Are we speeding toward a bleak Westworld or Blade Runner-esque future where sentient machines take over, or a blissful utopia where, thanks to AI, humans have boundless free time to enjoy life, unburdened of the constraints of work? As both development and take-up of automation increases, it has become impossible to read the news without seeing articles and studies from both sides of the digital fence.

A few years back, global management consulting and strategy firm McKinsey & Co. issued a report forecasting that automation would cause approximately 40 percent of existing Canadian jobs to disappear over the decade. Other doom-and-gloom scenarios in the United States portrayed millions of jobs being lost in California because of automation.

And in Las Vegas, casino workers prepared for a strike, citing automation and a restaurant called The Tipsy Robot. Perhaps they had good cause for their apprehension: unlike even the most skilled mixologists, these robots could create perfect cocktails like the ‘Darth Vador’[sic] (ice, raspberry, vodka, and Amaretto) or the ‘Moscow Mule’ (ice, vodka, sour, and ginger beer) in just 60 to 90 seconds—up to 120 beverages per hour.

But that was in 2018. Despite predictions that thousands of bartenders and cocktail servers would be negatively affected, countless bars and casinos on and off the strip are still in business, as are the tireless Tipsy Robots, which continue putting on a show while “infusing entertainment into every beverage they create.”

Real or exaggerated?
According to statistics from Leftronic—a “real-time data visualization and status monitoring platform for business”—automation has been responsible for the loss of 1.7 million jobs since 2000, with forecasts that AI will displace 40 percent of jobs worldwide in the next 15 years.

In short, automation, advanced electronics, robotics, software, and computer-controlled devices are replacing human workers. More and more machines enter the workforce as repetitive tasks performed by humans, such as assembly line work, are being taken over by robotic technology.

What statistics often cannot take into account, however, are the new opportunities automation provides for human workers. Machines handling simple yet time-consuming work means workers can diversify their skills, take on greater responsibility, and earn more money in the process.

Ask companies involved in everything from manufacturing to the service industry why they are making costly investments in digitization, AI, and robotics, and many will cite the same reasons. These include everything from improved productivity and efficiency to fewer errors, greater compliance—and freeing up human workers so they can focus on more challenging activities. These considerations are especially true in manufacturing, which continues to face a shortage of skilled employees.

According to a study released last fall by the Manufacturing Institute (MI) and Deloitte, the loss of 1.4 million manufacturing jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic came when the sector already faced a real shortage of skilled labor.

Findings in Creating Pathways for Tomorrow’s Workforce Today: Beyond Reskilling in Manufacturing show that America’s manufacturers need to fill four million jobs, with about 2.1 million remaining unfilled if more women and men aren’t encouraged to enter modern manufacturing careers.

“The cost of not filling those opportunities can be significant, preventing manufacturers from taking on new work and expanding their offerings,” the study states. “Deloitte estimates the cost of those missing jobs could potentially total $1 trillion in 2030 alone. In addition to a discussion of the future of work, this report also delves into the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. A more inclusive workforce, one that represents the full diversity of our country, is key to addressing the sector’s workforce needs and for long-term success.”

Backlash or blessing?
For consumers, automation in the form of self-checkouts can be a blessing or a curse. For some, self-checkout is fast and efficient. No chit-chat is involved, just scanning and bagging your items, paying and going.

Before the pandemic, some Canadian Tire stores installed these machines, only to remove them a few years later. In the United States, certain Walmart locations have pulled the machines. And in England, Booths Supermarket recently ditched self-checkouts in 26 of its 28 stores, bringing back tills staffed by people.

Reasons for re-introducing real people range from customer service and being able to answer questions to some customers experiencing frustration with products that refuse to be scanned. Other customers simply resent doing unpaid ‘work,’ believing staff should perform checkout duties, and also find the process impersonal.

There are also customers who forget (or “forget”) to scan an item, or deliberately scan barcodes for cheaper products (scanning a 99-cent cucumber but walking away with an $18 filet mignon). And at membership-based Costco, self-checkout machines were pulled after it was discovered non-members were using other people’s cards.

When they first appeared, many large retailers had seen self-checkouts as the future, requiring fewer staff on the payroll and boosting efficiency. Although they were introduced in the mid-1980s to reduce labor costs, it wasn’t until the last few decades that they became popular.

Predictably, this popularity got a boost during the pandemic with attempts to reduce contact between people. Fast-forward to today, and the backlash against self-checkouts keeps growing. While it’s unlikely that retailers will completely eliminate self-checkouts, it’s clear that this technology needs to improve. Despite talk of automation being a ‘job killer,’ AI and robotics certainly cannot replace all types of work.

Costs to consider
A recent study from MIT addressed AI robots replacing humans across many industries. In one of the first-ever examinations of AI displacing human workers, the study noted that the cost is simply too high at present. Just 23 percent of workers (in terms of dollar wages), “could be effectively supplanted.”

The 45-page working paper Beyond AI Exposure: Which Tasks are Cost-Effective to Automate with Computer Vision? discusses the “level of technical performance needed to do a task, the characteristics of an AI system capable of that performance, and the economic choice of whether to build and deploy such a system.”

It goes on to clarify that, “The result is a first estimate of which tasks are technically feasible and economically attractive to automate—and which are not.”

An example given is that of a small bakery. Yes, an AI system with cameras and sensors can verify the quality and quantity of raw ingredients, but is it cost-effective and worth the investment for the bakery? From this perspective, it is much cheaper simply to have human workers.

Other forms of artificial intelligence are also being questioned, including ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. In just the past few months, ChatGPT has lost much of its luster, owing to wildly inaccurate and biased responses. Although Google glowingly described Gemini last December as having “next-generation capabilities” and showing “responsibility and safety,” just weeks ago, the company hit the pause button on Gemini’s AI image generation following complaints about diversity. Described by critics as being “woke,” the AI tool created images of a female pope and “racially diverse Nazis,” for example. This saw the company subjected to ridicule by the likes of Elon Musk (who called the errors “racist and anti-civilization”), and Google conceding that Gemini was “offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions,” and that the program was “missing the mark.”

Nevertheless, even with some significant issues, automation is here to stay. The speed at which businesses will adopt it is another matter.

The post The Automation Question<p class="company">Is the Robot Revolution at a Crossroads?</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

In 1946, it was the introduction of the radial tire, which offered greater flexibility and fuel economy than what was offered by the industry standard, the bias ply tire. In 1992, Michelin introduced its first Green X tire aimed at improving the fuel mileage of a vehicle. In recent years, Michelin has focused on issues of ecological sustainability and how its products can contribute to the achievement of a net zero carbon world by 2050.

Word from the top
To learn more, we spoke with Andrew Mutch, President of Michelin North America (Canada) Ltd., from company headquarters in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.

Mutch, who’s been in the presidential role since 2019, joined the company upon graduating from the engineering department of the University of Prince Edward Island and the University of New Brunswick in 1987.

“When I graduated, I knew I wanted to work for an international company but one with a local context, so that I could see a bit of the world but I could always come home,” he says.

Michelin, which has 74 plants and over 132,000 employees worldwide, and had opened its first North American plant in Pictou County, Nova Scotia in 1971, was a perfect fit. It gave Mutch opportunities to work as an industrial engineer and in various management positions in all three Nova Scotian facilities—Pictou, Bridgewater, and Waterville—as well as in Oklahoma, where a facility opened in 1971, and in South Carolina, at the company’s North American headquarters, before “coming home to the Maritimes.”

People, planet, profit
Underpinning Michelin’s drive toward a net zero carbon world is its sustainable strategy based on a philosophy of balancing people, planet, and profit. As Mutch explains, “Every direction and every decision Michelin takes must balance those factors because you can’t be sustainable if you’re only great with people and profitability but not respecting the planet. But at the same time, we have to be profitable so that we can invest in our people and re-invest in innovations that will benefit our planet and that includes how we make tires, how we reduce our footprint from a manufacturing perspective, and how our products will make a more sustainable future.”

