And while recruiting and retaining talent is a big issue for manufacturing, it also comes as a bit of a surprise because, at the same time that staffing is a challenge, many manufacturers lag when it comes to recruiting women and supporting their career development.

For instance, right now, women represent less than 30 percent of the workforce in manufacturing while in other industries women represent 47 percent of the workforce, and just one in four management positions in manufacturing are held by women. Those numbers get even smaller when you’re looking at executives, with just 12 percent of C-suite positions having women in those roles.

Jacquie Boyer, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Sensata Technologies, a manufacturer of sensors and electrical protection units, is one industry executive who is unsettled about the stark conditions of women representation in the manufacturing space. “Prior to COVID, the World Economic Forum was saying women were going to reach parity in about 60 years,” she told Bloomberg. “After COVID hit, it was more than 130 years. And that statistic hit me like a ton of bricks. So, it wasn’t going to happen in my lifetime. It wasn’t going to happen in my daughter’s lifetime, and it wasn’t going to happen in my granddaughter’s lifetime.”

The irony in this current state is that a lot of companies are missing out on the benefits that come with a workforce that includes women. The Manufacturing Institute, APICS (a professional supply chain association), and Deloitte surveyed 600 women in the industry and interviewed managers across the sector on the topic of women in manufacturing. The project found that companies with strong female leadership not only delivered better returns—10.1 percent versus 7.1—they also provided higher valuation to the tune of 1.76 versus 1.56 compared to companies that did not have strong female leadership. Benefits impacting the bottom line rarely go missed in business yet, by and large, companies in manufacturing have not taken advantage of this information.

So, what are some of the obstacles that prevent women from being a bigger part of the manufacturing industry? One of the big ones is lack of flexibility in work scheduling, including parental leave.

The availability and affordability of childcare is a hurdle for families in many industries, but especially in manufacturing and production roles, where work tends to be on an in-person shift-based schedule. Also consider that many women in these roles are single parents, says Allison Grealis, founder and President of the Women in Manufacturing Association.

“Many of them are on their own supporting their families,” Grealis told Manufacturing Dive. “So, the more that we can intervene and help them from an early stage in their career so that they can be successful and rise within their organizations and in this industry, the better for all of us.”

Then there are the perceived biases that women are not the best fit for manufacturing. And on top of these, there is also the intimidating prospect of being the only woman on the floor.

And while the numbers are not encouraging right now, companies are working to change this and are actively seeking more ways to support women who are part of their workforce.

Some practical actions that companies are taking include creating a network of allies among men in the company to promote and advocate for women and support their career path. The Harvard Business Review describes allyship as “a strategic mechanism used by individuals to become collaborators, accomplices, and co-conspirators who fight injustice and promote equality in the workplace through supportive personal relationships, public acts of sponsorship, and advocacy.”

Progress on the gender front takes action, and leadership has an important role to play here as it can really set the tone for an organization. Important steps for leadership to take start with measuring where their company is currently at when it comes to opportunities for women. Knowing this, the question then becomes, what is the goal for the company? From there, encouraging leaders to advocate for women will create a more welcoming and inclusive environment.

Encouraging mentorship programs can also help women navigate the various stages within their manufacturing career. Mentoring is a great way to support career development because it supports knowledge growth and can provide guidance throughout an employee’s career. A mentor needs to be willing to take on the growth and development of the person they are mentoring and be willing to share guidance and advice. There are different approaches to mentoring, formal and informal. Formal tends to be more program-based and focuses on a specific purpose. Informal mentoring is more unplanned and open-ended; it is also generally driven by the person who is seeking a mentor.

In addition to mentoring and allyship, networking, both inside and outside of a particular company, is another important component that can support women in manufacturing. And while women leadership and network programs have become more common in white collar work environments, they are just as badly needed in the manufacturing space as well as in construction and the skilled trades.

Barb Willoughby, Director of Operations at ATS, an automation solution provider, in Cambridge, Ontario, meets with a dozen women every two months across a variety of industries to share what they have learned. Willoughby talks about the benefits that come from this networking group:

“Having conversations about what processes and initiatives you’ve tried and learning from one another is one of the biggest benefits of the peer council,” she told The Globe and Mail. In addition to this connection, she also has a women’s resource group at her company that helps women along their career path as well as supporting women who are in leadership roles.

“Creating that awareness that there are other women in our organization was significant. It has surprised me. Hearing the humbleness of their stories and seeking advice, asking, ‘in this situation, what would you do?’ It’s been very inspiring.”

When it comes to recruiting women, the success factors are much the same as they are for men. That includes presenting manufacturing careers to younger people. While there are many active campaigns in schools, by and large, experts agree that young women feel left out when it comes to encouragement to pursue a career in manufacturing. More inroads need to be made in local schools and colleges. Scholarships can raise the profile of a local company and also provide opportunity to get younger workers in the door, while boot camps that focus on a specific manufacturing process can provide hands-on learning to expose people to different jobs in manufacturing.

Are there women who help promote these scholarships and boot camps to put a female face to the issue? Yes there are, in some cases.

Changing the perception of manufacturing work is also important not just for attracting women to the industry but for overall improvement in recruiting. The ugly truth is that manufacturing work is seen as dark, dirty work. To help change this point of view, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters association is using female role models within the industry to promote recruitment through focusing on the sector’s high levels of career satisfaction as well as lower pay gaps.

The bottom line for manufacturing is that to meet the growing recruitment and retention gaps, it has to expand beyond its traditional workforce, namely men. And while there is some movement now to make manufacturing a more welcoming industry for women, the current rate won’t do it. The Manufacturing Institute is predicting that 2.1 million jobs could go unfilled in 2030 at a cost of potential $1 trillion; that’s practically around the corner.

When staring down these numbers and knowing the potential benefits women bring to companies, finding more ways to encourage them to join manufacturing will be a matter of survival for the industry.

The post Overcoming Workplace Biases<p class="company">The Race to Recruit Women</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Whether customers need materials from Asia or beyond, this nimble and streamlined team of 14 people has access to everything necessary to keep North American manufacturing rolling, including active pharmaceutical ingredients fully certified under American and Canadian legislation.

Netchem’s strengths lie in its close relationships within the industry, its skill in conducting due diligence on behalf of its customers, its packaging requirements and paperwork knowledge, and ensuring that everything arrives according to plan while adhering to local laws. After over 30 years of lengthy negotiations and closing deals with foreign suppliers, the Netchem team knows the value in being what its customers need to keep their operations running smoothly without the hassle of navigating international procurement.

Netchem obtains silanes and silicones, plastic and electroplating additives, lubricant ingredients, flame retardants, personal care, and active pharmaceutical ingredients from manufacturers around the globe. Netchem handles all types of unique customer requirements including specific packaging, additional specifications, audit requirements, and country-of-origin requirements. “We sell ingredients that go into everything from your over-the-counter medications to your lawn chair,” says Stephanie Khurana, President. “Netchem aims to be the preferred supply chain partner to North American manufacturers of all sizes.”

The company also applies its thorough knowledge of port traffic to ensure that goods are routed efficiently to minimize time lost in overfull harbour situations where goods can be delayed.

In addition to its home in Brantford, Ontario, an hour away from Toronto, the company has warehouse facilities across North America as well as a dedicated business manager to serve clients in Latin America. The company is women-owned and proudly certified by Women Business Enterprises Canada (WBE Canada), which supports, promotes, and certifies women-owned companies by enabling better access to supply chains for women-owned businesses. Khurana also volunteers her time and knowledge to WBE Canada, which honoured her with a leadership award in acknowledgment of her impact. Khurana notes the importance of supplier diversity for providing meaningful, equal opportunity to people historically excluded from equitable access to work and business.

Khurana says, “being women-owned as well as immigrant-founded, we strongly believe in the importance of making sure everyone has a voice and a seat at the table, particularly those who traditionally haven’t had one. I am proud that many of our corporate clients have supplier diversity programs and initiatives and hope to see more mid-market businesses adopt similar programs in the future,” she adds, underlining this healthier direction toward fair business practices.

