Ikea officials scout out northeast for potential manufacturers.

Timiskaming's increased emphasis on value-added wood products may be producing results, if recent interest in the region by home and office furnishing company Ikea is any indication.

Ikea Canada public relations specialist Keka DasGupta says company representatives were in the region in late January scouting out the area with an eye on manufacturing opportunities within the region.

"We have a home furnishings group within Ikea that is constantly scouting locations and suppliers in Canada and throughout the world," she says. "We have about 2,000 suppliers worldwide. They were up in that area doing a preliminary scout to see what opportunities are up there."

The companies have made no specific plans to begin manufacturing in the Timiskaming area, DasGupta is quick to add, reiterating the fact that the visit was simply a fact-finding tour.

The fact the company is even looking at the area is promising, says Temiskaming Shores Mayor Jamie Hawken.

"To my understanding, they're not at this point pursuing any independent manufacturing facility that they would own and operate," says Hawken. "They're looking at alliances or relationships with existing or new entrepreneurs that want to do some value-added manufacturing."

He says the company is "very strict" in its requirements that products they would deal with would be from sustainably-managed forests. One of the attractive features of the area is the Timiskaming Forest Alliance that operates the Temiskaming Forest sustainable forest license (SFL).

The alliance consists of a consortium of forest companies that include forest product producers such as Cheminis Lumber, Grant Forest Products, Domtar, Tembec, Norboard Industries and Liskeard Lumber, as well as independent logging operators such as Rosko Forestry Operations, Paiement and Sons and Greg Woolings.

Hawken says a group of five Ikea representatives toured a number of facilities, including solid dimensional lumber and particle-board facilities.

"Right now, the greater interest seems to be in working with solid wood products as opposed to particleboard ones," he says.

Hawken says it will be up to the community to foster any future business arrangements between Ikea and local companies or entrepreneurs. There are also no guarantees that Ikea would locate specifically in Temiskaming Shores.

"I see this as an opportunity for the region," he says. "If it's in the District of Timiskaming versus say the District of Cochrane, it is going to be more beneficial for us. Regardless of where they live or work within it, they're going to be shopping and purchasing vehicles and doing those sorts of things in our municipality.

"Value-added wood manufacturing fits in with our strategic plan and this opportunity is a great match for what we're trying to do," Hawken adds. "They came to us, which is exciting and we see that as a positive sign that we're on the right track."

www.ikea.ca

www.timfor.com

www.town.newliskeard.on.ca

By ANDREW WAREING

Northern Ontario Business