Michelin has set a goal of producing net zero carbon emissions across all its manufacturing sites and is looking at how alternative energy options, such as wind, solar power, and biomass, can be used in its facilities.

Mutch told us he is excited about working with a Canadian company that uses a pyrolysis process to convert biomass into a low-carbon fuel oil that can be used in boilers in place of the natural gas currently used. This method has the potential to substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the areas environmental scientists classify as Scope 1 (direct use of fossil fuel through combustion).

“We ran a test in our Waterville facility that was operationally successful. We’ve engaged with the provincial government and other stakeholders so they can learn and benefit from our experience with this low-carbon fuel,” he says. “We don’t want to keep all this knowledge to ourselves; we want to share it so everyone can advance.”

Additionally, in keeping with its commitment to the planet, Michelin plans to have 100 percent of its materials coming from sources that are renewable, meaning it can be replaced within a human life span of approximately 70 years, or are from recycled feedstocks.

Supplanting the supply chain
Controlling things inside the fence line is only part of the story. Ultimately, products need to get to market, which also has an impact on GHG emissions.

A project initiated at the Pictou County plant, where the majority of winter tires are produced and shipped across Canada, is looking at changing the current delivery model. Today, a product could be shipped first to one large distribution centre, then to another, and then to the customer’s distribution centre, and finally to the customer’s warehouse. A delivery model being trialled by the Pictou County plant sees tires delivered directly into the hands of the customer.

“This pilot improved availability for our customers, reduced logistics costs, increased sales, and lessened the impact on the environment because less fuel was being used,” Mutch explains. “It’s end-to-end thinking. It’s about working with customers, identifying the touch points, decreasing them, and optimizing the process.”

And it’s a perfect example of Michelin’s people-profit-planet model because, while helping customers and saving shipping and distribution costs, it has also saved 50 tons of CO2 emissions from going into the atmosphere.

Greener with the Green Freight Program
A significant portion of the CO2 emissions that create global warming comes from the commercial long-haul trucks and trailers essential to the supply chain and moving products across the continent. Michelin has been contracted through its GreenerFleets business to help many active Canadian fleets navigate and access funding through the Canadian government’s Green Freight Program. Acting as a consultant to fleets enrolled in this incentivizing program across the country, Michelin is helping them optimize the energy efficiency of their entire fleet and reduce GHG emissions.

One way of doing this is to reduce the rolling resistance of tires, because the higher the level of resistance, the greater the load on the truck’s engine, leading to increased consumption of diesel and more GHG emissions.

Michelin, recognized as a leader in fuel economizing in the long-haul industry with its X Line Energy Z+ commercial tire, is continuing to invest in technology at its Waterville plant to further reduce the rolling resistance of its tires, lowering diesel consumption and GHG emissions while still meeting all performance requirements.

In its role as consultant, Michelin is engaged with helping 93 fleets across Canada reduce their costs and their environmental impact by helping them apply for federal grants to retrofit their vehicles with lower rolling-resistance tires and improved aerodynamics on their trailers, which will improve drag reduction and again lower fuel consumption.

Michelin also provides digital tools to help fleets optimize performance—maintaining proper air pressure in tires and giving feedback to drivers as to how to be more energy-efficient in the way they drive.

“It’s a wonderful virtuous circle we’re involved with, and we’re excited to be part of it,” Mutch says, “because it’s estimated that in the next four years, those 93 fleets will be saving 159,000 tons of CO2.”

Not only is the Waterville facility playing a dynamic role in the Canadian trucking industry, but the Michelin X-One double-wide tires it produces are contributing to global strategies for emission reductions.

As Mutch explains, “Because of the Infinicoil® technology that is in those tires, they have lower rolling resistance which reduces fuel consumption. Since the trucks only have half as many tires, they can carry a larger load than when riding on single tires and reduce the number of pressure checks and rotations.

Turning up the tires for EVs
Although all of Michelin’s passenger tires are suitable for electric vehicles, both cars and small trucks, the Bridgewater facility is preparing for the next generation of tires that will optimize the performance of EVs and accommodate their characteristics.

Typically, EVs are heavier than internal combustion engine vehicles because of the heavy battery or batteries. EVs also have more torque available at any speed. Any time the driver steps on the energy pedal, full power can be rapidly transmitted to the tire.

In addition, Mutch says, EV drivers might experience “range anxiety,” concerned with how far they can travel before needing to recharge. “So the challenge for the tires is they have to be able to handle more weight, manage the torque, and have improved rolling resistance while meeting all the other characteristics of starting, stopping, turning, and handling,” he explains.

Just as improved rolling performance reduces fuel consumption, these next-generation tires will also reduce the amount of energy used by the battery, increasing its range and lessening the range anxiety of the driver. “We have to be prepared for this emerging market and we are installing the technology and capacity to do that,” says Mutch.

A future for hydrogen
He went on to say that while Michelin recognizes EVs are a good solution to the GHG issue, “we don’t believe it’s the only solution and we believe there is a future for mobility with hydrogen. It’s going to have a place somewhere and, at a global level, Michelin has been working on hydrogen for the last 20 years and formed a joint venture with a company that makes hydrogen fuel cells capable of powering the largest commercial vehicles,” he shares.

“Nova Scotia has a unique opportunity because of all the investments in hydrogen that are coming to the province, so rather than just export hydrogen, what can we do to develop a domestic use for it in Atlantic Canada? We’re exploring ways where we can start to build an ecosystem in Nova Scotia to make use of domestic hydrogen and install transition technology so that eventually we can get to things like fuel cells.”

Green mobility
In addition to helping its customers reduce their GHG emissions through the supply chain, Michelin also has a goal to reduce its own CO2 emissions to meet international goals.

Last year, Michelin invested $300 million in a plan to modernize its Nova Scotian plants and electrify some of its processes. These include the investment made in Bridgewater to bring in electric curing presses—replacing the steam-powered ones—which will be more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. The company is also improving safety and ergonomics at all three of its plants, and in addition to the progress it is making on energy in the plants, it is also diverting waste streams and finding alternative uses for them.

The Bridgewater facility has been able to divert 100 percent of its production waste from landfill since 2017 and Mutch says the other two sites are making good progress toward that figure. He adds that, “from 2010 to now, we reduced our GHG emissions by 41 percent, so we are well on track to meet the 2030 goal of 50 percent.”

Powered by optimism
In an age of doom and gloom forecasts regarding global warming and climate change, we asked Mutch about his perspective on the net zero carbon future.

“Our planet needs our help,” he says. “It needs us to be advancing as fast as we can and we need to be responsible corporate citizens, pushing as hard as we possibly can to reduce our emissions and take our footprint to zero,” he says.

“Am I optimistic? Yes, I’m always optimistic. But is it easy? No, it’s hard because it takes a lot of work, and support from corporations, governments, and academia, and we need new avenues and incubators to bring all these things to fruition. But if you have a goal, and put your energy into renewable energy, then I believe you can advance.”

The post Sustainability, Net Zero, even Rolling Resistance – Michelin’s on a Roll<p class="company">Michelin North America</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“We’ve had in-house automation for years, primarily on our brewing systems, but now we’ve developed the same thing for continuous columns,” explains Operations Manager John Leask of the technology for distilling spirits.

Specific Mechanical Systems created a continuous column distillation system that represents a significant advancement over traditional column still designs and offers a more efficient distillation process when compared with pot still distillation. While spirits are commonly produced in single batches via a time-consuming start-and-stop method, the continuous column system allows for uninterrupted flow. The company’s novel automation system has now made this speedy distillation process even more efficient and productive.

“Essentially, you can produce any type of spirit on the continuous column still. Customers will potentially prefer to create certain types of spirits on more traditional pot stills but, in terms of general distillation principles, any spirit can be produced on a continuous column still,” notes Sales and Marketing Manager Chad MacIsaac.

