Doppelmayr Canada will dramatically expand its base in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, situated between Montreal and the Laurentian Mountains. The new facility will feature approximately 120,000 square feet of indoor production, service and warehouse space; 31,000 square feet of covered outdoor space; and a 34,000 square foot office and training facility. The news comes just a few weeks after Doppelmayr broke ground on a similar expansion in Salt Lake City. “The new facility will be a state-of-the art manufacturing facility where we will continue to design and produce the highest quality ropeway systems in North America,” noted Luc Guy, CEO of Doppelmayr Canada. “We are excited to expand our production capabilities and our workforce and continue Doppelmayr’s legacy of building ropeways in Saint-Jérôme.”
The existing Saint-Jérôme plant opened in 1978 and today specializes in building UNI-G detachable equipment for Canada and the United States. The new headquarters will rise alongside the existing building and allow Doppelmayr to better serve the growing North American market. “Our employees do an outstanding job completing all our ropeways on time and to the highest standards,” said Gerhard Gassner, Doppelmayr Group Managing Director. “However, due to growing market volume, the new building has become essential to continue meeting these expectations,” he continued. The United States and Canada comprised 29 percent of the Group’s revenue last year, eclipsing €300 million.
Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) granted Doppelmayr Canada a repayable financial contribution of $3 million for the project. Construction is anticipated to start at the end of May with production set to begin at the new facility by the fourth quarter of 2026.
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With the continued growth of the North American market, it makes sense for Doppelmayr to improve the St-Jérôme facility along with the Salt Lake one instead of importing from Europe.
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Do we know if Doppelmayr or HTI will be increasing North American production capacity in response to the trade war? I know both of them kind of use the “competency center” where certain locations specialize in certain components.
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I would imagine that with huge tariffs, it is a much better solution for HTI and Doppelmayr to produce in the US for the American clients. It isn’t feasible to import components from Europe or Canada to build American lifts anymore.
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HTI already manufacturers the vast majority of its US bound equipment in the US. About all Skytrac imports for chairlifts are gearboxes and haul ropes. LPOA imports gearboxes, direct drives, haul ropes, carriers and grips. The price of domestic steel has increased double digits recently due to tariffs on foreign steel. Daren said LPOA’s hit will be $2 to 3 million this year before the latest escalation. Some things simply aren’t made domestically, such as cast parts.
Doppelmayr has been less outspoken and is probably more exposed. They manufacture D-Lines mostly in Austria, UNI-Gs mostly in Canada and fixed grips mostly in the US. Their supply chain is more complex than HTI’s. My understanding is even before this skirmish Doppelmayr planned to start making conical towers in Salt Lake. But that will take some time to come online with the new facility. They really like economies of scale manufacturing like parts together, such as all D-Line tire banks in Wolfurt and all Alpenstars in Salt Lake.
Surface lifts are a great example why no one wins a trade war. The US only builds one or two T-Bars a year while Europe installs maybe a dozen. It doesn’t make sense for a T-Bar factory to exist in the United States when the Europe factory can put one lift from their production run in a container and ship it over. That’s why Doppelmayr, Leitner-Poma and MND all import these specialized lifts from Europe.
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“Elites” that have been profiting from cheap imports don’t win in a trade war.Middle class Americans that will benefit from new good paying jobs win in a trade war.
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Everyone loses, as fewer lifts will be built due to higher costs. As such jobs related to installing and maintaining lifts will be lost.
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