Stephanie’s father, the late Paul Khurana, was a chemical engineer who arrived in Canada in 1967 and later founded the company. Stephanie recently became a parent herself, and say that, rather than entirely changing her business outlook, motherhood has added to her passion for directing the firm responsibly, leading her to look at new ways to further improve how business is conducted in the industry. The Khuranas have developed a sixth sense for this business, which only makes sense as the early days lacked the technologies that make the world go ‘round today, like the internet.

Even so, it is a challenging trade. Having partners on the ground in other countries is critical and Netchem has spent decades building its relationships and reputation. Removing the risk and logistical headaches is, therefore, an undeniable value addition that makes big industry players turn to Netchem.

The company also supports its local community. Netchem runs an annual fundraiser for Feed Ontario and Food Bank Canada, through which it has raised around $20,000. These contributions had their roots in the hardships of COVID-19 when the vulnerabilities of working people became evident. Its most recent drive, at the end of last year, brought in more than $5,000, for which the team is equally proud and grateful.

The ecological challenges and dangers are not lost on Khurana, and being open about the realities of the industry is essential to solving its problems. In the meantime, she is committed to running her business well. “We are at the nexus of balancing commercial and environmental interests as manufacturers and manufacturing-adjacent businesses. This is actually a heavy topic because I don’t think that the industry is changing enough,” she says, pointing out that ‘greenwashing’ is quite prevalent.

Against this backdrop, Khurana is calling for change and is committed to doing what it takes to drive change within her organization. “Change to this industry requires both novel scientific innovations as well as government-led initiatives to improve clean energy infrastructure,” she says. The matter is serious. While buyers do try their best to make the optimal decision, price and geopolitics still largely drive decision-making.

From identified chemicals threatening salmon to big industry players legally manipulating legislation to their benefit at the cost of the environment, time is of the essence. To this end, Netchem is dedicating the following three years to taking a critical look at how it can further improve its own and its customers’ impact on nature. It has started this process through use of the Ecovadis platform. The platform, which is used by many of its clients, guides ecological responsibility through advisory and evaluation services. “It is good to have some sort of metric to start from. We follow its recommendations,” says Khurana.

Moving ahead, the company continues to search for solutions to the challenges of becoming more ecologically friendly. Helping its customers mitigate or even prevent environmental damage is Netchem Inc.’s primary aim for future development. “On the whole, people want to do it but they don’t know how. Nobody wants to feel like [they are] responsible for degrading the environment,” Khurana says.

She feels the company can leverage its buying power for good by ensuring its suppliers maintain best practices. One case in point: on a recent visit to Taiwan, Netchem was impressed by its Taiwanese suppliers going above and beyond to fulfill their environmental responsibility with measures like water salvaging and cleaning processes.

“The pursuit of the lowest cost has hurt overall supply chain elasticity and resiliency,” says Khurana, presenting an excellent example of international vitamin C (ascorbic acid) supply. While the company does not currently sell this material, there were, at one time, several fabricators around the world. When China severely undercut these companies by dropping its prices, they had to shut their doors. Today, China is the main exporter of many raw materials, including this essential nutrient, as described by Joe Gandelman for The Moderate Voice.

While this general situation continues, a positive aspect of doing business with China in terms of chemical supply is that the country takes chemical manufacturing seriously, with highly regulated chemical manufacturing parks being kept under close government watch.

Considering how much of the heavy lifting Netchem does for its clients, it soon becomes clear why its biggest customers consider this team an indispensable addition to their procurement operations. The company’s proactive approach to market changes has afforded it growth, further boosted by its move to strengthen customers’ supply chains. “Netchem helps businesses create resiliency by diversifying their supply chain,” Khurana says. “Our goal going into 2024 is to help ensure that our partners have a supply chain strategy that makes sense for the future.”

The post It’s All in the Chemistry<p class="company">Netchem</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Since 2020, however, the company has also been breaking new ground, as reflected in its name change in 2023. With the name change, ERZKONTOR is moving closer to the Hamburg-based family business CREMER, which took over the shares of the Lübeck-based raw materials trader in 2014. With the name change to CREMER ERZKONTOR, the more than 100-year history of Possehl Erzkontor is opening a new chapter.

The name change is a statement. The path the company is taking leads from pure raw material trading to the management of its customers’ raw material supply. In addition to logistical services, warehousing, and laboratory services, this also includes the processing and recycling of these materials in its own facilities.

CREMER ERZKONTOR North America (CENA) is an end-to-end logistics and raw materials, chemicals, and trace-elements supplier. From its local headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio and nearby warehouse facility, the company’s reach spans the globe, with materials arriving in different specifications and grades.

There are also sister facilities in Proctorville, Ohio, in the Tri-State region of West Virginia and Kentucky. Other locations include Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; and the Alabama region, from which the team manages ocean freight, barge, and domestic road haulage to ship gargantuan cargo volumes from global suppliers to end users on home soil. Among its services are sourcing, processing, sizing, testing, packaging, warehousing, and inspecting raw materials. A dedicated chemical facility and a focused sustainability watch round off the offerings.

The company’s strength lies in its longstanding relationships with suppliers as far as Kazakhstan and beyond. Some of these relationships span more than three decades, and the team doesn’t trade with companies they don’t know personally. This thoroughness in ensuring that the correct procedures, certifications, and packaging to pass customs are followed at all times is a matter of pride for this team of industry experts.

Niklas Lüdemann exchanged his position as the head of the European region to join the company’s United States team in 2021. In October 2022, he became head of the North American region and the head of key account management, making it a big year for him and the company alike. His principal function is still ensuring that all global clients get the best service and prices possible. The company is also expanding its presence down the West Coast as far south as Latin America and even into Asian markets, making Lüdemann’s new roles crucial to the company’s success.

But these were not the only recent shifts in the company’s structure. Toward the end of the first quarter of last year, CREMER ERZKONTOR appointed new Chief Financial Officer Nils Fleig, the former chief financial officer of MIAS Group in München, Germany, and it introduced Nicol Tomaschewski, who is fluent in Mandarin and is based in its Lübeck-based European headquarters in Germany, as its new head of Asia. The company also opened a new subsidiary in Chennai, India headed by Subsidiary Director Ananthanarayana Nonavinakere, giving the company a new point of contact from which to serve its Indian customers and suppliers. And in May of this year, the company welcomed a new second Executive Director, Roberto Wurst, responsible for the Chemicals Division, Key Account Management and the Latin America, North America and Asia Regions.

As the business has doubled in size annually for the past few years, more hands and minds were needed to make it all happen. Today, the company has a brand new finance team and a larger supply chain management team than ever. It has also expanded its number of sales personnel, ensuring that more customers can benefit from its growing services. As a result, the company continues to grow and hire.

Working in modern, technologically-advanced ways, team members benefit from the freedom to work from wherever they like. Staff train in Germany to learn the intricacies of the trade before they are welcomed to the market and provided with all the support they need to succeed. The result is a dedication by people who treat the firm and every customer as their own.

The natural environment is also considered with great regard. To this end, the company started taking steps toward improving and expanding its recycling activities. “I think this is a business for the future. We started a recycling plant in [Ohio to] recycle used refractory bricks from the steel industry,” Lüdemann says. While recycling refractory bricks from steel production is compulsory in Europe, it is only really beginning to catch on in the United States, and CREMER ERZKONTOR North America is leading the way.

As these bricks and the steel industry as a whole have a typically high carbon footprint, this initiative contributes considerably to lightening companies’ environmental footprint. It also brings down the cost of manufacturing new bricks, making the service an all-around win for steel manufacturers.

Another initiative brings new mining activities to its portfolio. Since early this year, a new facility, in collaboration with America’s only licensed fluorspar mine, brings this precious mineral to the local market for use in steel production. As the entire country is currently tied into trade agreements with Vietnam and China for this material, the new venture promises to be hugely successful as it secures precious supplies for American steel production. It also reduces lead times from several months to weeks while providing better quality than Asian sources. In addition, the quality of Utah-mined fluorspar is significantly better than what is currently available from Mexico’s dwindling resources.

Growth remains constant. In 2021, CREMER ERZKONTOR North America implemented an expansion plan which dictates that, by the final quarter of next year, at least half of its revenue will be from innovative new services that complement and raise the bar on simply buying and selling materials.