To automate its continuous distillation process, Specific could not rely on the same procedures and equipment it utilized to automate brewing. “There are some similarities for sure between what our automation system for the brewing and distilling will look like and perform like, but functionally, they are different systems and different processes,” says Leask.

Unlike typical brewing systems, distilleries operating continuous column stills often utilize extremely large equipment. To complement its continuous column stills, Specific Mechanical fabricates large stainless steel tanks that can accommodate thousands of litres of liquid. The column stills used for continuous distillation can be “anywhere from 30 to 70 feet tall,” he adds.

Continuous distillation systems are enormous. “Many of them are never actually fully assembled at our shop. They’re built and tested in sub-assemblies and are then fully assembled at the customer site,” Leask says. By contrast, “breweries aren’t that tall; we can set the whole thing up in our shop and test the complete system working on our shop floor.”

Brewing involves significant concentrations of water, and the sensors and testing devices used in the brewing process cannot always be used for distilling, which involves significant concentrations of ethanol. For a start, most ethanol testing equipment “needs to be explosion-proof rated. That cuts down your options dramatically,” he states.

Yet despite these difficulties, the in-house automation team prevailed. Automated continuous column distillation is the latest example of the company’s successful do-it-yourself approach. Fabrication, manufacturing, design, and automation work is performed in-house, and Specific Mechanical also continues to emphasize research and the development of new equipment and new processes.

Forward-thinking and innovative as it may be, the company retains an old-fashioned artisan pride in its work. “Every system is customized,” says Leask. “Of course, we have some templates that we draw from but, at the end of the day, every system is customized to suit the customer’s available space, ceiling heights, their process, what products they’re hoping to distill or brew, and their budget.”

Besides brewing and distilling equipment, the company designs and produces pressure and food processing vessels, wastewater tanks, stainless steel tanks, and other gear. Its products are used in wastewater treatment, oil and gas, other food and beverage markets, and pharmaceutical production, and the company has also been involved with battery technology for electric vehicles, according to MacIsaac.

“Without naming names, there are a handful of companies that are advancing battery technology in North America,” he says. “In the process of improving range, they’re looking at optimizing battery performance, and that involves fluid transfer, fluid storage. We provide the processing equipment to help in that regard.”

The company employs approximately 85 people at its Victoria operation. Another 35 people work at a facility run by the firm in Nevada. Job applicants need to have skills, experience, and a team player outlook.

“The right technical training is important, whether that’s someone on the shop floor in the trades—welding, machining, sheet metal, et cetera. On the office side, we’ve got engineers, project managers, et cetera,” says Leask, noting that the appropriate education and experience for those positions is required. “Beyond that, I think one of the biggest things we look for is somebody who is going to be a good fit with the team. We really promote teamwork, and that kind of comes through with our culture.”

In addition to a collaborative approach, this culture is all about quality and customer service. This includes “being available, being friendly, and being pleasant to deal with so people want to come back and work with us again,” he says. Those customers range from small craft brewers and distillers to huge corporations, including beer giants Labatt and Molson.

Though eager to expand the business it does with top brewers and distillers, Specific Mechanical has not lost touch with its roots. The firm was launched in 1984 by Bill Cummings and Philip Zacharias, long-time friends with backgrounds in machining and welding. At first, the pair built brewing systems for clients in Victoria, and it grew from there.

“Our company is different from many companies that compete in our space because we’re local. We’ve been around 40 years. We were started by two people,” states MacIsaac. “The values of a small company remain strong as we grow. We try to make sure every new employee who comes on understands and recognizes it. It’s really important for us to convey that message to customers so they know they are dealing with real people… and together, we’ll both be successful.”

To help ensure client success, Specific offers global installation services. “While our primary market is North America, our field service team is capable of doing installations worldwide,” says MacIsaac. “We’ve just delivered a very large system to Argentina, which will be the first large craft distillery in Argentina. We’re delivering a system to Rwanda, which will be our first system into continental Africa.”

The company provides both remote and in-person support to clients looking for guidance in setting up their equipment or dealing with problems.

Given that most of Specific Mechanical’s equipment is geared toward the beverage market, customer support is complemented by a commitment to quality. It has certifications from UL and Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC), and the company’s pressure vessel design and manufacturing capabilities have been certified by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

“There’s a pretty rigorous quality program in place to support that. Any ASME pressure vessel must be registered with the provincial government, if it’s in Canada. In the U.S., it’s called the National Board. There’s documentation, testing—numerous steps that have to be taken for those vessels. We have all that in place and have for many years,” says Leask.

Currently, the company is in the process of establishing an online store. The intent is to make its wares more easily accessible and available.

“Some new products lend themselves a little better to putting on an e-commerce site—not so much custom systems, but some of the more product-based things we have. For example, a keg washer. We have various pumps and things like that that we frequently sell, and we can put those up on an e-commerce site, and we’ll see how that goes. If it’s successful, we can keep building the inventory of what we have for sale.”

The team has not forgotten the importance of the human connection, however, and representatives routinely attend trade shows across North America.

Despite all this upward momentum, the company still faces its share of challenges. The pandemic’s lingering impact has resulted in price hikes for supplies, components, and other gear. At the same time, Specific Mechanical faces competition from overseas manufacturers who can offer lower prices for their systems. These lower prices, however, are more than offset by Specific Mechanical’s quality and customer service. Well-made equipment and prompt client care mean fewer maintenance and mechanical hassles in the long run.

“Price is obviously a key buying factor in any decision, including capital expenditures, but total cost of ownership is probably the most important component to consider. That’s how we differentiate from others, and we try to convey that message every day,” says MacIsaac.

If anything, the company is keen to increase the amount of business it does outside of North America. Going forward, “expansion into new markets geographically will be a focus for us,” he says.

Leask hopes that Specific Mechanical experiences “an increase in market share, particularly in the continuous column space,” over the next five years while “offering larger systems and having the capacity to build physically larger tanks and equipment.” Growth is on the horizon, and the future looks bright for this constant innovator.

The post A Brewing and Distilling Equipment Expert Continues to Innovate<p class="company">Specific Mechanical Systems </p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Since the company’s previous feature in Manufacturing in Focus in 2019, it has welcomed Kevin Medwick on as President and General Manager, a role he began in January 2022. Before his appointment, Medwick had been running a competitor and was subsequently headhunted for the executive position. He is now leading this renowned metal fabrication business that performs fabrication and assembly for original equipment manufacturers and Tier One suppliers across North America.

Champ constructs complicated metal assemblies in various ways. Its services include medium-to-high-volume fabricating and assembly of common and stainless steel, aluminum, carbon steel sheet, and tube metal, including laser cutting, forming, welding, assembly, and painting. Typically, customers are not just looking for cut and bent metal, but also parts and completed assemblies that go right onto their equipment.

Because of this, the company must keep ties with a vast network of companies on which it relies to do things outside its purview, and to supply difficult subassemblies for equipment, from across North America or even as far as countries like Japan. A lot of intricate hardware is required in these assemblies, so these networks afford Champ access to what it needs.

“Today, people require high-quality and on-time service, [which is] what we look for in our vendors,” says Medwick. Champ Industries’ commitment to these attributes has allowed it to forge its strongest and longest-lasting relationships.

In the past three years, and in Medwick’s time as President, Champ has increased its bottom line by about 120 percent, which he says is largely due to efforts in customer diversification. As recently as five years ago, prior to his appointment, the company would have been primarily tied to one large customer in the transportation space. Now, it sports three large customers and 10 medium-sized customers across more varied segments like rail and agriculture.

Medwick says that a highlight of his time so far has been acting on the ability of the business to target clients who are having difficulty finding skilled trades in their market, such as small-to-medium-sized agricultural companies in small cities. The company is pleased to produce metal parts for these smaller outfits so that clients can focus on assembly. The approach lets its clients focus on what makes them great, which allows Champ to do just the same in the metalwork industry. Champ endeavours to understand each client’s business to come up with the best cost and manufacturing models that marry the intent of the client and itself. This has allowed it to forge the strong business relationships that have been its hallmark for over 50 years now.

