Around 25 people, including representatives from the City of Brantford, company employees and potential customers, came together to celebrate the grand opening of Aebi Schmidt’s new Brantford facility on Tuesday, October 8, 2024.
Aebi Schmidt Group, a global company headquartered out of Switzerland, specializes in manufacturing heavy equipment such as snow removal equipment, street cleaners, tractors and more, for municipalities, airports and the agriculture sector.
Since signing the lease and securing the keys to the 7,000 sq ft building at the end of May 2023, the company has been hard at work remodeling the building since the first week of June, and was finally able to open the doors on Tuesday.
“We currently have five employees at this location and this facility is going to be a major parts distribution centre, repair facility, training facility and an up-fit facility,” said Rob Schedewitz, location manager of Brantford’s Aebi Schmidt location.
The new location is now Aebi Schmidt’s second Canadian location, the first being its Saint-André-Avellin, Quebec, head office, and Schedewitz said they’re excited for what’s to come.
“We’ve been to a few shows across the province here over the last few months and the number one thing that stands out from the municipalities and the other people looking for the products that we offer, is that there’s no competition,” he said. “Our goal is to come in, be the competition, and take over the competition. We’re excited to be here and we’re excited for the opportunity to prove ourselves. We already have plans for expansion out west because we know how successful this is going to be.”
Following the ribbon cutting ceremony with Steffen Schewerda, CEO of Aebi Schmidt North America and Jocelyn Romain, CEO of Aebi Schmidt Canada, attendees present had the opportunity to tour the facility, ask questions and view several machine demonstrations.
One particular machine that caught the eye of several guests was the ELP plough truck with an interchangeable body system as well as the 100 per cent electric street sweeper machines.
Schewerda later said the company decided to open a location in Ontario to better serve their customers.
“Thank you for joining us here today in opening our Brantford location. The Canadian market is very, very important for Aebi Schmidt. We have a presence in Quebec already, but to serve the Ontario customers better, we decided that we wanted to open a location here,” he said. “Our humble beginnings is, so to say, to focus on service, but in the end, it should also grow into a sizable municipal business and support the airports in the area. We also want to be here to react quickly so that you have people on the ground for immediate support as challenges arise here in the area so we can help.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