“Everything we do is targeted in that way to find more business. That allows us to reach our goal,” says Lüdemann, who points out that this will be achieved while not neglecting the traditional business aspects.

COVID-19 caused the company significant headaches through supply chain challenges, altered timelines, and raw material shortages over the past three years. Holding this all together while growing rapidly took considerable courage. “The team went through a lot. But they managed it all in a really good manner. In the end, what it comes down to for us is that it is all about our team,” Lüdemann says, noting that employees “add all the value.”

Raw materials shortages of the past two to three years included micro silica, magnesium carbonate byproducts, and much more. The next challenge was the truck driver shortage driving tremendous pressure on delivering containers. To protect its customers, the company shouldered much of the increased expenses for a while. Probably one of its most significant achievements during this time was that all its customers remained in production which is a considerable accomplishment by any standard.

Another hurdle manifested when Russia declared war against Ukraine. “We had several chemicals that came out of Ukraine and minerals and raw materials that came out of Russia. These completely stopped,” Lüdemann says. Instead of halting production, the team set off to find alternatives to replace Russian and Ukrainian components for every client. In the process, the company also did its best to find these new materials at a lower cost than the original imports.

Then there was a notable drop in the Euro and inflated interest rates to navigate. Ensuring good cash flow during this time was a challenge but the team did phenomenal work in keeping all its moving parts intact. The turnover of working capital it typically invests in paid-for materials was significantly slowed by long-haul ocean transit but was managed prudently. The company not only pulled through; it thrived.

Once this negative tide turned and spending habits returned to normal, the CREMER ERZKONTOR North America team had its work cut out, attempting to honor the avalanche of orders that suddenly streamed into its offices. This positive upturn inspired the firm to invest in processing capabilities that allowed it to hedge somewhat against the rising costs of materials and labor.

“I do not think we can complain about the outcome. Like most companies, we had a very successful 2022; we are happy with how the year ended. We look forward to 2023,” says Lüdemann.

The company has experienced staggering growth which went from around 40 million USD in sales in 2017 to about 200 million USD in only five years. As material prices are down, predictions are that its best growth will come from the metric tonnage it will ship in 2023 rather than from the minerals directly. Diversifying will bring further growth as it expands its mining, recycling, repackaging, and other value-added services.

2023 poses fresh challenges in need of new solutions. The closure of the Illinois River between April and August this year led CREMER ERZKONTOR North America to help its customers dependent on this Mississippi River tributary for their material supplies to stock up in good time. “Making sure they buy enough and at the right price was a big topic for us. We feel very comfortable with the position that our customers are in,” Lüdemann says.

With expectations for continued strength in the American refractory and chemical industries and much confidence in its capabilities, CREMER ERZKONTOR North America is well on its way to continue expanding and keeping its plans for supply chain diversification on track.

The post The Global Source for Trusted Bulk Mineral Supplies<p class="company">CREMER ERZKONTOR North America</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

In the years since, the company has shown a remarkable degree of resilience, forged over decades of success. Allied Blower is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year, and Bruce Wendel is bullish about the U.S. expansion and the prospects for the company’s future. Wendel is one of three owners of the business; he is Principal and General Manager of Allied Blower & Sheet Metal Ltd.—the Canadian side of the company—and President of Allied Blower USA Inc.

Based in Surrey, British Columbia, the company now has a manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama. This manufacturing centre will ultimately support several service centres in the area. “We’re licensed in five states, with projects in most of them,” Wendel says, “and we’re working on two more.” The company currently works in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, and Georgia.

The lumber industry in the Southeastern United States is rich with opportunity and is driving the expansion. South of the border, there are more independent lumber producers than in Canada, and this provides companies like Allied Blower with openings to connect directly with more owners making decisions for their business.

“These companies have deep connections to their communities,” says Wendel. “You’ll go into a community where ‘XYZ Lumber’ has operated for 100 years, and see ‘XYZ’ high school, ‘XYZ’ medical pavilion, ‘XYZ’ golf course. The owner is right there in the community, running the business with their family.”

Natural resources are big business for Allied Blower. The company serves the lumber industry in both Canada and the United States, in addition to the potash and uranium mining sector and some customers in manufacturing as well. Wherever a process produces airborne dust, there is a potential role for Allied Blower’s equipment and services, and those services are end-to-end.

“We design the systems for our customers. We manufacture 90 percent of what we put in, both the equipment and the ductwork, and all of that equipment is certified to various National Fire Protection Association standards,” explains Wendel. “We do the installation, commission the systems, perform inspection and maintenance. We do upgrades when a customer wants to increase the throughput in their plant or when they install a new machine.”

Allied Blower’s in-house capabilities are complemented by a network of strategic partnerships that it has built with other companies in the industry. These partners include companies like Air Cure, a baghouse filter technology company; Fargus-GreCon, a supplier of spark detection and extinguishing systems; and Albarrie, a manufacturer of non-woven filter fabrics and bags.

The team stands behind its systems, providing rapid support when a customer’s critical equipment malfunctions. Whatever the industry, downtime is costly.

“Breakdowns always happen on Friday night, of course,” Wendel laughs, “but we answer the phone and get right to it. We’ll get a crew there on the weekend and get it done. We’ll drive parts there if we need to or send them air freight—whatever it takes; we won’t walk away from a job until it’s right. We have strong relationships with our customers, and we protect those relationships.”

This commitment to its product and service has created loyal customers. “We’ve got a broad install base and a great reputation in the market,” says Wendel. “When it’s time for new equipment or upgrades, our customers come back to us.”

Like every other industry, technological developments are changing the game for Allied Blower. The next big step? Automation.

“Right now in the market, there’s a lot of instrumentation. Sensors are monitoring equipment and processes end-to-end. But automation? Not yet. That’s the push; that’s the future. Automation will mean that we’ll know what a piece of equipment is doing based on differential pressure or velocity or volume of air. We’ll know whether something’s wearing out or not working correctly, and we can provide that information to the customer,” says Wendel.

He is mindful of the fact that these kinds of proactive insights prompted by data may be perceived as intrusive. He understands that there is a balance to be struck: providing just as much information as the customer needs and no more. However, the potential to reduce costs for customers–particularly costs resulting from downtime–makes some level of automation a logical next step for Allied Blower.

With loyal customers returning to Allied Blower for additional equipment and services and a burgeoning expansion in the United States, there are few things that provide an impediment to growth. The biggest single challenge is people, specifically the availability of the highly skilled tradespeople that Allied Blower needs to serve its customers.

The people the company needs are primarily sheet metal workers certified by the Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB) in Canada and the American Welding Society (AWS) in the United States, having some experience working in industrial environments. Those people are in short supply and extremely high demand on both sides of the border.

“Access to skilled trades is certainly a challenge,” Wendel says. “It’s worse right now in the U.S. than in Canada; the labour market is tight here, but it’s even hotter there.”

When talent is in such high demand, there are a number of ways to approach the problem. A company can try to compete with compensation packages or provide a working environment and culture that attracts talent from other companies. It is more difficult when high-demand talent is also in extremely short supply. In that case, a company has to do all those things and more.

For Allied Blower, ‘more’ means developing its own talent pools. The company deliberately creates breaks for younger people with limited experience to enter the company and train as they work, and apprentices are a key pillar of the talent strategy.

“It’s important for us to create a career path,” Wendel says. “We provide opportunities for people to come in and have a great job and one that they can translate into a career path. Some of the tradespeople will ultimately move off the tools into an estimating role or eventually a management position.”

Allied Blower supports the growth and development of these employees by funding training provided by local educational institutions. This may include technical training in the trades or estimating or even leadership training for those on the road to management roles. “We’re doing the same in the U.S. You have to have a certain number of journeymen before you can hire apprentices, of course, but that’s started.”

Not surprisingly, another challenge associated with a shortage of talent is succession planning. When younger employees are staying for shorter periods of time in any particular job and company, it is tough to build the kind of strength that a business needs for sustainable growth. “Succession is definitely a challenge. We’ve got key people moving toward retirement age, and it’s tough to lose that experience. We hope to bring more people in and transition those people into the leadership of the company in the future.”