“Champ does a tremendous job understanding what customers need and how they need it,” he says, and this is particularly true because it operates in an industry where quality and timeliness are coveted values for a contractor. One of the ways in which it achieves this is through prototyping and working with a client’s designs and engineers to prove their concepts before production starts.

Relationships have always been valued at Champ, whether with clients, the workforce, or even the nearby citizens of its local areas. Medwick believes that a big reason why the company is so successful is because of the superb group of people in its workforce who all boast a deep knowledge of both the industry and the customer base. About 75 percent of the workforce has been with the company for five years or longer, with 30 percent of those having a decade or more of tenure, figures that are rarely seen at a contract manufacturer.

“I’m still blown away by the level of people we have at Champ,” he says. It is never far from mind that the reason for the company’s success is the people within it, and they need to be looked after in every respect. In turn, Champ and its people seek to look after their local community through philanthropic efforts, usually involving events and donations to local charities and worthy causes. A recent example saw the workforce donate to the children’s hospital toy drive at Christmas.

As Q1 2024 progresses, Medwick shares that operations are extremely busy, especially in the United States and the company’s North Dakota hub. Since clients are based in North America, there can be instances of slowdown here and there, but Champ itself is not seeing any pause in its processes; in particular, its U.S. customer base continues to grow, with massive demand only increasing.

“If you can deliver what you say you’re delivering at a high quality and on time, those customers are going to be happy,” he says.

However, obtaining skilled workers is still a challenge for the business and industry-wide. Medwick says that, if one is willing to work hard at addressing the problem and understanding the market and what it is looking for—appropriate wages and working conditions—the workers are still there for employers to find. Just last year, Champ was able to recruit 25 welders to support a customer within three months as a result of this dogged approach, and Medwick says that Canadian immigration programs have been a big help in bringing in more skilled trade workers on board. The company has never been afraid to put in the necessary work to meet and exceed its goals in every respect.

The bulk of 2024 will see Champ investing in its operations, including changing equipment in preparation for a further focus on automation. The company is keen to begin automating its cutting, bending, and welding processes in the face of potential difficulties in talent recruitment, but the process of automation takes a lot of effort and expense to do properly. A business embarking on automation must ensure that it is learning from the successes of others that have taken the plunge, and the equipment itself requires appropriate due diligence to make sure that every dollar is spent in the right place.

Medwick affirms that, over the past two years and counting, leading Champ Industries has been a tremendous experience for him. A skilled team and a keen focus on the customer serve to further galvanize the company’s purpose, ensuring it stays as strong as the metal it works with.

The post Delivering What Is Promised<p class="company">Champ Industries</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

From its base in Nashville, Tennessee, John W. McDougall’s processing division is the dynamic, ISO 9001:2015-certified metal fabrication division of John W. McDougall Co. Inc., a firm with a breadth of talents. With an impressive selection of metal fabrication services for the architectural world and many other industries, this team is well-versed in bringing together insights to give customers options that its competitors often cannot.

As a proud American manufacturer, John W. McDougall prioritizes supporting suppliers that add value to metal on home soil whenever possible. It collaborates with customers whose services enhance its metal processing capabilities, providing access to more and better choices. Beyond its integrated and sophisticated architectural metal façade sister division, the company’s metal processing facility includes a well-equipped contract manufacturing outfit providing premium, custom metal components to individual clients who typically approach the company with fully developed designs in hand.

The processing division serves the company’s architectural division with premium metal manufacturing, bringing a thorough understanding of hurricane ratings due to working regularly with Florida’s building codes. This remarkable knowledge base and its access to private laboratories for product testing creates a process of system improvement that strengthens both departments as each evolves to benefit the other, giving the processing division a significant head start over competitors.

“You call us with a problem—whether it be unique part [needs] or if you’ve had a poor experience with a different vendor—and we’re going to do everything we can to bring you into our culture and offer you a solution,” says Michael Schneider, Senior Sales Engineer.

Efficient and eco-friendly
Continuous evolution is, therefore, at the heart of the entire company’s success. In keeping with this culture, the processing division established a state-of-the-art 20,000-square-foot powder coating facility in 2022. This addition to its laser cutting and welding capabilities means that the company has gone from supplying only untreated components to delivering fully finished, packaged metal products ready for installation.

The AAMA2605-certified, eco-friendly powder coating allows customers to ditch toxic liquid paints in favor of a higher quality option featuring outstanding durability. That is because fired powder coatings form a highly protective shell around metal while offering improved value. Together with these benefits, preventing the waste typical of traditional spray-on lacquers results in greater efficiency.

And the company does more than invest in improved paint technology to lighten its environmental impact; it also insists on using recycled metals where possible. “We do everything in our power to ensure that we purchase post-consumer aluminum. Instead of being extracted from the Earth, these materials are recycled, reprocessed, and reintroduced into the supply chain,” says Schneider. In addition, the company aims to work with LEED-certified vendors.

Naturally, speed matters, as does problem-solving. “If you’re having problems forming a piece of metal or finding a partner to form metal, laser cut metal, or transform it in any way imaginable, you pick up the phone and call me. We can see if we can assist,” Schneider continues. Working with McDougall means that metal fabrication issues are solved immediately while, at the same time, the company’s team integrates with customer operations as a seamless addition to their supply chain.

Full processing capabilities
Achieving this symbiosis requires nurturing collaborations based on a complete knowledge of the unique demands of each customer. This goes back to the process division’s inception, beginning its life in 2019 with only a tube laser and a vision of earning $400,000 in revenue with a new focus on tube and precision sheet metal fabrication. The division is proud of the $12 million it invested in creating the next-generation facility as it exists today and the $25 million goal it set for this year considering the 40 percent annual growth it has achieved in recent years.

Today, the division boasts a comprehensive range of sophisticated equipment ready to roll out whenever customers need it. John W. McDougall’s processing division is known for keeping its equipment on par with the latest machinery available. “There is no hesitation by the ownership to invest in the company to keep us on the cutting edge,” Schneider says.

In light of these investments, the team works hard to ensure that its machines run to their full capability and capacity, and finding new ways to improve performance is considered a matter of pride. As such, its most popular high-volume, low-lead time services include tight-tolerance punch and die metal forming and its modern powder coating applications. Besides outstanding metal fabrication, the company also offers metal treatments like precision plate rolling and leveling.

Certainly, innovation is nothing new here, with the parent company having a long history of courting unusual projects. After more than 85 years in the industry, its founder, whose name the company still carries, could not possibly have envisioned the remarkable collection of laser machines—including an automated Trumpf 7000 combination laser punch machine, three Trumpf punches, a robotic welder, multiple manual weld stations, two computer numerical control (CNC) routing tables, two tube lasers capable of processing a 10” diameter round, three 10kw fiber lasers, and seven press brakes—and sophisticated finishing equipment the company owns today.

Building a culture
The team considers its relationships with customers, vendors, and its roughly 150 employees equally important, and so it makes certain that its people hold the certifications needed to excel at their work. One example is the company’s welders, all qualified under the AWS D1.1 Structural Steel Welding Code which guides them to observe top quality and safety standards in the field. This is an aspect of the company’s culture that is considered key to healthy professional relationships.

“I would say it all goes back to culture and respect. That is why people love to work here; that is why people love to work with each other,” Schneider says. “Having a team of dedicated individuals who are committed to our customers’ success just as much as our own means a lot.”

With the processing division always prepared to upgrade equipment to remain at the leading edge, this is advantageous for employees looking to advance their careers in a company that defies stagnancy. The cleanliness of everything—including restrooms—also illustrates a keen attention to detail.

To further show the leadership’s appreciation, staff members are taken good care of with remuneration packages that include tuition reimbursement and paid time off that allows employees to do their part for community charities on company time. “The management team does a great job of understanding the strengths and weaknesses of everybody that works here,” Schneider adds. Because of this, people can positively develop themselves with the support of John W. McDougall, to their benefit and the company’s.

