Timmins heavy equipment dealer hosts grand opening for its new $30M facility

A Canadian heavy equipment dealer is banking on a bright future in Timmins.

Since October 2022, SMS Equipment has been building a state-of-the-art facility to serve the mining, construction and forestry sectors. It hosted a grand opening Tuesday.

SMS, based in Alberta, has had a 30-year foundation in the Timmins region. Now, its footprint is much bigger.

The company has invested $30 million into a new facility where it offers a one-stop shop for the sale and service of heavy equipment, digital technologies, manufacturing and a crane that can lift 100,000 tons.

The 37,000-square-foot building is designed to hold the largest mining equipment in the world. It’s equipped to serve northern Ontario and beyond.

“Most of Ontario will be serviced out of this building here,” Dennis Chmielewski of SMS Equipment.

“We would call this our hub for the Ontario and we do a lot of the stuff. We can truck it to (the) site. A lot of it's too big to build right here. So we assemble some of the smaller pieces here and then we ship it to the site (to) finish the assembly.”

George Pirie, Timmins MPP and Ontario’s Minister of Mines, said the investment shows the company’s confidence in the future of Timmins.

“These are businessmen -- they know what they're talking about,” Pirie said.

“You know, they there have been around the mining sector. And for them, their vote and their vote of confidence in Timmins is huge. Every citizen in Timmins should be very happy about this sense of optimism and confidence in the city … because we've got what it takes.”

SMS Equipment held a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday at its new building on Highway 101 West in Timmins. The 37,000-square-foot building boasts the north’s biggest crane. (Lydia Chubak)

“We've seen industrial growth ... throughout our community in the last couple of years,” said Kraymr Grenke of the Timmins Chamber of Commerce.

“We have other shops that have gone up there (and) there's an NOHFC announcement later this week, as well.”

SMS Equipment currently employs around 80 people but expects that number to climb to over 120 by the end of the year.

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“Really the biggest obstacle is labor shortage,” Chmielewski said.

“Everybody's facing that. But we can get pretty creative and I think we're doing pretty good in that area.”

Jennifer Constant, Chief of Mattagami First Nation, was included in the grand opening. Constant said it’s important that the company acknowledge the territory it’s working in.

“Also the fact that, you know, there was an invitation extended out to Mattagami to have a meeting and a tour of the facility prior to the grand opening and to discuss opportunities with our First Nation with the company, as well,” she said.

Environmental sustainability is also top of mind for SMS equipment. The facility includes water and energy-saving features like its solar generation system.