WOODSTOCK, ON — Since 1977, Scheltema Trailer Manufacturing has been building custom lowboys and specialized trailers for heavy-haul applications. And in late August, the company announced that it’s growing and moving into a new  facility.

The move means that Scheltema is breathing new life into an old factory, a much-appreciated injection of capital and enterprise in this central Ontario community.

The company’s new home is on former John Deere property, which accommodated an assembly plant and a fabrication facility until it closed in 2006.

“It’s great to see this kind of investment,” Woodstock’s Chamber of Commerce President Tim Beynen said. “That property’s been sitting vacant all those years and it’s good to see it being put back to use.”

“It is anticipated,” Scheltema President Bill Scheltema said in a release, “the increased capacity of the new facility will allow both companies to expand and take advantage of opportunities as export market conditions dictate.” (Sharing the new facility with Scheltema will be Mobile Energy Inc., which produces mobile sub stations for utility use.)