BonL Canada Inc. Aurora Works

Closed: 2005

It's a full-size Play-Doh Fun Factory. The BonL plant was an aluminum extrusion facility housed in a large non-descript building north of Toronto. Thanks to a friend, I was able to photograph the plant in late 2004 — a few months before it closed. Thanks to Donna and John!

In principle, the extrusion process is fairly easy to understand. A material is pressed against an opening. It exits on the other side in the shape of the opening.

With Play Doh that's a fairly easy endeavour. With more solid materials — e.g., aluminum — it's a bit more complex. The aluminum is pre-heated and pressed against the die. The die is the hole which defines the shape of the extrusion. Under pressure, the aluminum is crushed against the die and what emerges on the other side is the extrusion. After cooling, the extrusion undergoes a series of finishing treatments. It's stretched, cut to size and hardened with artificial aging ovens.

As for the end result? Machinery, equipment, tuna towers on boats, hinges for glass doors, display cases, refrigeration parts, and the list goes on and on. The extrusion process creates parts that are used in the assembly of larger items. You'll find extruded aluminum pieces in everything from golf carts to heatsinks to televisions.

More details about the aluminum extrusion process can be found at the BonL Aluminum website:
Extrusion Process Description

Selects

Textures

Equipment

Patterns

The 'B-Roll'

Photos in the “B-Roll” group are (in my opinion) lower-quality images, included for completeness or because they were posted when this site was in its infancy.