Sherbrooke, January 26, 2010
It is in the presence of Sherbrooke Mayor, Mr. Bernard Sévigny, of the CEO of Sherbrooke Innopole, Mr. Pierre Bélanger, of the vice-president for research at the Université de Sherbrooke, Mr. Jacques Beauvais, of the directors of regional offices of the DEC and of the MDEIE, of the members of the board of directors of EFD, Norwegian company, partner of Tekna Plasma Systems Inc., of the representatives of the BMO, BDC and FTQ, financial partners, as well as Tekna employees, that the President and CEO of Tekna Plasma Systems Inc., Mr. Maher Boulos, announced the official opening of their new company Tekna Advanced Materials Inc, located in Sherbrooke’s Technoparc.
Mr. Boulos stressed that “the economical activity we are launching with this new project leading to the creation of ten new jobs planned for 2010, is our way of thanking our society and both levels of governments, federal and provincial, for their help throughout our twenty years of existence.”
Mr. Boulos continued by pointing out that this project, which represents an investment of almost 5 million dollars, will allow Tekna to diversify its production of manufacturing of equipment and integrated plasma systems for the treatment and the synthesis of materials, by adding the role of producer of high added value materials for applications in microelectronics, biotechnology and the fabrication of wear resistant pieces for the field of mines and oil drilling.
“More than ever, the City of Sherbrooke is counting on innovation, on putting together abilities, networks and strengths of the environment to assure its growth and economical development. Today, Tekna offers us a good example of the amazing potential of such attitude. What Tekna has achieved over the past 20 years is remarkable and lets us foresee a brilliant future”, mentioned Sherbrooke Mayor, Mr. Bernard Sévigny.
Mr. Pierre Bélanger, CEO of Sherbrooke Innopole, declared that: “We are proud to contribute to the rapid expansion of a local company, that is a stem from local university research and whose international alliance contributes to the radiance of Sherbrooke as an innovative city. We have a proof here of the potential of our innovative companies and this encourages us to continue in our effort to support the development in the field of nano-technologies.”
Mr. Boulos also insisted on the fact that: “By launching this project during a period of economical recession, this project allowed Tekna to reposition itself very quickly and take back its place as leader on the international market in this field, during the recovery that is starting to show since the beginning of 2010. It is thanks to the fierce work of our amazing team, that we can face this challenge and that we have been able to assemble this new plant in record time.” Mr. Boulos continued by mentioning that the construction of this new plant in Sherbrooke has also been joined to important efforts of marketing our products internationally. “This translated into the opening of a new office in Grenoble in France for the diffusion of our products in Europe, as well as the signature of representation agreements with EFD offices in Yokohama, Japan, Shanghai, China, and in Bangalore, India. These are added to our representation offices in Seoul, South Korea, and to Singapore.”
Mr. Boulos declared: “It is with great pleasure that I would like to express, in the name of the entire Tekna personnel, our great recognition to Canada Economic Development and to Développement économique, Innovation et Exportation du Québec for their important contributions to this project that we have launched last March, further to a meeting at our offices of all the participants in this file. Your receptivity, your encouragements, and your financial support have, without any doubt, had a marking effect on our decision to go forward with this project at a time where all the economical prognostics were signalling an important economical recession.”
“Great thanks to your contribution for making this ambitious project a reality. You can be assured that we will spare no effort to make this project a great success and prove we were up to it. Also, great thanks to our EFD partners for their encouragements and support throughout this important step in the development of our company.”
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Source: Mr. Maher Boulos
President and CEO
Tekna Plasma Systems Inc.
Phone: (819) 820-2204
