Canada’s largest puzzle press is here in the Crowsnest Pass

“When I do a puzzle, I like the mental state it puts me in.” said Randi Lynn Rinaldi, the owner and founder of Puzzleneck Inc. Puzzleneck is a venture that was brought to life after two years of hard work and dedication. Rinaldi, a former kinesiologist, would utilize puzzles as a form of stress relief from the job and when covid struck she thought, why couldn’t I make it a business? 

Her aim is to make puzzles with a local flair including images and artwork from local photographers and artists. Eventually she hopes to branch out and expand the puzzles to feature locations such as Waterton, Banff and Canmore. In Canada there were previously two other puzzle manufacturers who produced at a small scale, Rinaldi is now the third and alongside her new Shuntec 600, she can have the largest production in Canada. 

The Shuntec 600 was shipped from China on a cargo ship, then transported by road on a flat deck truck and eventually placed into the bay, located in the Frank industrial area, with the assistance of a crane. The machine itself weighs over 15 tons and has a power output of 600 tons and can make one puzzle in approximately three minutes. 

The process is fairly straight forward, first an image is printed, it is then taken over to the glue station and run through the glue then transferred to another roller where the image is then glued to the board before being taken to the Shuntec 600. In the machine the pistons come down and cutters create the puzzle piece shapes, it is then sent up a conveyor belt into a chamber where the puzzle is broken into individual pieces and then down a shaft into a plastic bag, ready to be placed in its box. 

Rinaldi held the grand opening on March 16 where she and her team gave tours of the facility, a retail location with puzzles for sale, there were snacks for guests and the opportunity to win door prizes as well as guess the amount of puzzle pieces in a jar. The retail store will be open Wednesday to Friday, noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Part of her business will be custom made puzzles up to 750 pieces and 24x36 inches in size. Currently the best way to interact with Rinaldi is through the Puzzleneck social media channels on Instagram and Facebook.