Boosted by an aging network and an increase in electricity production projects, the market for disconnectors – switches for high-voltage lines – is booming. And Mindcore, a manufacturer based in Terrebonne, is taking advantage and expanding its factory, a $2.2 million project that will double its production capacity.

Mindcore expects to have completed its factory expansion and redevelopment project in January 2024. If all goes well, the new facilities should come online at that time. The first shovelful of earth has not yet been made, but the company has rented premises to help it with its redevelopment, which has already started.

The new factory, which will have a 30% larger surface area, will be welcome, explains Patrick Lalongé, vice-president of technologies. “The demand is currently such that we have to refuse customers,” he says. Hence the importance of expanding. We will increase capacity and also reduce delivery times. »

The vice-president explains that electricity networks expanded significantly between the 1960s and 1980s. The disconnectors then had a lifespan of around forty years. Today, there is therefore a very large pool of obsolete equipment that must be replaced.

In the world, there are tens of millions of disconnectors, illustrates Patrick Lalongé. Hydro-Québec has 35,000 in its network. Given that we manufacture 3,000 to 4,000 per year, we see before us a demand that will remain sustained for a good while.

This is without taking into account that the development of numerous electrical projects, such as that of a Hydro-Québec energy corridor in Maine, also contributes to fueling demand.

Founded in 2008, Mindcore bought a company in 2011 that manufactured disconnectors until the 1980s before going out of business.

“At the time, disconnectors were designed to last 40 years,” says Patrick Lalongé. But after 1980, the companies that remained alive competed fiercely on the basis of cost, thereby reducing product quality. »

According to the vice-president, the average lifespan of disconnectors on the market has therefore increased to 20 or 25 years, so that Mindcore says it now differentiates itself from its competitors through the durability of its products.

“At the beginning, we had difficulty competing because our equipment was more expensive to purchase. But because our products don’t have to be replaced for 40 years, the total cost of our product over its lifetime is 15% to 20% lower. »

The company, with sales of between 40 and 60 million, is currently the largest manufacturer of disconnectors in the country and exports 70% of its manufacturing to the United States. With the growth it anticipates, it could well solidify its stock.