With the acquisition of Polyform, a half-century-old competitor, Polymos has the wind in its sails.

Summary of AQMAT’s interview with Charles Bourbonnais, President and CEO of Polymos

Polymos and Polyform, the story of two families

“It’s a great transaction. We’re very proud, and we see it as a great adventure, a continuation in the history of Polyform and Polymos, who are joining forces after 50 years of competing with each other”.

From the very beginnings of expanded plastics in Quebec, in the 1960s, two ambitious men, craftsmen and creators, each founded their own company in this flourishing industry, while cultivating friendship and healthy competition: Jean-Louis Béliveau, founder of Polyform, and Marcel Bourbonnais, Charles’ grandfather, who founded Polymos in 1969. “We have a lot of respect for all that has been achieved by the Béliveau family, and we’re very happy to join forces, because the values are very similar: they revolve around people, customers and long-term partners.” At a time when work was harder to find, it was important for Marcel Bourbonnais to help create jobs in the region. Today, many employees have been with the company for twenty, thirty or even forty years. The values passed down from father to son place people at the heart of the company, and advocate teamwork, mutual respect and entrepreneurship. In keeping with this tradition, it is important for Charles Bourbonnais to offer good job security while encouraging employees to grow and flourish within the company, creating value of which they are proud.

The acquisition of Polyform: added value for customers

With the acquisition of Polyform, Polymos now has 400 employees working in 7 plants, and can offer its customers more resources to innovate and provide solutions that differentiate them from their competitors. This is a great strength that also enables Polyform to serve its customers more quickly, while controlling costs. In the context of this transaction, “one plus one makes three”, says Charles Bourbonnais, and customers win.

Expanded plastic, a 100% recyclable and sustainable material

“In Quebec, we have all the players required to create a circular economy model with polystyrene. The technologies are there, the end use of recycled products is there, and now we just need to put in place the missing cogs to enable materials to be sourced on a mass scale.”

Protecting the environment continues to be an important value for Polymos, which recycles 100% of the expanded plastic used in its in-house projects, and seeks to help municipalities recover expanded plastic from citizens at their ecocenters. For example, in 2020, Polymos launched a pilot project with the Vaudreuil-Soulanges MRC to recover polystyrene at the MRC’s four ecocentres. It’s important to remember that expanded plastic is a fully recyclable material composed of 95% air and only 5% matter. It is used in applications such as insulating panels, which make it possible to build more efficient homes that consume less energy while offering greater comfort to residents. What’s more, insulating panels are a good example of a long-term application where the product remains high-performance over the years. And that’s what we want in construction and renovation applications. We want performance, economy, comfort and durability. Unlike petroleum, which is burned, expanded plastic emits no greenhouse gases (GHGs) during its life cycle. It can be reused in the same form or recycled several times, and at the end of the product’s life, the material can be recycled almost infinitely, retaining the same properties and performance as virgin material. So there’s a lot of education to be done on the choice of materials based on life-cycle analysis, which is really the calculation of the carbon footprint over the entire life of the product. And when we look at these analyses for polystyrene, its footprint is much smaller than that of substitute products. That’s why expanded plastic should be a preferred material in a long-term perspective of sustainable development for our children, for future generations.

The company’s evolution in the context of the pandemic

“I think it’s offered a lot of opportunities to make changes, to look at things differently that are going to be beneficial for the future as well.”

As with many companies, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Polymos to make a number of operational changes that proved beneficial to both the company and its employees. For example, telecommuting has enabled a better balance between employees’ personal and professional lives, while maintaining productivity. In terms of the supply chain, which has been disrupted by the pandemic, this has helped reinforce an already well-established practice at Polymos, namely local purchasing. Indeed, the company has the privilege of being served by suppliers located mainly in Quebec, including for raw materials. The pandemic was therefore beneficial for the local economy, and Polymos products were particularly in demand, especially for home-delivered meal containers. Indeed, the market for reusable containers made from expanded polypropylene is booming, as these insulating containers enable the cold chain to be respected for all kinds of products, including pharmaceuticals and food, while absorbing impacts during transport. What’s more, these properties help reduce food waste in industry, which represents a fairly high source of indirect GHG emissions.

Investing in automation, while keeping people at the center

“The idea isn’t to take the human out of the equation, it’s to enhance it where the human has the opportunity to bring value.”

Polymos is evolving towards greater automation, while maintaining the balance between maintaining its core values, which place people at the heart of the company, and incorporating new technologies. Charles Bourbonnais sees this balance as a positive tension. It allows us to take advantage of technological advances to better serve customers by reducing lead times and costs, while enabling employees to contribute their fair share as humans, rather than doing tasks that are repetitive or pose a safety risk. What’s more, the region is set to experience a decline in the working population between 2020 and 2030, making recruitment more difficult. In this context, automation is essential in order to continue to serve customers well and meet demand. Thanks to automation, Polyform will be able to keep pace with its customers’ growth with existing teams, while continuing to offer them excellent job security.

By acquiring Polyform, Polymos has hoisted a new sail to propel the company to new heights of success.