Quebec pork and poultry producer Olymel has quadrupled production capacity at its Trois-Rivières facility through a $142-million expansion that adds advanced automation and energy-efficient technologies while positioning the company to capitalize on growing demand for affordable protein.

“Because we’re spread out in different regions in Quebec, this site was the best region for this investment based on the fact that it’s centralized, and also that we have land available to do the project. It’s an expansion to the actual site,” Jocelyn Gagné, vice-president of engineering at Boucherville, Que.-based Olymel said to FoodNX in an interview.

“By expanding this facility, we were able to optimize our supply chain, reduce certain raw-material movements and improve the overall efficiency of our operations,” he said in a follow-up email.

Four-fold increase in production

The project came in on time, on budget, and took about 15 months to complete in the factory that was first built in 2012, he said.

Production capacity will reach 50 million kilograms per year, up from 12 million kilograms before the upgrades. Its footprint expanded from 51,700 to 137,200 square feet, according to a release. Almost 100 new jobs were created, bringing the total workforce to about 400 workers, the release continued.

The expansion also benefited the Canadian economy, with $110 million in orders placed with Canadian companies, including more than $94 million with local businesses, according to the company.

But a boost to production was not the only objective for the firm as it made a number of improvements in energy usage that will fit into its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2030.

“We have a reduction equivalent of 3,000 tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide) equivalent per year with this project based on the choice we made for water-based cooking,” Gagné said.

The water-based cooking process replaces conventional air heating, while a "closed-loop water management" system is designed to improve water efficiency.

The plant will also have a battery system that it will deploy during peak energy months such as winter in Quebec, he explained.

Consolidating operations at the Trois-Rivières facility will also reduce transportation requirements and associated emissions, Gagné said.

“We had a plant in Anjou, in Trois-Rivières, and then to close those plants and centralize everything in the same location, it helps us to reduce transport consumptions and effect the CO2 reduction,” Gagné said.

“We’re pretty proud of this investment.”

New ways of production installed

Besides the environmentally friendly upgrades, the firm added new robotic technologies to its processes. “We brought in autonomous equipment to pick up the pallets and take them to the storage location when we complete the orders.”

As well, it deployed “AI in the middle of those processes to help us to take the best strategy for planning, for example, and for the scheduling of the operations,” Gagné said.

Olymel hopes to capitalize on demand for more affordable protein as high beef prices prompt some consumers to consider alternatives, Gagné said.

“It’s a big surprise that pork is not able to get what beef is leaving on the table because it’s really a good meat. Olymel is still working on finding opportunities to help the consumer to get the full value of the pork by the quality that we’re producing.”

“Olymel has been very proactive in the last years with new products, new approaches to present different meals to our consumers, or different ways to prepare those meals, and that helps the consumer to appreciate the pork product,” Gagné said.

About Olymel

Olymel employs approximately 12,000 people and reported revenue of nearly $4.9 billion in 2025. It sells pork and poultry products in more than 50 countries under six brands: Olymel, Pinty’s, La Fernandière, Lafleur, Flamingo and Nagano.

Its parent company is the Sollio Cooperative Group.