In the meantime, as Allied Blower approaches its golden anniversary, it has both a proud legacy and a very bright future to offer that next generation of leaders. Renovations to the facility in Surrey are underway, and there are plans afoot for well-deserved celebrations marking 50 successful years in business.

The post Clearing the Air<p class="company">Allied Blower </p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“We are known for going the extra mile to reformulate and make new products,” says Michael Black, Marketing Manager. “We provide clients with commodity chemicals, proprietary chemicals, technical support, and laboratory analysis to keep their processes running.”

With thickness, durability, porosity, and sheen all influencing the longevity and performance of the company’s products, research and development is a large and crucial part of this team’s offering. Customers benefit from the wealth of product and industry knowledge the team has, enabling them to develop chemicals that perform the way customers need them to. Dynamix products thus feature in a vast array of goods, including everything from airplane landing gear and nuclear reactors to display windows, respiratory devices, brake pads and shock absorbers, seatbelt buckles, and more.

Some of the company’s largest markets are in metal finishing process chemistry like zinc electro-plating, high-sheen and matte nickel, and chrome. Although the aesthetic of modern cars is sleek and pared-down in contrast to the chrome-heavy glamour of classics such as the 1952 Pontiac Chieftain, a surprisingly large amount of chrome still goes into modern electric vehicles, the popular, protective application protecting the metal beneath from oxidation.

Dynamix also supplies undercoat paint adhesion chemicals that improve the gripping and staying power of powder coatings and the like, as well as water- and solvent-based lacquer finishes that are typically fired onto coated metal substrates. There are also copper and brass finishes and chemicals that enable oxidation and heavy patina effects on products like faucets and other metal bathroom fittings or doorknobs. In addition to all these finish-related chemicals, the company also offers products used in pre-treatment processes, electro-polishing and plating, stripping agents, and wastewater treatment products.

Dynamix is proud of its close relationship with its customers. Its laboratory team works to minimize any unforeseen events for customers, such as downtime. As expert troubleshooters, this research team is also well-versed in spotting and mitigating potential issues, saving clients time and money in reworking products.

“We are at the forefront of technological advancements, and we are proactive with our customers. As regulations change or process improvements are [made,] we work with our customers to [ensure] they benefit as much as possible,” explains Black.

Indeed, an interesting aspect of the company’s research and development function is keeping up with regulations. The result is continuous innovation and finding new ways of delivering the quality and performance of old-fashioned chemicals—but in modern formulations that are less damaging to the environment.

“Hexavalent chromium-free passivates and plating processes; non-cyanide zinc, cadmium, silver, and black nickel processes; phosphate-free pre-treatments before painting; and citric acid passivation of stainless steels, just to name a few. We presently offer products in all of these areas,” says Stewart Tymchuk, Co-President.

“Quality is our legacy and our future. Our products are very important, yet they are often overlooked by the outside observer who does not understand our business,” he says.

Dynamix’s commitment to excellence ensured that it came out on the other side of the COVID-19 crisis stronger than it had entered. The company’s growth has been consistent due to the sincere partnerships it has built up with customers over the years, and its goal is to continue on this path. Today, its drive for achieving the impossible persists.

“We are known for taking the time to understand a customer’s wants and needs and finding or developing a product that helps them achieve what they want. Our customization abilities and willingness to help the customer are endless,” says Tymchuk.

In tandem with this ongoing research and development effort, a constant stream of new customer projects demands fresh thinking to keep the company’s formulations on the leading edge. To this end, Dynamix has an impressive array of technology that most competitors don’t have at their facilities, such as a high-intensity x-ray machine and other modern tools for more environmentally responsible electroless nickel plating processes typically used in EV batteries and other parts. The company also offers silicone-free wastewater de-foaming agents and phosphate-free pre-treatment processes for pre-paint applications.

Growing interest in super-tough, high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) thermal-spray plasma coatings, mainly used in the oil and gas and aerospace industries, has inspired the company to develop a formulation that strips old coatings. This is quite popular, especially with equipment resellers, and it is the first of its kind available to the market. These coatings are favoured for the tremendous durability and protection they provide on expensive components as they melt into the metal, and the company feels there will only be increased demand for the stripping product as the coatings themselves see more widespread adoption.

A salt-spray cabinet tests how well finishes will protect the metal beneath from the relentless onslaught of accelerated corrosion. Rust and oxides are evaluated after a predetermined amount of time. Positive results mean that products can be salt-spray certified with a customer guarantee on the anti-corrosion performance of the finish. In some applications finished aluminum would need to pass up to 3000 hours and an interior automotive component, like a nickel- and chrome-plated seat belt buckle, would only need to be certified for 24 hours. An interesting standard benchmark is that 200 hours of salt-spray exposure is believed to equate to ten years of atmospheric exposure in the city of Detroit, Michigan.

After a recent expansion, the company’s 23,000-square-foot facility now features revamped finished goods and raw material storage sections alongside its fabrication outfit. Growing from a single unit in an industrial complex, the business has trebled its footprint over the past seventeen years. To mark the auspicious event, the company threw a lavish party in 2021, celebrating its first fifteen years in business. The fun included a managers’ dinner and a Maple Leafs’ game from the luxury of a gondola suits at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena.

This is a happy and diverse group of 22 people who enjoy camaraderie and the challenges the field provides; most have been with the firm for many years. Part of the company’s contribution to its enthusiastic team spirit is proper remuneration. “We pay our staff well but mostly, we treat them right,” says Tymchuk.

In addition, the company provides a delicious staff lunch—typically around the barbecue in summer—on Fridays. There is also a complete benefits package, a profit-sharing agreement, and an extra two-week vacation during the festive season over and above standard vacation allocations.

Thanks to its light-hearted office spirit, the company takes calamity in its stride. Once, the facility and two neighbours were flooded over a long weekend as the result of a defunct component on a deionization unit. After a three-day deluge, arriving at a drenched site was a bit of an unwelcome surprise, but everyone pulled together and sorted the problem in no time at all.

Dynamix Inc. is also a proud supporter of its favourite student hockey team: the University of Windsor Lancers. As of 2021, the company has ensured that all qualifying student-athletes receive a fixed allowance, as only a handful of them received financial aid in the past.

In addition to supporting the community, the company is also committed to doing its best to protect the natural environment from harmful chemicals. To this end, it reports to Environment Canada annually with detailed information on its waste production. It also reports to the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI), which requires that the company detail its waste and how it prevents it from leaking into the natural environment. Being as strictly controlled as it is, especially when it comes to wastewater treatment, the plating industry is one of the most conscious industries with regard to ecological responsibility, these leaders feel.

At present, the Canadian surface finishing industry is worth around $3.5 billion and has over 47,000 employees. Its gross domestic product value is estimated at more than $1.2 billion, nearly 90 percent of which is believed to be generated in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta. Employment opportunities and production naturally follow. Against the backdrop of the evolving nuclear, food, and medical industries, the Dynamix Inc. team is sparing no effort to continue producing quality surface finishing chemistry.

The post Coatings With High-Performance Protection<p class="company">Dynamix Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Founded in 1978, this Mississauga, Ontario-based company has transformed from a component supplier to a provider of complete extrusion systems, emerging as the market leader in high-barrier film-processing technology.

Macro has shown how many challenging processing issues can be solved by creative, technological innovation, building a reputation along the way for helping customers make differentiated products tailored for their needs.

“Our focus over the past 45 years has been custom machinery, and we find that there is an increasing need for that,” says Karen Xiao, Vice President of Technology. “As our competitors have been acquired by bigger companies, they’ve become more focused on standardized equipment in multiples of tens or twenties and by doing that, there’s very little engineering that’s required. Everybody gets the same equipment.”

But as the world changes—especially in the past 10 years and even more so after COVID—Macro is finding that more customers are asking for customization of different types of equipment from the extrusion side or the downstream side, with greater emphasis on automation from the winding side.

“We have a lot of projects focused on increasing efficiency and also on avoiding operators having to lift heavy rolls and shafts,” Xiao says. “Many are asking for automated roll and shaft handling.”

