Supercom Industries, a manufacturing company headquartered at Fort William First Nation, has received $195,946 from the Ontario government to build and market an innovation that improves railway foundations.
Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland made the announcement at the facility on Thursday and said the funding, which comes through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, supports job creation and manufacturing growth. This aligns with the Ontario government’s strategy of refocusing the Heritage Fund to mitigate the impacts of U.S. tariffs and trade disruptions, while securing new opportunities for the long-term prosperity of Northern Ontario.
“These funds will help support Supercom Industries’ scale-up production, support the distribution and installation of this innovative Spring Drain product that’s a made-in-the-north solution with national significance,” he said.
Supercom Industries board chairman Norm Jaehrling explained how Supercom Industries came to manufacture the innovative product, designed and created by TBT Engineering for the rail industry.
The product is a simple but very effective tool that’s used to repair and address issues with peat bogs and the settling of rail lines.
Railways built through areas with high amounts of peat can encounter foundation problems due to peat’s tendency to liquefy under the weight of trains. Spring Drain reduces this ‘peat boil’ by helping to manage water drainage and relieve the pressure in the ground as trains pass.
Jaehrling called it a “transformational safety innovation” that was invented and made right here in Thunder Bay. He said TBT Engineering was the innovator and the designers who made the initial sale to the rail industry to introduce it to them and get them to adopt it.
“And we came to an agreement where Supercom has a licence to manufacture and commercialize the product.
The Heritage Fund money will help them purchase a storage facility and transportation equipment for their product, GPS and probe field equipment and help with marketing initiatives and training staff .
Supercom is wholly owned in a partnership between Fort William, Pays Plat, Michipicoten, Pic Mobert, Pic River and Red Rock First Nations.
“We were formed back in 2016 as a collaboration to support the construction of the East-West (electricity transmission) Line. That was our first foray into business partnerships between these communities,” Jaehrling said. “When the East-West Line was wrapped up, our First Nation partners asked, ‘What do we do with this (partnership)? We’ve learned how to work together. We’ve done some good things and we see the value of regional economic co-operation.’”
Jaehrling said they examined options to “keep the family together,” and a subsidiary company was created with Hydro One. Making a product for railways is a natural expansion of their success in support of major infrastructure.
“We have a long-term agreement to do maintenance and repair services for the East-West Line, which we majority own,” he said. “We were looking for other commercial investment opportunities, and through our networks, we connected with TBT Engineering, and specifically with its Spring Drain.”
