting $3 million to meet growing demand from the electric vehicle market.

Filomena Tassi, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario made the announcement at the Kitchener manufacturing facility Monday morning.

Kuntz Electroplating is a leading manufacturer of North American electroplated and powder-coated parts for both vehicle and motorcycles.

Tassi says the investment is meant to strengthen KEI’s manufacturing capabilities and will lead to the creation of 45 new jobs at the Kitchener plant.

“You are a full service manufacturer from design to assembly,” Tassi said. “And now by focusing on green technology, you are harnessing your expertise to expand to new markets."

Filomena Tassi, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, appears during a news conference in Ottawa on March 28, 2022. Tassi was in Kitchener on Monday to announce funding for Kuntz Electroplating. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)

Kuntz Electroplating says they’ve already hired more than a dozen people and are modifying existing production lines and adding new equipment.

“Today's investment will help our company invest in the type of production technology that will make us an important player of the greening and electrification of the North American automotive sector,” said KEI president Robert Kuntz.

"In anticipation of this announcement we've already hired 25 of the 45 employees that Minister Tassi mentioned just in recent weeks, which has enabled us to produce the increasing volumes of powder-coated EV battery components and parts that will run on our new anodizing line.”

The news comes in the wake of the Liberal government’s mandate to electrify one-fifth of all passenger cars, SUV and trucks sold in Canada by 2026 with the goal of going fully-electric by 2035.

Workers at Kuntz Electroplating in Kitchener. (File photo/CTV Kitchener)

"The orders are in. They need the ability to fill those orders. That's what this investment does," Tassi said.

She was joined by Kitchener-South Hespeler MP Valerie Bradford, Kitchener-Conestoga MP Tim Louis and Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic at the announcement.

“Today’s funding announcement is a crucial investment, not just for Kitchener, but in our country’s low-carbon economy and the jobs of the future that are so critical to our long-standing companies like KEI,” Vrbanovic said.