Although the pandemic brought about numerous challenges, Macro has experienced record sales over the past three years. Balancing that profitability with customization presents challenges, however, and Macro addresses it with pre-engineering work before the order is even placed. The team makes sketches of the equipment they think the customer wants so they’re both on the same page and customers find it easier to zero in on exactly what they need.

“We also get to understand what the customer requirements are,” explains Xiao. “Then the salespeople can quote the equipment appropriately and more accurately. So we try to work around from specifying engineering as much as possible beforehand, and then during the process, get the customer involved, too. It is a win-win situation.”

Macro’s ability to differentiate itself from its competitors, including by creating custom machinery to accommodate potential changes, is one of the keys to its success, particularly when compared to companies that use standard equipment and don’t deviate from the norm.

“In our case, we like to sit down, understand the customer’s needs, and work together before we quote on specific equipment,” says Martin Baron, Director of Sales. “I think that’s one of the biggest differences. We had a case recently where the customer didn’t have a lot of space in their facility. A piece of equipment they were considering was too tall, and they couldn’t accommodate it. So we came up with a different design to overcome that problem, changing the design of this specific machine and making it work in a different way. That was, of course, very well received.”

Macro’s wide range of capabilities, from 24-inch lab equipment to geomembrane applications, with the largest measuring eight meters, assists in this entire portfolio.

As sustainability takes hold in industries around the world, Macro is also looking to expand new technology which involves more sustainable products and collaboration on recycled and recyclable items as well.

“Because of our customers’ and our nature, we’ve been involved in biodegradable materials like PLA (polylactic acid) which increases bio-content,” Xiao shares.

Because it can be made at a reasonable cost using renewable resources, PLA has gained popularity as a material. Though it is still not a commodity polymer, PLA had the greatest consumption volume of any bioplastic in the world in 2021. It has a low melting point, good strength, minimal thermal expansion, good layer adhesion, and great heat resistance when annealed, plus it can be recycled or composted.

“We’ve always looked at biodegradable materials, and recently, with our customers requesting the addition of PCR (post-consumer recycled) material, we’ve also started to look at incorporating twin screw extruders into the process,” says Xiao. “It’s not a stretch for us, because we’ve dealt with twin screw in extrusion systems before.”

Twin screw extruders bring remarkable capabilities to mixing due to their wide variety of specialized screw designs including gear mixing components, kneading blocks, and reverse screw elements. This is how the extruder can accomplish such precise and accurate shearing and mixing.

“Also, some of these biodegradable materials are temperature-sensitive; we are used to dealing with extreme cases like Saran PVdC,” Xiao says. “With a material that extreme, the process window is very narrow. We’ve had experience with biodegradable materials and they’re pretty much within the range of our design scope already. It’s not a big stretch, because our product base is extensive.”

The demand for novel plastic structures and increased production is rising as flexible polymer packaging continues to overtake paper, metal, and glass packaging in market share. With the rising demands of the food packaging business come new challenges in safeguarding the food from microbiological deterioration, physical harm, and chemical alterations, as well as providing shelf appeal.

“It’s good to see in the past couple of years that a lot of the big chemical companies have started introducing FDA-approved materials derived in part from PCR,” says Xiao. “That makes things a lot easier.”

It’s not just industries embracing a more sustainable practice, however; customers are also interested, particularly in the food industry where soaring prices and the need for a longer shelf life are at the forefront.

“As you can imagine, a lot of these films are going to food packaging, so customers are also balancing between sustainability and food waste,” Xiao says. “There are certain materials—like nylon, especially—that have a key functional use in the film structure. Same with EVOH, and PVdC. If you want to take them out—especially PVdC, which is still the only material that has both superior moisture and oxygen barrier—then you have to balance between shelf life, the sustainable film, recyclable film, and food waste.”

Xiao notes that recently, more customers have been asking Macro what can be done in the sustainability path, which has prompted the company to look into some of its designs of the entire extrusion system to ensure they can accommodate more recycled material in an extruder.

As regulations are changing so frequently, customers aren’t sure where the regulations will end up even two years from now. To accommodate that uncertainty, flexibility is key and Macro’s equipment is increasingly designed in such a way that the whole extrusion line, not just the extruder or the die, can be re-configured.

What it comes down to is that while people want to replace PVdC, there isn’t a good substitution material yet. Customers are making do for now and while some types of applications can get away with replacing PVdC with a more sustainable product, others cannot, particularly in the food industry where PVdC is vital for keeping food fresh and standing up to the full shipping process.

“They’re looking at what kind of products can be more sustainable from the packaging point of view,” Xiao says. “And then what kind of products, maybe two or three years from now, can be more sustainable. We incorporate those changes now so when the machinery ships it is prepared for potential change.”

Customer service plays a substantial role in Macro’s daily business, and is greatly appreciated by customers who can talk to Macro’s design engineers directly. “Even before they place the order we have pre-engineering meetings with them so the designers get to talk to the customers, and it really helps,” says Xiao.

Along with changing regulations, Macro is still navigating the challenges of maneuvering through the supply chain issues following the pandemic. In the past few years, the company has been looking at different suppliers to eliminate the need for a single source of equipment for items such as CPUs, controllers, control modules, and drive modules.

In the years ahead, innovation, creativity, and customization will remain at the forefront for Macro.

Currently building a new lab line focused on sustainability, Macro’s impressive accomplishments include being one of only two companies in the world to pioneer the development of the dual lip air ring and also developing the first PVdC extrusion coating line to produce barrier PVC sheet for blister packaging in the pharmaceutical industry. The future promises much innovation; the demand is always there.

“As we are a machinery producer, we want to work with our customers as well as the resin [sector] to develop sustainable film,” says Xiao. “We want to use the pilot line to help customers, and to help ourselves develop different products and film structures. We’re hoping to have that ready for customer trials by mid-2024.”

The post Bringing the Creative Approach to Custom Extrusion Systems<p class="company">Macro Engineering & Technology</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Established in Waterloo, Ontario with seven employees 30 years ago, Septimatech emphasizes teamwork (Sep-TEAM-a-tech), innovation, and providing exceptional customer service and high-quality products, with dedicated and skilled workers actively supporting ongoing packaging line and machine changeover and container handling improvements for clients.

“The big thing over these 30 years as a global supplier of packaging line and machine changer solutions is we’ve always been committed to the customer through partnerships,” says Quinn Martin, OEM and International Sales & Marketing. “We always want to make sure we’re partnering with our customers, not just providing a solution. We have a portfolio of products that we offer and these products can be adapted to the customer’s needs, to solve what their challenges and problems are.”

The company is also committed to listening to clients, learning what their challenges are, and then ensuring they have the proper solution and product being offered to them.

Upholding this premise is basically the way Septimatech has always operated, Martin adds, and the customer’s success with Septimatech’s products and solutions has propelled Septimatech’s success to become the industry leader for packaging line and machinery changeovers, increased container handling performance, and throughput.

“We’ve been successful because we never wanted to become complacent,” says Martin. “Through the partnerships we’ve devised with our customers, we’ve always wanted to be listening and hearing what they need. And by listening and hearing what they need, it’s always allowed us to adapt and move with the consistent innovations in the packaging industry.”

By moving and adapting with these new innovations to provide whatever solution the client needs, the company has been able to devise new products and a continued evolution of its existing products. “We’ve got a handful of customers that we had in year one and two that are still with us, either through the original brand name that they started out with, or they’ve been acquired by somebody else. And we’ve just continued growing with them. We check all the boxes that the customers are really looking for and needing,” Martin says.

“Part of it is the collaboration we have with the customer through the whole process of completing a project,” adds Jonathan Hodge, Marketing Specialist. “For instance, for identifying washdown requirements—one very specific need that a customer might have—we get that out of collaborating with the customer on materials, operating parameters, and environment before and during the design process to really understand what they want to do to improve their parts beyond just changeover efficiencies.”

In the continually evolving packaging industry, it’s vital to not only stay on top of every new innovation but to maintain close relationships with the customers who would most benefit from these innovations—for instance, with the recent adaptation of cardboard containers in place of plastic in an effort to embrace sustainability.

