In an October 16 announcement, Hitachi Energy said it plans to invest CAD 479 million in its North American insulation and components business, including construction of a transformer insulation factory in London, Ontario. The aggregate figure is not a disclosed construction budget for the pressboard plant alone. The proposed 21,000-square-metre facility is expected to be completed by 2028, make electrical insulation pressboard and laminates, and create more than 100 permanent skilled jobs. These are plans and forecasts, not an operating production rate or a confirmed delivery record.
Pulp-based does not mean packaging-grade
The company describes the proposed line as Canada’s first pressboard manufacturing line and its own first in the Americas. Here pressboard means an electrical insulation material inside transformers, not corrugating medium or carton board. The announcement explains the role of insulation materials in transformer design and cooling, but gives no grade-specific electrical test values or customer qualification outcome.
A shared pulp feedstock does not establish that a packaging-board mill can simply change grades or that packaging prices will respond. Packaging boards are selected around such demands as strength, printability and converting. A transformer material must separately meet the customer’s design, insulation, dimensional and service-life requirements. That contrast is our editorial application lens, not a disclosed process specification for this new factory.
The numbers not yet disclosed
The public release identifies floor area, expected employment and a target date, but does not give annual output, feedstock procurement contracts, manufacturing yield, customer-by-customer qualifications or a first-shipment date. Announced public support should not be converted into sales or committed supply. For paper-industry readers this is an investment in a potentially higher-value pulp use, not evidence of an immediate packaging-grade shortage or commercial pressboard shipments.
What to check next
As the 2028 target approaches, follow actual construction and commissioning updates, published grade specifications, customer qualification and first production shipments separately. Today’s verified event is the investment announcement, not plant completion or a performance certification.
About the Author
PackingMaster: Editor of PaperPackLog, covering paper-packaging industry developments, products and technical decisions.
References
- Hitachi Energy, Canadian transformer insulation factory announcement, October 16, 2026 — Company plans and estimates, not operating results.