People are heard and encouraged to provide suggestions for improvement, resulting in safety and efficiency being cultivated across all operations. In addition to giving staff paid time off to volunteer, the company has raised funds and awareness for addiction recovery for more than 50 years. In 2023, however, it increased its efforts, introducing an exciting new event. The company raised more than $30,000 in aid of Cumberland Heights, a local addiction treatment center, at its first Swing to Save golf day in September last year. The event is set to be repeated this year, with the company looking to make this a tradition. Interested people are welcome to donate or to become event sponsors by contacting John W. McDougall Co. Inc. directly via its website.

Growing together
John W. McDougall takes its annual business analysis process seriously, plotting its future growth with precision. The process is vital for achieving its goal of $40 million in revenue over the next five years while minimizing bank dependency and keeping its company culture intact.

“We are not going to sacrifice morale or culture for growth. They go hand-in-hand… while we project toward the fourth generation of family ownership in the future,” Schneider assures us. By learning from mistakes, being prepared for the future, and working hard, this team knows it can overcome any challenge.

To this end, satisfying customer needs within a lean and well-run operation is the guiding principle for taking the firm forward. While Schneider points out that metalwork, in its essence, has not changed much since its invention, he believes that new technology drives the art in modern times. By translating its lightning-fast, targeted response into meaningful customer benefits, John W. McDougall Co. Inc. is paving the way to undoubted longevity.

The post Technology-Driven Metal Transformation<p class="company">John W. McDougall Co.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Created “by manufacturers, for manufacturers,” EMC offers training, peer networking, business insights, conferences, benchmarking data, and reports about best practices and industry issues, among other benefits, says EMC President, Jean Pierre Giroux.

The consortium operates on “a very decentralized model. Outside of the Owen Sound office… we hire people that are on the ground where the manufacturers are,” continues Giroux. Dozens of EMC representatives in “consortium regions” across the country facilitate training and other activities, he explains. Continuing this theme, EMC programs and services are also grouped into consortiums, for easy classification.

Decentralized as it might be, EMC is dedicated to a single goal: advancing the fortunes of manufacturing firms in Canada. EMC wants to help members and non-members alike reduce costs while boosting efficiency, productivity, recruitment, retention, and technology.

Only companies can join the EMC, not individuals. All told, the consortium counts more than 1,000 firms as members, but its work reaches a far wider audience, as many of its value-added training courses and services are also available to non-members.

“I would say with confidence we have 5,000 firms that are using EMC and most of them paying for a service or getting a service directly,” says Giroux.

Manufacturing, of course, covers a wide swath, from aerospace to metal processing, food processing, plastics, textiles, automotive, and beyond. That said, roughly 20 percent of EMC’s membership consists of food processors while another 20 percent are metal processors.

Regardless of the sector they represent, member companies are generally SMEs (amall and medium-sized enterprises). Small and medium-sized businesses are companies with under 500 employees, states Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (small businesses have one to 99 paid employees while medium firms have 100 to 499 paid staff, adds this federal department). “Our sweet spot is between 50 and 250 employees. That’s a typical profile of an employer in our network,” shares Giroux.

Given its current stature, EMC’s origins are rather humble. Founded in the mid-1980s, EMC initially consisted of a core of 18 manufacturers in rural Ontario around the Georgian Bay area. The consortium spread across Ontario and into other provinces, incorporated in 1997, and continued growing from there.

From the start, the focus was on “collaboration—how can we help each other in a trusted environment, where executives can talk openly?” recalls Giroux.

The consortium achieves this, in part, by organizing conferences where members can gather, listen to speakers, attend workshops, exchange ideas, and network. These conferences are organized on a regional basis. “EMC used to do national conferences, but it’s quite a challenge to do these events nationally. So now we’re doing it more on a grassroots level,” explains Giroux.

In addition to conferences, “training is a big piece of what we do and is a big revenue generator at EMC,” says Giroux.

Surveys conducted by EMC revealed that manufacturers often balk at investing in training because they don’t find the content of the training sessions very relevant. “80 percent [of respondents] said, ‘We’re not investing in training because what’s available is not addressing our needs,’” says Giroux. With this in mind, EMC developed a series of focused, fact-filled training programs designed to impart new skills and/or enhance existing abilities (a process called upskilling). Training is offered both online and in-person at EMC’s Learning Centre in Owen Sound.

Manufacturing Essentials Certification (MEC) is a mainstay of EMC’s training efforts. This program accommodates supervisors and managers, maintenance workers, and production workers in different streams. The supervisors/managers segment emphasizes leadership, team management, critical thinking, and collaboration, while maintenance workers get technical training in hydraulics, pneumatics, electrical fundamentals, electrical motor controls, programmable logic controllers, and more. Production workers learn about teamwork, workplace communications, and critical thinking.

Other training courses cover employee retention, productivity, and continuous improvement, to name just a few topics. Augmenting these programs are courses that cover new ground such as Green Skills in Manufacturing (“designed for manufacturers looking to prepare for a transition to a green and low-carbon clean economy,” according to the EMC website) and Psychological Health and Safety. EMC also offers micro-credentials (essentially, certification for mastering a specific process, skill, or competency) for various manufacturing processes.

“We try to cover the full scope of skills and competency required in manufacturing… We’re very proud to say we’re addressing the needs… We’re certifying thousands of people annually,” notes Giroux proudly.

Going forward, EMC aims to keep adding new training courses. “We’re constantly adjusting or reinventing ourselves,” says Giroux.

Research also represents “a big piece of our work. We’ve been active since 2016 doing labour market [reports] and insights,” he continues.

EMC frequently surveys manufacturers to compile what it calls “Industry Pulse” reports. Recent reports have examined advanced manufacturing and green manufacturing/clean tech adoption. The green manufacturing report was developed in collaboration with Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), an industry-led non-profit group that supports advanced manufacturing and other initiatives. The document outlined ways for Canada to achieve its stated goal of “Net Zero by 2050” (under federal legislation which became law in 2021, Canada has committed to creating an economy that emits no greenhouse gases or offsets such emissions by various means within two decades). The report aims to raise awareness of climate change among manufacturers and urges firms to reduce their carbon emissions.

EMC’s eco-friendly ethos is also reflected in a new initiative called the GreenMFG Network. The Green Manufacturing Network aims to provide a forum for manufacturers, high-tech companies, government, and community partners to smooth the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Other EMC ventures include the Energy Consortium. The latter is a not-for-profit energy-buying venture established and run by EMC to assist manufacturers with energy procurement. This service has saved members over $110 million in energy costs since 2008.

Compiling best practices is another EMC speciality. The consortium has created training sessions and/or reports covering specific aspects of manufacturing, including Arc Flash Assessment and Analysis, Ergonomics, Industrial Hygiene, and Wastewater Management. EMC is currently keeping a close eye on developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it relates to manufacturing.

“AI is a big topic right now,” says Giroux. “Everybody’s trying to understand how to leverage AI—same thing for virtual reality, same thing for advanced manufacturing.”

EMC also disseminates information to its members via ManufacturingGPS. A searchable, interactive Labour Market Intelligence (LMI) system, ManufacturingGPS contains statistics and information regarding industry wages, salaries, recruitment, demographics, and other areas of interest. Members can use this data for comparative purposes.

One thing EMC does not do at present is directly lobby federal or provincial regulators. That said, EMC representatives do frequently consult with government officials upon the latter’s request. The consortium also collaborates with a wide range of partners, including the Centre of Excellence – Skilled Trades & Manufacturing, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, and other groups.

“We’re collaborating right now with aerospace, biotech, IT, agriculture, and other groups… it’s all about partnerships, and that includes all levels of post-secondary institutions,” says Giroux.

EMC is currently working with industry and school boards in Ontario on an employment initiative for high school graduates, and is pursuing similar relationships across the country as part of a push to address a looming labour shortage. Many workers in manufacturing jobs are reaching retirement age and young people aren’t entering the sector in sufficient numbers to replace them. Addressing this labour crunch is imperative, says Giroux.