“Packaging itself has a significant impact on sustainability in our workplaces and also our personal lives at home,” says Martin. “It’s about waste reduction and protecting the environment. So that’s where we have to really grow and actually adapt.”

Helping clients overcome challenges that threaten uptime, throughput, product handling, and overall line performance is also a large part of Septimatech’s goal, with its expertise playing a vital role. By drawing upon its greater than 30 years in business, the company aims to apply its knowledge as much as possible to the newest trends in the industry today. “We try to make sure that what we’ve learned across the last 30 years on other projects and other industries can be cross-pollinated to the current industry that we’re working in,” Martin says.

Working in a wide variety of sectors such as beverage, food, chemical, home care, personal care, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and more recently, the pet industry requires understanding each industry’s nuances and techniques.

Certainly, the company has seen a lot of changes over the years, such as in grocery stores where low-concentration products are being replaced with high-concentration products, allowing consumers to get the same amount of product use out of a smaller container. Even the ergonomics of the containers themselves have changed, adds Martin, whether it’s a shape, a handle, or the introduction of tamper-proof lids.

“That’s all evolved over the years; the packaging has adapted and each one of our customers still have to run that package being introduced on their existing equipment,” he says. “We continually adapt and work with our customers to understand what their needs are and how we can actually come up with innovative solutions to handle a different geometric shape or size a container or their machine. For example, in the personal care industry the shampoo bottles are not a regular round bottle with a screw top anymore; they have some very unique geometry and shapes. The top of the container is for consumer want and appeal, but there’s also engineering in there that’s been done by a CPG company in the consumer packaged goods field to actually make it more environmentally friendly.”

With companies also looking to ship more product with a smaller footprint, this means Septimatech needs to adapt equipment to non-conventional shapes.

The first industry that came out with the lightweight container was water bottles, Martin adds, which created certain nuisances Septimatech had to learn from in order to help other industries adapt when they came on board.

“It goes back to our partnering and working with them across industry pollination, but also having the key goal in the end that the product solution works right the first time and be able to be installed by any operator on the line, and be ergonomically friendly and be toolless,” says Martin. “The current primary goal is that they want to be running that machine instantly at a full, 100 percent production rate immediately after a changeover and not have to tweak it to get back up to that proper speed.”

While it’s been a trend for a few years now, Septimatech also offers a number of automation solutions to help support its customers when required, whether or not employees are technically proficient.

“In some cases it’s literally a click of a button and the changeover is completed,” says Hodge. “But even our solutions that don’t have that necessarily still do support simplifying changeovers enormously because you can have somebody who is not necessarily proficient with the whole machine be able to very easily swap out a set of change parts, just because of the way they’re designed and engineered.”

While this ability helps set Septimatech apart in the industry, the fact that the company is “small and nimble” is also a distinction, says Martin. When clients need assistance, the company is able to react quickly and efficiently.

“With the way we’ve set up communications internally and externally, there are multiple ways customers can get in touch with us, whether it’s for a new product, they need spare parts, or they need service,” adds Hodge. “It ties back to being in business for as long as we have and the relationships that customers have developed, whether with a salesperson or a service tech or a project manager. A lot of our people are quite familiar with the lines, machinery, and projects that we have with many customers. So it’s the attention to detail that we give our customers that makes the difference.”

As much of an emphasis as Septimatech puts on the customer and solution, the company is also committed to its employees and company culture, working to ensure that employees come to work happy in a place where they have fun and have the chance to grow.

“The employees make the company,” says Martin. “Our strength really is our employees and their talent. We have a culture of finding win-win-win solutions, for the customer and the company.”

In support of this positive workplace culture is Septimatech’s code of conduct—Living the Legacy. This code is based on seven key principles including acting with trust and honesty, open communication, and cooperating and sharing responsibility.

“Everything we do is in some way tied back to meeting one of those seven aspects,” Hodge says. “We really don’t have departments; we have teams, and they really do act and communicate like teams. It’s incredible to see the way they work together and how things get pushed through the process.”

With this emphasis on creating a strong company culture, finding the right employees can be challenging in an industry that’s suffering in the labour force arena. Septimatech has experienced significant growth this last year, so training individuals properly in new areas is vital.

“If we don’t bring them on and train them, who’s going to do that?” says Martin. “So we always make sure we find a candidate with the right capabilities, where the heart is there and they fit the culture. If they have the will and want to learn, we’ll teach them how.”

Proper training is a number one priority for the company, he adds. While always fighting for the same labour pool amongst vendors and competitors, Septimatech continues to rise above with a company culture that strives to make the workplace an ideal draw for those willing to learn and put in the work. And its consistent quality and dedication to treating customers with attention and respect will undoubtedly propel the company well into its next 30 years.

“It’s more than just selling them on the first solution,” says Hodge. “It’s also supporting them after the first project and into the future.”

The post Adapting and Evolving<p class="company">Septimatech Group</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Based in Waterloo, Ontario, this respected name in the industry is known for sophisticated customer support and for delivering superb quality without fail. This explains its considerable list of longstanding customers, including some of the planet’s biggest fabricators. As RAMP is especially famous for its autonomous mobile robot technology, customers come from as far away as Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and beyond. It is also known for its planar motor technology, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and reporting alongside standard products and services like automated assembly and test equipment.

This leading Canadian automation systems integrator and product developer has a team of over 30 people who live, eat, and sleep systems integration, a skill that has led to the company’s reputation spreading by word-of-mouth. Combining forces with its parent company, Samuel Automation Solutions Group, in 2022 has given RAMP the presence and backing it needed to reach an entirely new level.

The team has a rare depth of expertise in the field, and its pioneering spirit drives the firm to continue pushing the boundaries of possibility. As a result, its clients are typically very pleased with its products and services.

“Our supplier partners benefit from having the products they distribute performing exceptionally in the field. This high performance becomes a showcase of their capabilities and ours,” says Mike Balzan, Director of Sales.

After welcoming its first customers in 2010, the company’s first large expansion happened in 2015 with a move to a new facility. Within the next five years, RAMP broke several more sales records, making it an ideal acquisition for Samuel Automation Solutions Group, North America’s renowned complex automation giant.

As developing equipment can take five months to a year, to provide customers with top-quality equipment performance, the design team, insists on conducting an in-depth conceptualization, gathering all the information needed. This phase includes gathering materials and components, defining the manufacturing process, and ensuring that the team has the capabilities to fabricate according to specifications. Thanks to the rapidly changing nature of technology, it is not uncommon in this industry to work with concepts for which the required materials do not exist yet; consequently, material sourcing typically precedes in-depth testing to ensure that what works in theory also works in practice.

Once all the preliminary work is complete, price estimations are followed by a complex design process, prototyping, and fabrication before integration and pretesting happen. Once the customer is satisfied, equipment is shipped and assembled again and the integration and pretesting process is repeated before the installation is considered complete and the project is signed off.

There are several benefits to partnering with RAMP, including the company’s significant investments in design and technological capabilities which create huge gains for its customers. “Our design capabilities guarantee the success of projects. This allows our supply partners to become part of the project specifications,” says Balzan. “This ensures repeat business and internal notability, which is very powerful when customer manufacturing engineering departments are assessing new projects and setting standards.”

It is important to use RAMP, Inc. equipment according to its specifications to ensure optimum performance and longevity. Failing to do this can cause problems as the aftermath of premature product failure due to the incorrect use of machines can be nothing short of spectacular—with dire consequences and far-reaching, unfair damage to the good name of well-qualified, respected developers.

The company’s close relationships with supply firms and the educational aspect of its work are, therefore, imperative to maintaining its reputation for excellence—another element at which the company has always excelled. RAMP, Inc.’s well-known endurance in all fields has garnered the firm significant recognition, recently landing it the nod for its two biggest projects to date.

Due to its customers’ continued success, the company has continued to grow despite the economic challenges of recent years. Part of its strength lies in its well-equipped, modern facilities, with over 20,000 square feet of workspace enhanced by a custom operations management system to ensure smooth workflow.

“We have exceptional talent here at RAMP. Having a small team, we must be leaders in our disciplines—both in senior and junior positions,” says Balzan. “Our hiring practices are very selective, and we have a great group of people here. The customer feedback I get is great and it feels good to hear this from all levels.”

