BBI Group – From Oysters to the World

As part of the Forge Ahead campaign we have been visiting manufacturing companies in the Atlantic Provinces, speaking to their teams, and documenting their success stories. The videos we produced can be found here. 

One of the companies we visited in New Brunswick was BBI Group in Bouctouche. BBI Group has an oyster farming business and a plastics division which has turned into a great made in New Brunswick success story.  

BBI Plastics produces materials that supports BBI OysterGro and enables the company to commercially produce high quality oyster farming systems. Investing in injection moulding equipment has helped the company to be more efficient and cost effective in the oyster growing business, while also developing plastic components for any manufacturing need.   

The company has also developed a PPE line including face shields and related accessories that are lightweight, comfortable and reduce PPE burn and irritation. 

Steen Gunderson who is a Partner with BBI Group spoke of the benefits of changing manufacturing systems to be more robust and efficient. 

He expressed the greatest challenge was securing staff buy in. Staff need to be part of the change for process improvement to be sustainable. BBI Group hired more staff and heavily invested in training to get the maximum benefit out of the machines. 

Traditionally oysters are grown in bags with floats attached and a lot of farmers are now moving into more aggressive water. If a big storm comes through, they are not only losing oysters from mortality but also from their bags failing.  

BBI Group invented a system here to grow oysters in cages so there is no chance of a loss due to a storm. It ensures a high level of control and gives customers the quality that people are looking for 

Steen said it best, “Change brings an opportunity, but you have to be ready for it.”