After 15 years in Blenheim, the Woodbridge Foam plant is moving to Tilbury and that will eventually mean more jobs.
Brian Wright, plant chair with Unifor 127, says the current 220 employees should be operating out of their new location by July 1, 2018 because business is booming.
Wright says the Blenheim plant has become too small and the move to a bigger plant will eventually come with some significant hiring.
"With all the new product coming in and what their plans are, we needed more floor space than what we have here. So, what they were looking at was building on here and if that didn't work then they were going to look at relocating," says Wright.
Woodbridge still owns the empty Tilbury plant, which closed five years ago, and currently leases the Blenheim plant.
Woodbridge Foam makes small interior trim such as headrests and armrests for vehicles like Jeeps.
Wright says Woodbridge is busy now and has more contracts coming.
"We believe they will be hiring more people and it's a possibility they'll be hiring before we move. It think it'll eventually be significant [hiring]," Wright says.
Wright says the move has positives and negatives.
"There's going to be the possibility of more employment and also on the upside, it'll boost smaller businesses around the Tilbury area. On the downside, the Town of Blenheim and this area loses," says Wright.