Industry - The City of Red Deer

A growing manufacturing industry, a strong retail and wholesale service and distribution industry, along with the agriculture, oil and petrochemical industries help to ensure a diversified economy. Capitalizing on the Province's Alberta Advantage, Red Deer City Council is committed to ensuring Red Deer remains a cost competitive city in order to encourage investment and growth.

The sections below highlight the industry sectors that make up the majority of Red Deer's economic activity.

Manufacturing
There is a wide variety of manufacturing and service industries in Red Deer. Metal fabrication is the largest sector of manufacturing in the area. Machinery, wood cabinetry and food processing are the next largest sectors.

Overall manufacturing sales of $6.2 billion remained constant through 2007 with a growth rate of 0.03 per cent or $2.1 million more than the sales reported in 2006. Dental and health, primary metal/fabrication metal, and wood and furniture experienced the most sales growth in 2007. Manufacturing sales increased 89 per cent over the five years when they were reported at just under $3.3 billion.

For more information on Red Deer area manufacturers please view the following publications:

Manufacturers Report 2007
Manufacturers Directory 2008

Distribution
Red Deer's central location makes it an ideal distribution centre for those companies servicing Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

Daimler Chrysler Canada has consistently won efficiency awards for this territory and has a 140,000 square foot distribution facility in Red Deer.

Charter air service as well as scheduled air service are provided at the Red Deer Regional Airport and Red Deer is within a 75 minute drive to two international airports - the Calgary International Airport and the Edmonton International Airport.

Agriculture & Food Processing
The surrounding rich farmlands and historic pioneer spirit provide a strong foundation for food processing. Olymel (formerly Fletcher's Fine Foods Ltd.), a large hog processing plant, has recently undergone a major expansion, while Nossack Fine Meats Ltd. continues to gain a reputation for top quality processed meats in the Central Alberta region.

With an abundance of raw materials, available land and services, and a strong labour pool, value added food processing has been recognized as an area for further expansion in the Red Deer Region.

Tourism
Red Deer boasts a number of hotels ranging in size and price range. Refer to The City of Red Deer Accommodations page for more information on hotels.

Expansion of convention facilities and Westerner Park make Red Deer the ideal place for provincial conventions and trade shows.

The central location, excellent facilities, competitive room rates and support programs offered by Tourism Red Deer make Red Deer an inviting meeting place. You can contact Tourism Red Deer at 1-800-215-8946.

For a listing of special events, festivals and seminars, check out Red Deer's Community Events Calendar.

Retail & Wholesale Services
Red Deer acts as the regional service centre for Central Alberta with a population calculated at over 200,000. With two malls and many new retail centres including South Pointe Common, Red Deer has it all. Recent interest due to the expansion of the petrochemical facilities has brought new multi-national retail chains, such as Michael's Arts & Crafts, Winners, Future Shop, Chapters and Wal-Mart (two locations) to Red Deer, as well as Home Depot and London Drugs.

High Tech & Knowledge Based Industries
Infrastructure and support are in place for Red Deer's high tech and knowledge based industries. Fibre optic cable, Internet service providers and the Industrial Research Assistance Program at Red Deer College help to ensure that Red Deer businesses remain at the forefront of their field.

Petrochemical Industries
More than half of Canada's petrochemical capacity is located in Alberta. The development of this industry in Alberta has been one of the major diversification success stories of the last few decades. It is based largely upon the availability of large quantities of competitively priced hydrocarbon feedstocks, particularly natural gas, ethane, and to a lesser extent, propane and butane.

One of the largest petrochemical clusters in North America can be found in Central Alberta, just 15 km east of Red Deer. The

NOVA Chemicals Joffre site produces ethylene and polyethylene. Their three ethylene plants take the ethane which has been stripped out of natural gas and put it through "cracking" furnaces in order to produce ethylene. Ethylene is used as a building block to make plastics, antifreeze, film, fibres, and other products. Much of the ethylene produced at the facility is sold to other chemical firms but over thirty percent is used right at the Red Deer/Joffre site in the production of polyethylene. A number of major employers (including DOW, BP Petroleum, Agrium, and Praxair) have located facilities adjacent to the NOVA site to capitalize on peripheral manufacturing opportunities.

Please click on the report below to get more information on the Red Deer/Joffre Petrochemical cluster.

Red Deer/Joffre Petrochemical Cluster Report 2001

Related Links:

Alberta Advantage

Collicutt Energy Services Ltd.

Daimler Chrysler Canada

Red Deer Regional Airport

Calgary International Airport

Edmonton International Airport

Olymel

Nossack Fine Meats Ltd.

Westerner Park