“If we don’t do this, we could be seriously in trouble as a nation that wants to manufacture. We know that demographics are not working for us… about 20 percent [of the manufacturing workforce] will move into retirement in the next 10 years. So how do you bring in the new generation? The new generation is a very big focus at EMC,” he states.

Manufacturers who want young people to enter the profession should examine their recruitment tactics and work culture, continues Giroux. Having a diverse workplace will make manufacturing more appealing for new generations, and companies that aren’t structured to welcome youth, women, new immigrants, Indigenous peoples, or workers with disabilities might find it hard to fill positions.

EMC is doing its part through an initiative called Herjourney. This yet-to-be-launched program is designed to support female apprentices in the Red Seal trades via training, resources, and mentoring. Research and supports for employers are also part of the Herjourney program.

Giroux has ambitious goals for the future of EMC. “We’re growing. We basically doubled our size in the last five years. We want to make sure we’re bringing the EMC story in a very comprehensive way, coast to coast. Working on the national level is the big focus right now—making sure we’ve got solid programing and a solid consortium in each province,” says Giroux.

The post Moving Manufacturing Forward<p class="company">Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium (EMC)</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Firing Industries has been enjoying success in all areas of its business, including the proud celebration of an impressive milestone in 2024. When asked the reason for the company’s longtime success in the industry, there’s one important answer: “Persistence,” says President Michel Dubuc. “Mr. Lars Firing started Firing Industries in Montreal in 1973, so it will be 51 years this October,” he says.

Family matters
Headquartered in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, the company also maintains a Montreal-area branch office in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, and makes regular visits to both Eastern and Western Canada. “We now also have staff representation in the Maritimes, with one in Charlottetown and two in the Dartmouth-Halifax area,” says Michel.

“It’s like a small family in some ways,” Michel says. “It’s a family affair—we have myself working there since 2004, and I bought the company in 2006. And my daughter, Danielle, is in charge of business development and marketing,” and managing Michel’s day to day.

Other employees include Emily Dubuc, he adds, who works primarily in finance and human resources, and Steve VanDyk, the company’s longest-standing employee and now a consultant, who started in the early ’80s.

“We try to maintain good relationships with employees and keep them as long as possible,” Michel says. “We are lucky that our core team adheres to the culture, which is lean and mean. That’s basically my philosophy.”

Global providers
Maintaining good relationships especially extends to clients, including the company’s recently launched relationship with Kason and Marion, a global provider of commercial hardware and accessories for the food service, industrial, and truck body industries.

“It’s very successful so far,” says Michel. “We have a good rapport with the Kason and Marion team. It adds to our product line and makes us more versatile.”

Through Kason and Marion, Firing Industries maintains a portfolio of principals and acts as an OEM for multiple feeder manufacturers. “It’s a good partnership that leads to other opportunities with the other principals,” he says.

As for distribution and product, while Firing Industries covers Canada as its “main playground,” it also has several projects in Asia, and the food sector is always one of its primary fields of interest. “We can cover [everything] from the mining sector to the mineral sector to the pharmaceutical sector, but the one that’s most prevalent right now is the food sector. People need to eat, and you’re not going to import everything.”

When it comes to upcoming industrial projects, while some remain under wraps, there are some large ones concerning drying projects, including fruits and vegetables, coming up soon.

Keeping track
Maintaining success means also maintaining goals, and the company has several focuses for 2024, including software implementation.

“We have been in business for so long and we’re evolving, so we’re looking to actively implement a CRM, a customer relationship management program,” says Danielle Dubuc. “That’s a big thing for us and a big investment on our part, getting that done to better our business.”

CRM makes total sense, adds Michel. With new employees coming on board, proper training also needs to be done directly at suppliers’ or principals’ facilities. The company also utilizes once-a-week team meetings that can contain mini-training sessions along with discussions of various projects to help keep communication open.

“The way we go to market is that we have salespeople, we have product managers, and we represent about a dozen major product lines from the United States, England, or Europe,” Michel says. “You need to keep track of the projects for a specific principal, and you have to be able to report to that principal so they know that they’re paying you for hard work.”

To help with staying on track with projects and timelines, the majority of Firing Industries’ employees are multitaskers: they may have a sales responsibility, a sales support responsibility, in some cases, also a logistics responsibility, says Michel—and eventually, product responsibility.

“It’s a big matrix and it’s a small team; we’re probably about a dozen people,” he says. “Right now we deal with a lot of outside consultants because we wouldn’t be able to achieve everything ourselves.” This includes a draftsman working almost full-time on various projects and a Gantt chart specialist who monitors the status of a project from day one to completion. Additionally, some projects, particularly ones in Asia, need somebody to be on site to commission the equipment sold, so tracking becomes particularly important with an employee out of the office.

Ultimately, both clear communication and teamwork are a vital part of the company’s ongoing success. “I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it’s what we’re striving for,” says Michel.

Planning, planning, planning
All projects include planning from day one, getting a down payment from the customer, and then starting the process of finalizing the engineering portion. For the structural analysis, if support or a structure is needed, Firing Industries would need to have an engineering review from outside its company.

In short, staying organized and on top of every aspect of every project from beginning to end is paramount for Firing Industries. “Internally, we’re just making sure our team is aware of these things. They plan weekly, update their projects, and then it’s much smoother, and it costs less at the end of the day.”

Culture matters
No matter the size of the project, in the end, Firing Industries attributes much of its success to a company culture that allows employees to feel comfortable enough to communicate and stay in touch throughout the planning and execution of all projects.

“It feels like a little family,” Michel says. “Everybody cares about the other person. You don’t have to have all the details of their personal life, but at least know each other’s birthdays, holiday plans, and how the kids are doing.”

That healthy company culture has also created a rapid response time to clients’ needs and problems. “We react extremely fast. If we get a lead from our portal, we’re on it immediately. The full team gets it. When somebody says, ‘Okay, I’ve got it,’ then it could be minutes, it could be an hour, but it’s not going be days before we react.”

The same practice applies to suppliers. If a supplier sends a note saying they have a lead in B.C. and to make sure to get more information to move to the next step and put the proper system in place, Firing Industries is sure to work quickly.

“That’s our job. As a distributor and a representative, we have to qualify leads. And then we’re trained to do that with the various suppliers,” Michel says. “And I would say our claim to fame would be our reaction time. We have a reputation for that in the industry.”

Despite its smaller size, Firing Industries has managed a half-century of robust success and thorough planning to maintain teamwork, organization, and communication moving forward. Says Michel Dubuc, “We just want to focus on our core values and core structure going into our projects, which will organically lead to more success for years to come.”

The post Creating Sophisticated and Simplified Solutions<p class="company">Firing Industries Ltd.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

The Indiana-based company ventured into patient room furniture about thirty years ago, when the team identified a clear need in the market. “There was a government mandate that said that any behavioral health facility had to feel residential, not institutional,” Sank explains, “and so they were going out and buying residential furniture that would be broken and unusable within a few months.” Wieland Healthcare stepped in to supply furniture that combined residential aesthetics with the durability to withstand the behavioral health atmosphere.

“That’s how we got our start,” Sank says, “but since then, we’ve really zeroed in on our patient room expertise.” Over the years, Wieland Healthcare has built a strong reputation, becoming “most valued because of our reliability, our durability, and our knowledge of healthcare needs.”

The company has become known for its innovation “by coming up with products that don’t exist in the healthcare patient room space yet,” Sank says. For example, Wieland Healthcare developed a specially designed sleep sofa that allows family members to spend days and nights comfortably in the patient’s room, so they can be there around the clock.

The team made sure to include all the details that families need in this forward-thinking product. The sleepToo® sofa has built-in charging stations and features a table in the center section that raises and lowers as needed. “You can eat in the patient room and be with your loved one and not miss the doctor when they do rounds,” Sank says. The table flattens down to bench height and, with the press of a button, the back cushion pops up and flips over to transform into a bed. “Nobody had done that to that point,” she says. “I would say, right now, we are really known as the most innovative new product development company that’s out there.”