Indeed, the company has a history of tenacity. Right in the beginning, its initial team of four completed an enormous order considering the company’s size at the time, chasing a near-impossible deadline with everything they had in them. As employee number four, Balzan was part of that team. Doing everything from applications engineering to sales, project management, and more, he came to know the company inside out.

“I recall drilling and tapping hundreds of holes to the point that I had to wear insulated gloves to keep my hands from burning because the hand drill I was using was so hot,” he says. The hard work paid off as that client’s business brought historical expansion to the company.

“Our whole team was assembling, under the direction of our Manufacturing Manager, Ken McDonald. Once we got all the assemblies ready, our Vice President of Operations, Tom Nitsche, drove the forklift and loaded the trucks to meet the deadline,” Balzan adds. Ready to roll at eleven p.m. on a Friday, suffice it to say that this small group takes great satisfaction in looking back on the value of that work and delivering a huge system that worked perfectly. Grit and innovation have continued to define RAMP to this day.

Its hiring process is thus one of great discernment, and retaining the workforce it has handpicked over many years is one of the company’s priorities. While training new staff comes with its challenges, the company finds that its engineering team’s hard-earned, industry-specific knowledge and experience go a long way toward building the expertise needed to outperform the competition.

In addition, the company puts a lot of time into supporting local colleges in producing the future workforce, with Balzan as an industry representative at Conestoga College. He also serves on two program advisory committees, chairing one. As part of these efforts, the company takes in co-op students from both the college and the University of Waterloo, and nearly all participants are employed following their internships.

Ensuring the continuous development of staff remains imperative. As such, salaries compare to some of the best in the industry. The company also creates a sense of ownership by working with staff to develop each person’s vision for their future career development. That not only provides people with a road map but makes the firm’s intentions in terms of promotion clear. By removing doubt and uncertainty from people’s career equations and adding the element of opportunity, the company goes a long way toward building staff retention and labour stability.

In addition, seeing that people live rewarding lives beyond their desks, workstations, and the field is a priority at RAMP. This commitment comes with a host of work possibilities, like flex-time, offsite office hours, and more. RAMP also offers a specialized incentive program whereby staff members are financially rewarded every year for their contributions over and above their day-to-day tasks. The outcome is that people are always willing to go the extra mile when the pressure is on.

With this focus to succeed, RAMP, Inc. continues to meet the future, fully focused on diversification. Balzan reports market projections from five years ago going as expected with regard to the increase of artificial intelligence and automation. As such, growth remains constant, and as the Samuel group continues to improve its capabilities and asset base in conjunction with the company’s sales, expanding its geographic reach will no doubt continue to prove lucrative.

The post Taking Automation Integration to New Levels<p class="company">RAMP, Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

As President and CEO at Promation—a leading integrator and automation, robotic systems, and tooling manufacturer—Zimny took the time to re-evaluate the company’s operations and approach to staff and clients alike.

A work in progress, Promation today is stronger and more successful than ever.

“We recognized some weaknesses in the company during the pandemic, fleshed things out, and reorganized,” Zimny says of the Oakville, Ontario-based business that he founded in his basement in 1995. “We made a clear split between business development and operations in terms of the work division, increased accountability in operations, and really expanded business development in the company.”

For Zimny, the pandemic was a call to action, one he still feels strongly about. Promation stepped up to take an active role, manufacturing face shields and ventilators and supplying other solutions to fight the virus.

Staff members began working at home, and today the company maintains a 50 percent hybrid model, something Zimny believes in. Recognizing the dedication of this staff of about 100, he gave everyone on the shop floor a raise. And while Promation is still measuring the results of its policy changes, the company continues improving its human resources policies, benefitting the business and customers alike.

A one-stop shop providing state-of-the-art robotic and automation solutions, Promation is active in the automotive, nuclear, industrial, aerospace and defense, life sciences, and food and beverage sectors. By providing clients with a broad range of solutions and services founded on decades of combined experience, Promation helps customers increase production, lower operating costs, boost quality, and improve employee safety.

Providing tremendous value, Promation’s capabilities encompass in-house manufacturing and fabrication, 3D printing, robotics, functional testing, assembly systems, pick-and-place, automated storage and retrieval systems, and control system integration. Yet, as successful as the company is, Promation believes it can always improve.

“If you follow the Harvard Business Review monthly, you’ll find that Promation applies many if not all modern ideas about how to approach human resources in business,” Zimny says. “It’s not always easy to implement or understand, but if you have an open mind and do the required reading, and you get feedback from your employees and analyze the market, you can make adjustments and policies in response to the market. That’s my message to everybody. If you don’t do that, someone will replace you. That’s how strongly I feel about it,” he emphasizes.

“You can do all these different projects when you have a mature and innovative workforce, so they can supply their expertise and ingenuity to the projects in a consistent manner,” says Zimny. Recognizing the pandemic-related concerns of staff, such as rising inflation, the company introduced a set of new human resources policies to remain abreast of current markets and trends. Before COVID, Promation built up the capabilities of its human resources department; during the pandemic, Zimny and his team observed, adjusted, learned, and implemented changes.

Today, the company is finalizing its policies, which include increased benefits to employees overall and a generous vacation package. With a clear hybrid policy, Promation supports staff members working from home. Changing its management structure as a result of the pandemic, the company also empowered mid-level management so they could engage more and make better decisions on their own for the good of the business.

For Zimny, one of the biggest post-pandemic revelations was how to engage with employees on a different level and with greater empathy. Staff and clients alike went through uncertainty and tough times during COVID, which saw a greater need for empathy, recognizing their issues, and dealing with them in a positive way.

“Empathy for us means looking more carefully at employees,” he says. “Listen, talk, and don’t dismiss them.” This openness, combined with upgraded business strategies, increased benefits, and professional training, is seeing staff members complete work more efficiently and with less supervision, and is also helping retain clients.

“Employees are responding with superb performance,” Zimny says proudly. “Not only do we innovate for customers, but we innovate in our organization, and constantly learn how to improve Promation.” Thriving on a diversity of perspectives, the team is actively looking at ways to bring more women into the company and into engineering manufacturing more broadly.

While COVID indeed proved disastrous for some companies, it was a motivator for Promation. Active in many market segments, Promation has seen significant growth in nuclear, electric vehicles (EVs), and aerospace, to name a few.

“We delivered the first nuclear decommissioning equipment in Canada, and that’s a huge achievement,” says Zimny of the company’s work with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) at Chalk River, Manitoba. “No one else is supplying decommissioning equipment in Canada on that scale. It’s a long-term project, and we are wrapping it up,” he shares.

“Promation has a reputation in the nuclear industry. We competed against other large companies in Canada, and we delivered the best solutions to CNL, and the best business package.”

The electric vehicle market is also a growth area for the company. This includes supplying robotic manufacturing systems for manufacturing batteries for major suppliers, along with providing robotic systems for EV motors.

Promation also expects to play a role in other projects in the works, including Volkswagen’s new battery manufacturing plant in St. Thomas, Ontario, and the upcoming multi-billion-dollar Stellantis EV battery facility in the automotive manufacturing hub of Windsor, Ontario. “The electric vehicle market is a substantial part of our work going to the shop floor right now,” says Zimny, and the company is now supplying a major system to Tesla in the United States.

While he says that Canada is hesitating a bit on EVs, the sector is thriving in the U.S., and Promation is planning an expansion. “The market is pulling us in, so we have to be closer to our corporate customers in the U.S. for the electric vehicle market.”

Innovating during the pandemic also saw Promation broaden its aerospace base. Although Zimny can’t get into specifics because of confidentiality, he says Promation has created a unique, state-of-the-art robotic manufacturing system making engines lighter, and is the sole automation supplier of this critical component.

Zimny is such a believer in the product and so committed to its success that he, as the CEO, personally got involved in direct research and development. “We want to succeed, and it’s not easy,” he says. “If I hear ‘innovation is easy,’ then it’s not innovation,” he adds. “Any meaningful innovation brings tons of work in R&D. Innovation always supplies it and guarantees solutions. That’s our position on innovation. We embrace innovation—that is unquestionable—and we get results.”

