trade war? not an issue for high-tech company in new industry for windsor region
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convoy technologies production associate josette dufault works on the wiring for a camera system on friday, july 18, 2025, at the company's tecumseh location.
dave waddell
/
windsor star
despite the raging canada-u.s. trade war, the windsor area — currently boasting the nation’s highest jobless rate — is adding a new industry with the formal opening of convoy technologies canada.
the high-tech company provides advance safety and monitoring cameras for the trucking, mining, automotive and construction industries. it’s new 18,000-square-foot, high-tech facility is located in tecumseh’s oldcastle industrial sector and is currently going through test builds with the aim of launching commercial production july 24.
“over the next four or five years we’ll invest $17 million in the plant,” convoy technologies president ron harker told the star.
“our customers can be anything from an oem (original equipment manufacturer) that builds trucks, construction or mining equipment to a fleet. we do business with some of the largest fleets in north america currently.”
while the canada-u.s. tariffs war wasn’t on the scene when the company made its decision to locate in essex county last fall, harker seems confident that the two nations will sort out their trade differences.
he noted it was escalating trade tensions between the u.s. and china that led to the decision to move production to north america. the firm is headquartered in fort wayne, ind., where it also has a distribution centre.
the company also has an office in hong kong.
“in terms of canadian tariffs, what i would say is we don’t focus too much on the headlines because things change really rapidly,” said harker, adding the u.s. is the company’s largest market.
“we believe a lot of what’s going on right now is both the canadian and the united states side are positioning themselves for the renegotiation of the trade agreement (cusma) that will happen next year.
“my advice to anyone is don’t worry too much about the headlines, focus on your business.”
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harker said there are currently 12 or 13 employees employed at the tecumseh plant and he expects that number to grow over the company’s first year to about 35.
the plant aims to produce 1,000 cameras per week or 200 per day. the facility has the capacity to manufacture 70,000 units annually and there’s room for expansion at the site.
convoy technologies builds multiple models of cameras and has those lines already set up, but will focus on one model at a time while it fine-tunes mass production.
employment at the company “will expand rapidly as we open up production lines,” said harker, who added the company is intending to expand into the power sports segment and has a growing presence in security for shipping containers.
harker said the company looked at all three nations in north america before deciding on the windsor area. he said the region offered the best place for convoy in terms of proximity to its customers, security, access to reliable energy sources and skilled personnel.
university of windsor engineering student samantha mangiardi works in the ‘clean room’ of convoy technologies canada facility in tecumseh on friday, july 18, 2025, attaching chips to a camera lens. mangiardi is serving as an intern and is in her second year in engineering.
dave waddell
/
windsor star
part of the planned $17-million investment is $328,984 from ontario’s southwestern development fund.
windsor-tecumseh conservative mpp andrew dowie said convoy technologies diversifies essex county’s economy.
“what convoy has to offer is a brand-new industry that’s complementary to what exists,” dowie said.
“it brings new jobs with the investment and keeps on growing our ecosystem and fostering our vision of having a circular economy in ontario. we should be able to build the entirety of a vehicle in the province.
“this is a key part of that.”
harker said windsor won’t be just a production site.
the plant will serve as its centre for research and development and the company expects to launch several new products from the facility.
“the talent pool here in the region is incredible,” harker said.
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“the feeder system you have in place, and maybe folks who have lived here their whole lives may not recognize how unusual it is to have the feeder system that’s in place here.”
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