Wieland Healthcare introduced another innovative product, the accord™ recliner, in 2014. “This new recliner, the accord™, has an [intelliTrac™] system, which is a magnetic caster on the back of the recliner,” Sank says. “And when they sense you’re going in a straight motion, the magnets lock it into a forward motion where it’s not going to migrate toward the wall or turn sideways. It makes it easier for the nurse to follow a patient. And then when you’re back in the room, you can just nudge it out of the magnetic zone and move it right next to the bed or move it sideways, laterally, or spin it around easily. Other recliners don’t do that, so that was a new invention for us.”

This year, Wieland Healthcare introduced the Soul sleep sofa collection, which boasts a clever, multipurpose design. “The soul mate is a multifunctional unit that nobody else has done yet,” Sank says. The sofa has tall legs and an open base—which most sleep sofas don’t—so that the companion piece, called the soul mate, can slide underneath when not in use. This soul mate component functions as an ottoman and nightstand or it can be unfolded to become a rolling chair.

Patient room sleep sofas are generally placed in an alcove away from the patient’s bed, so the rolling chair component allows family members to move closer to the patient. “It can be rolled over right next to the bedside. We’ve been researching for eight to ten years the healing power of touch, and how when a family member is next to the bedside and they can hold hands with the patient—let’s say it’s pediatrics or it’s elderly couples—that shortens the length of stay and improves recovery times. There’s tons of research to prove that.”

The industry is paying attention to the collection’s forward-thinking design. “The soul mate actually won the innovation award at the Nightingale awards this past fall because there really isn’t anything out there that gets the family close to the bedside without sacrificing square footage in the patient room, which is worth $1,000 to $1,200 per square foot,” Sank shares.

Another bonus is that the Soul collection is specially designed to allow light into the room. “They’re spending a lot of money to put floor to ceiling windows in patient rooms and hospitals because that’s also been proven through research to shorten recovery times and shorten length of stay,” says Sank. “And most sleep centers block the whole bottom third of the daylight coming in. And since this new Soul sofa has such an open base with the tall legs, it allows more daylight into the room.”

The team conducts Voice of Customer (VOC) research in order to create innovative products that meet the specific needs of today’s healthcare environment. For instance, in one recent research trip, the team traveled across the country to spend three days meeting with four different hospital systems, gathering feedback from a variety of professionals including architects, interior designers, clinicians, and more.

When vetting a new product, the team asks these professionals if there is a need for the product, and if so, “are we getting it right? Is the look right? Is the aesthetic right? Is the function correct, or are we adding features that aren’t necessary or that make it too expensive? What is the crux of the actual need?”

The team carries out VOC research two or three times during the early development stage, before the concept is sent to engineering or procurement, “just to be sure that we’ve vetted the idea,” Sank says. “It’s so helpful that the customers are honest with us… We learn a lot.” Oftentimes, these customers are pleasantly surprised when they encounter the new product concept. “They realize that we’re filling a gap that they didn’t even realize was there.”

In addition to providing an innovative product, Wieland Healthcare supports customers after the purchase. “Our warranty service exceeds other competitors in the same space. We stand by the product and we will always do what’s right by our customers as far as any failure in the field or [the need for] replacement parts. And we offer a twenty-five-year warranty, so they can count on twenty-five years of service.”

In fact, the company’s products can last even longer due to their easily replaceable covers. “If something rips in the field or the healthcare cleaners are too harsh and they damage the fabric or the vinyl, you can just replace the covers and make it new again,” says Sank.

“So I think we have the best reputation in our industry for standing by our products,” she continues. “And, to give credit to our customer care team and our reps and our warranty service team, we are aggressively willing to solve the problem rather than being elusive and avoiding calls; we just want to take care of it. And I think that many of our customers appreciate that, and that’s why they come back to us. That’s why they’re loyal. Because they know that if they invest a little more to go with our product that it will pay off in the end.”

Looking ahead, the team is eager to continue focusing on their current area of success. “We have recently, in the past year or so, realized that our expertise is in the patient room and in patient room innovation. And so I think we’ve realized that we really have a pathway to become the expert in patient rooms and patient room innovation to help the staff and the clinicians better care for their patients and to really improve patient outcomes, which is our goal.”

This goal of improving outcomes is key, and will keep driving the company forward for the long term. “It’s not really about the furniture,” Sank summarizes. “It’s more about how to make families’ and patients’ lives and clinicians’ jobs easier.”

The post Innovative Healthcare Furniture<p class="company">Wieland Healthcare</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

CRS is known for providing customers with crane solutions in industries as diverse as forestry, pulp and paper, mining, petro-chemical, power generation, ship building, waste-water treatment and more.

The company’s cradle to grave customer service has been a differentiating factor and key to success. “We’re dedicated to supporting all of our customers’ lifting needs—from inception to completion,” says Chris Roots, Vice President of Sales.

“Our highly trusted engineering resources, coupled with the latest computer technology, help us design effectively the equipment our customers need at a price point that’s within their budget,” says Peter Clarke, CEO.

CRS Crane Solutions’ customer support begins with the design and engineering stages. “Over the years, we’ve provided some very unique solutions to a lot of different industry sectors,” says Clarke. “If you look at the design and the engineering phase, we’re really there to provide a solution that best suits [customer] needs. And the breadth of our experience enables us to exceed customer expectations in terms of design solutions and support.”

This support continues through manufacturing, delivery, installation, and commissioning of the crane. “After commissioning, we support that crane through its entire life,” says Clarke.

This ongoing support includes everything from training and certifying operators to maintenance and annual inspections to ensure the crane meets regulatory requirements and operates at peak efficiency. “And then we’ll support either modifications to extend the life of the crane, or decommissioning activity to properly take a crane down and either decommission it completely or set it up for a new crane installation,” Clarke explains. “We are well recognized for our expertise in this area, in addition to creative solutions for the next phase of our customers’ requirements.”

In addition to this ongoing support, the quality of the company’s cranes wins long-term customers. “We start with our customers’ requirements and design solutions that meet their needs,” Roots says. “When those cranes are performing and they’re not an issue for the client as far as causing downtime or excessive maintenance costs, then those customers come back for more equipment, part support, et cetera. So at least 75 percent of our business is repeat clientele because they are happy with the experience they’ve had with CRS.”

The company’s strong reputation acts as its own marketing. “We don’t really need to sell our activities too much because a lot of [our customers] are repeat customers who continue to come back to us because they’re very satisfied with the work that we’ve done on behalf of their end users and comfortable with our ability to meet their needs,” says Clarke.

CRS primarily works with large engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance (EPCM) firms. “There are only probably twenty to thirty really large global [EPCM] companies across the globe,” Clarke says. “And we’ve been working with a large portion of them for the life of CRS, but particularly in the last ten years, that activity picked up around the world in a number of sectors that we work in. We’ve built some very good relationships with them and they are confident in our ability to design and engineer cranes properly, to construct them to comply with all their requirements in terms of documentation and approvals, and then to support maintenance or installation and commissioning of that crane.”

This relationship extends to the end user of the crane. “Once that equipment is installed, we typically get a hand-off from the engineering firm to the end customer,” Clarke says. “It’s our crane on their sites. We’ve installed it. We’ve commissioned it. We’ve provided all of the support to get it to that point. They’re confident working with us to support the life of the crane for whatever that might be—ten, twenty years—[because] of our ability to meet their needs with parts, training, maintenance, any other support that they might need.”

The company leverages its qualified and experienced project managers to oversee this complex process. “At the front end, it really is that project management piece which differentiates us,” Clarke says. “A lot of these large engineering projects that we work on typically need a project manager from within CRS to connect with the project team working in the engineering firm.”