Indeed, the road toward product development was far from smooth, with pandemic-related delays in the supply chain of components, electronics in particular. The project has been challenging technologically as it requires specialty sensors, unique solutions, and the ability to operate at high temperatures and high cycles.

During the pandemic, Promation took on other challenging, innovative products for other markets. For well-known valve manufacturer Dahl, the company developed a unique, fully automated, high-speed robotic assembly system that also tests the valves.

“It’s multiple robots doing very complicated assembly systems,” Zimny explains. “The achievement is that we managed multiple part numbers and multiple models—not just one valve, but hundreds. So it’s a flexible robotic assembly system for a multitude of valve sizes and configurations; that’s an achievement in itself. Again, this product was conceived during the pandemic.”

Although the company’s work in nuclear, electric vehicles, aerospace, and rapid robotic assembly and testing is strikingly diverse, one thing is for certain: Promation knows innovation. Applying skilful engineering and a systematic approach to innovation, the company continues passing on benefits to its customers and intends to keep creating success stories in the decades to come.

The post Promation Knows Innovation<p class="company">Promation</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

This Canadian company, founded in 1971, boasts two cutting-edge production buildings totalling 204,000 square feet where items for a variety of industries including automotive, electronics, and consumer goods—with a concentration on automotive chassis and underbody components—are produced.

In order to help keep the industry vibrant and moving forward, Prodomax is dedicated to attracting recent graduates through its ongoing close association with Georgian College, a reputable college also based in Barrie, Ontario. “We post jobs in the co-op portal specifically for students who need to get a co-op position in order to graduate,” says Brad Parcher, CEO. “We’ve been part of that program for many years.”

Prodomax has brought in both mechanical and electrical engineering technology students and skilled trades, many of who have ended up working for the company. “In fact, 30 percent of our staff are Georgian College graduates,” says Rene McKeown, Director of Human Resources. “We’re a blend of junior, intermediate, and senior level professionals with a skilled workforce, and roughly 25 employees who worked here as students are now full-time.”

Parcher, who sits on eight advisory boards for the Mechanical Engineering Technology program, also helps the college make decisions on curriculum, marketing, and putting the right programs in place to supply the right talent for the industry.

“There are several other manufacturers in town that sit on this board, as well,” he says. “Georgian College relies on us to help guide them, for instance when their curricula need to be updated.”

Prodomax also recently worked with the college on a micro skills program they offered, sending a number of employees who took advantage of the government-funded program. “We helped the college be successful in that because we supplied a number of students, which allowed the school to host the program and then give the benefits to the people,” says Parcher.

In fact, 32 spots were filled, he adds, and leading up to that, Prodomax, the City of Barrie, Georgian College, and a few other manufacturers worked together to identify programs that will help candidates build the right skill sets.

This collaboration wasn’t just for recent graduates, however; it was open to everyone to help build gainful employment in the area. “We’re actually working with them right now on leadership development programs,” adds McKeown. “We have 50 employees registered to attend their leadership program, and we’re working together to create content that’s tailored to Prodomax.”

The company also has 48 of its employees scheduled to attend project management training at Georgian College, collaborating with the school on creating content for these programs that will also benefit other employers in the region.

“We also worked with Innisdale Secondary School, where we awarded two recipients a scholarship—one for women in STEM and the other for academics,” McKeown adds. “They were to encourage and support women in engineering and STEM, and also people in our industry.”

This month, Prodomax is offering tours to the area high schools to encourage the younger generation to consider manufacturing or automation as potential careers, as well as providing co-op placements to high school students. “Two or three kids that came in here in Grade 11 and did co-op terms ended up graduating high school and coming to work here full-time in an apprenticeship,” Parcher says. “Not everybody goes to post-secondary right out of high school.”

Over the years, Prodomax has continually taken in students from local high schools, allowing them to spend several days a week experiencing firsthand how the business works. While the company has hired more than 40 people this year, the biggest challenge is finding the right intermediate-to-senior level person.

“We’re trying to accomplish that by growing people from within as well, which is why we’re developing leadership programs and doing project management, upgrading people’s skill sets and offering opportunities from within,” Parcher says.

Along with the leadership development program through York University’s Schulich School of Business, which 45 employees attended, this year the company is working with Georgian College on building a Leadership in Manufacturing program for 40 employees and a Project Management for Non-Project Managers program which includes developing 30 employees. Earlier this year, Prodomax ran a Finance for Non-Financial Managers training program that included 18 participants as well as Excel Training for 50 employees, all in addition to other training and development initiatives, such as SolidWorks and other technical training.

While Prodomax has built solid relationships with educational institutions in the Simcoe Region, it has many co-op students and permanent hires who are graduates from many other reputable colleges and universities in Canada and abroad.

The company’s diverse workforce includes many international employees as well as women in manufacturing, management, engineering, and production roles. “We advocate for women in the industry for manufacturing, technical, and leadership roles,” says McKeown. “We also ensure our compensation is conducted equitably and there are no gaps based on gender. We want to hire more women in our industry as a whole, and we’re trying to promote that through our Women’s Network, which is one of the reasons why we’re encouraging women in STEM through our scholarship program.”

Along with the Women’s Network, Prodomax has also launched an IDEA Committee of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility to encourage inclusion and diversity within the company. “For instance, through the committee we asked our employees what countries they would like to represent at Prodomax,” says McKeown. “We purchased and hung flags for everyone who completed the survey and the result really represents our diversity.”

While recruitment and developing talent can be challenging, it has also led to some key accomplishments, particularly through the establishment of new company training platforms. “We didn’t need them 10 years ago because there was enough supply of skilled labour,” says Parcher. “On-the-job training sufficed, but with having to bring in a lot more new people in the past two or three years, it’s changed the landscape a lot for us.”

And recruitment is vital for this company, which has experienced years of growth and aims to do so for many years to come, supplying chassis body parts to its core group of large Tier 1 automotive companies in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.

“The systems we build are primarily in the body in the structural part of the vehicle—the metallic body structure and welded parts, for the most part,” explains Parcher. “We don’t do plastics and we don’t do the engine powertrain.”

Prodomax doesn’t necessarily take aim at continuous new business, instead choosing to focus on its established customers that it has had good relationships with for more than 20 years. And that dedication and commitment is not only for its customers, but also its employees.

“We work hard but play hard as well,” McKeown says, referencing the company’s annual Town Hall BBQ and team building events, Employee Appreciation Event in September at Horseshoe Valley, and Holiday Luncheon at Liberty North in December. “Our employees also plan their own company functions and this year they’re going to Mont Tremblant for a weekend of fun. Last year they ran ski lessons at the various ski lodges in the surrounding area.

“The health and safety of our employees is something we also do not take lightly,” McKeown says. “Our management team is actively engaging with employees and collaborates regularly to ensure our practices are sound.” The company also frequently hires employee referrals and has paid out $20,000 in employee referral bonuses in the last 12 months.

Indeed, the Prodomax culture is one of collaboration and social responsibility, with the team giving back to the community through recycling efforts, the CN Tower Climb for Nature, the Great Cycle Challenge to fight kids’ cancer, food drives for the food bank, and toy drives, with the company also making donations to increase the overall funds raised.

Prodomax’s longstanding commitment to its community has not gone unnoticed, with an August, 2023 visit from the City of Barrie’s Mayor to speak with the management team about some of the challenges the company has faced and what initiatives can be undertaken in the future to help other area manufacturers succeed.

To be sure, Prodomax has succeeded in numerous ways over the past 50 years, and future plans include moderate, controlled growth. “We’re growing and we have positions open,” McKeown says.

The team also continues to invest in itself, having recently renovated the office and cafeteria, constructed a ramp for accessibility, and updated their website, demonstrating their dedication to not only helping the community but continuing to take pride in their work and presence in the community.

“We’ve got a long-established reputation in the industry,” says Parcher. “We’ve been located in Barrie for more than 50 years, which kind of sets us apart from some similar companies that haven’t been around as long. We’re proud of that. We also have a pretty deep knowledge base here in the systems that we build. It’s really hard to get that anywhere else.”

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