Earle M. Jorgensen Co. announced that it has commenced groundbreaking for its new metals processing and distribution facility in Quebec City.

Scheduled to open in January 2006, the 20,000-square-foot facility will hold an extensive inventory of bar and tube stock and will have cutting equipment on site. The facility will increase service levels and delivery frequencies to Earle M. Jorgensen Co.'s customers in Quebec City and surrounding areas currently served by the company's Montreal Facility.

"We are looking forward to increasing our level of service to new and existing customers in Quebec City and the region, and expect to have daily deliveries to customers in and around the major cities served by the new operation," said William Gertin, Director of Canadian Operations for Earle M. Jorgensen Co.

The new facility will have a full time area manager on site and will be looking to add a staff of five or six people. It is the fifth new facility opening or expansion Earle M. Jorgensen Co. has announced in recent months, following those in or near Toronto, Ont.; Spokane, Wash.; Houston, Texas; and Hartford, Conn.

Earle M. Jorgensen Co. is one of the largest distributors of metal products in North America, with 37 service and processing centers. The company inventories more than 25,000 different bar, tubing, plate, and various other metal products, specializing in cold finished carbon and alloy bars, mechanical tubing, stainless bars and shapes, aluminum bars, shapes and tubes, and hot-rolled carbon and alloy bars.