Project management services include complicated regulatory support. “In a lot of the jurisdictions and industries, regulations are quite strict in terms of overhead crane use within facilities,” Clarke says. “And so we’re ahead of the curve in understanding what those requirements are… Whenever an outside agency may come in and do an inspection, they’re not always up to speed with all the things they need to have to allow that inspection to happen effectively. But being connected with us, we’ve got the tools, we’ve got the data, we’ve got the history with that customer to be able to support them through any regulatory oversight they might have.”

CRS Crane Solutions has recently rebranded from the company’s original name, CRS CraneSystems, to better reflect this full suite of services. “When I joined CRS a couple of years ago, I was actually quite amazed at the solutions that they were providing for customers,” Clarke shares. The name CRS CraneSystems “didn’t really articulate what we did. So we took some time to reflect on the projects that we had done in the past, some of the unique solutions that we have provided, and felt that ‘Solutions’ better represented the brand both in terms of an engineered solution to support their activities and a solution to support them through the ongoing life of that crane. And so, CRS Crane Solutions became a better moniker for what we were providing in the marketplace.”

The letters CRS were originally taken from the founders’ initials. Now, the C stands for Care. “We care for cranes,” Clarke explains. “We care about our customers; we care about our employees and we care about cranes.” R is for Responsible. “We act responsibly toward our customers, our employees, our stakeholders within the organization.” And, of course, the S stands for Solution-Oriented. “We’re driven to provide solutions for our customers. It’s why we have so many deep relationships with repeat customers.”

While subtle, the switch from Systems to Solutions is important. “[Providing] solutions is where we differentiate,” says Kelly Beaudet, Vice President of Aftermarket Services. “We actually listen to the customer, what their needs are… I think the rebranding really solidifies what we do as a company.”

Roots adds that, “When we start looking at our business, at what we’re actually doing day to day, we are solving problems for our clients. They come to us with an issue or a material handling problem, and we’re coming up with solutions for them.”

After 32 years of ongoing success, plans for the future of CRS Crane Solutions seem obvious. “We’ll continue to do what we have been doing,” Clarke says.

This will include a sustained focus on emerging technology. “The crane industry has been around a long time, but it seemed to have been stuck in the late twentieth century in terms of technology,” says Clarke. “So, as we move forward, we will continue to put in technology to support our ability to better serve our customers.”

The future will also include an ongoing focus on diversification and growth. “CRS was founded mostly out of the Alberta market and mining and petro-chemical, because that was the resource base that sat in this province,” Clarke says. “But we’ve diversified quite significantly to cover a large number of industry sectors to ensure that we’re not attached to one sector and reliant on one sector for our ongoing growth.”

This expansion has seen the company extend its presence throughout North America, South America, and beyond—and there is no end in sight, especially considering the game plan that is firmly in place. “We’ll continue to ensure that we’ve got a well-diversified brand supporting multiple industry sectors and geographies, and provide the tools and the technology that go along with it,” Clarke summarizes.

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Tires are polluting the planet at an alarming rate. In addition to the environmental damage, discarded tires are a public health concern because they are a breeding ground for disease-carrying insects. Liberty Tire Recycling wants to reduce these negative impacts—and it is succeeding. The company collects and processes over 217 million tires annually, preventing over 4.3 billion pounds of rubber from going to landfill last year alone. It has also successfully remediated 150 dump sites since 2011. No wonder this company claims the title of market leader in tire recycling management.

Innovation and vision are at the heart of the business. The team is encouraged to see beyond the ordinary, envisioning potential instead of pollution. This creative, can-do mindset is key to the company’s success and has led to many innovative products.

Take yoga mats as just one example of practical, impactful repurposing. The team creates tire crumb that is ideal for manufacturing sustainable mats. With an estimated 40 million-plus people in the United States practicing yoga, there is a huge market for the product. In 2021 alone, Liberty Tire Recycling displaced an estimated 190,000 metric tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) through the use of tire crumb for rubber mats.

Using North America’s biggest network of tire recycling facilities, the company collects scrap tires and provides remediation services for abandoned tire piles. After the team collects the tires, they process them, resell any tires that can still be used safely, and break down the remaining tires into raw materials. Manufacturers then use this recycled rubber to create safe and innovative products.

These products include everything from rubber mulch, rubberized asphalt, and artificial turf to shock-absorbing athletic surfaces, rubberized flooring, and landscaping products. In gardens, athletic fields, playgrounds, and more, this recycled rubber is finding new life in a wide variety of places. The company is behind a number of well-known brands commonly stocked in home improvement stores, including Rubberific®, GroundSmart®, and NuScape.

Liberty Tire Recycling relies on “four pillars of sustainably” for guidance. The first pillar is the advancement of sustainable products. Ultimately, the goal is to minimize waste by finding a beneficial reuse for every part of a discarded tire. This means always being open to new ideas for safe, sustainable applications.

Safety is always at the forefront, so every Liberty Tire Recycling product is safe and environmentally friendly. The company’s organic products are OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) certified, and the team continues to move forward toward compliance with ASTM testing standards and IPEMA testing for applicable rubber products.

The acceleration of environmental stewardship is the second pillar, and recycling old tires is just a part of the team’s commitment to sustainability. The company has identified areas where it can slash consumption of greenhouse gases and has rolled out software that optimizes collection routes and makes sure that each truck is loaded to capacity by the end of the route, reducing the carbon impact of collection itself. In addition, the company complies with all regulatory requirements and follows best practices when it comes to emissions, water and waste management, and energy efficiency.

The team measured the company’s carbon footprint and handprint in 2020 and 2021 to better grasp its total impact on the environment. By measuring its handprint, the company can determine how helpful it is to use recycled products versus virgin alternatives, and how much that use could reduce global greenhouse emissions.

The third pillar is to engage people and communities. This begins with a workplace culture that prioritizes health and safety. The goal is zero workplace injuries, fires, or accidents. The company’s safety program relies on proactive measures that are backed by research, and the positive impact of this approach is evident; Liberty Tire Recycling has seen an 82 percentg decrease in lost time injuries and a 67 percent decrease in annual OSHA recordables since 2010.

Liberty Tire Recycling invests in its people, emphasizing growth and development and promoting from within the company. Promoting diversity and inclusion is an ongoing effort. The company partners with veteran recruiting agencies throughout the United States and participates in an immigrant hiring program, employing over 100 Venezuelan immigrants in the past year. The team has also hired more than 200 workers through its second-chance program, which offers employment to people who have recently been released from prison.

When it comes to the community, the team believes in leading by example and strives to be good corporate citizens. Liberty Tire Recycling supports its local community in a variety of ways, including helping families in need during the holidays, participating in the CT Clean River Project, and sponsoring a youth sports team.

The company’s fourth pillar is to operate responsibly, believing in maintaining a strong moral compass while doing business. The company utilizes a Code of Conduct in order to promote honest, ethical behavior; accurate, fair, and timely disclosure practices; full compliance with applicable rules, regulations, and laws; immediate reporting of violations; and overall accountability. Cyber security is also an important component of responsible operations, so the company has a robust program in place to mitigate threats.

The team reports that reclaiming, recycling, reusing, and repurposing is only the beginning of its commitment to good environmental stewardship. In order to help build a better future for the planet, Liberty Tire Recycling has set specific targets for the future, as outlined in its 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report.

The company has a goal of zero waste by 2030, with every tire it collects entering an end-use market. The team also plans to lower energy intensity by 25 percent by 2032, achieving this by identifying opportunities in a number of areas including compressed air management, LED lighting upgrades, peak demand, power factor, and production efficiencies.

By 2032, the company also plans to improve fleet efficiency by 30 percent. The team will carry this out in a number of ways, including the use of alternative fuels, route optimization, DOT compliance, idle time reductions, driver training, and increased fuel efficiency.

The team is committed to forging ahead, stating that, “We won’t stop looking for product opportunities in the market. We constantly ask ourselves if recycled rubber is the perfect answer to an unsolved problem or if it can be a better solution than products that currently exist.” Liberty Tire Recycling is a company to watch as the team seeks to uncover those better solutions—and deliver them.

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