Schmalz
Good companies change; great companies evolve. And few have adapted over the years like Schmalz, starting in 1910 as a razor blade business in Germany. Founder Johannes Schmalz was an entrepreneur far ahead of his time—how many businesses establish their own hydroelectric plant on a river to power their machinery?
Industrial Robotics on the Factory Floor
With all of the recent advances in AI and machine learning, modern speculative fiction has us poised for either robotic-enhanced utopias or machine-overlord dystopias, depending on an author’s level of optimism. But the reality in the manufacturing world is a shift from floor space largely filled with people to production and warehouse spaces being shared with robots in a variety of roles.
Think-PLC
Think-PLC designs and builds new automation control systems and keeps legacy control systems running long after they were installed. Among key services offered by this Lexington, North Carolina-based company are installation, fabrication, manufacturing, consultation, training, maintenance, and repairs. The company is also a solutions partner with German technology giant Siemens, and works with clients worldwide in manufacturing, machine building and other sectors.
Samuel Automation Solutions Group
Things are booming at Samuel Automation Solutions Group (Samuel ASG) of Waterloo, Ontario. “We’ve gotten stronger. We have a greater reach and expertise. Being part of a much larger organization demonstrates stability that the smaller independents don’t always have,” states President Robert Lague.
Conductix-Wampfler
With 30 sales offices and 13 production facilities worldwide, Conductix-Wampfler boasts a truly global network with a reach that spans the industrialized world. The company’s rich history, comprising a series of once-separate companies who now operate as part of the internationally recognized Delachaux Group, began at the turn of the 20th century and continues bravely and confidently into the 21st.
HIPOWER SYSTEMS
HIPOWER SYSTEMS harnesses the power of its international parent companies while remaining small enough to give customers a level of personal service and American-made quality that are hard to come by in standby and portable power generation manufacturing.
G.W. Becker, Inc.
Don’t think “cranes,” think “overhead lifting solutions.” That small difference in approach, says G.W. Becker, Inc., is what has made the company into one of North America’s most recognized and admired “providers of innovative overhead lifting solutions.”
Virtek Vision
Virtek Vision International is a Canadian manufacturer with international reach. Operating out of Ontario, this company primarily provides solutions to a diverse clientele based around the implementation of lasers and laser-outfitted products. These solutions include 3D laser projection systems, assembled from proprietary software and laser projection units assembled in-house. Virtek’s products are, in turn, used across a number of different industries to enhance the capabilities of manufacturing, projection, vision positioning, and quality assurance processes, among other areas.
Rathburn Tool & Manufacturing
In a marketplace that has been filled with uncertainty, global upheaval, supply chain issues, inflation, acts of nature and more, strong leadership is needed more than ever. And while that’s true for any size company, it is certainly a necessary element for a second generation machine shop located in the rust belt of Indiana fighting for relevancy and growth.
Vidir Solutions
As more and more North American manufacturing begins to return from outsourced regions, labour must be drawn from non-traditional sources to fill the demand. Women comprise less than thirty percent of manufacturing jobs in Canada and the United States, but one company is taking strong new steps to bring in this underrepresented demographic.
Industrial Plant Services
The automation industry is at a crossroads. Facing challenges from seasoned workers retiring and too few apprentices coming up, to tight budgets and ever-changing technology, the sector is critically short of experienced labor – which is where Industrial Plant Services (IPS) comes in.
Prodomax
Arising from humble beginnings in 1971 with a handful of employees in Barrie, Ontario, Prodomax Automation Inc. has since transformed into a premier automation supplier recognized for quality machines and a highly skilled, experienced and professional workforce.
iAutomation
From industrial automation product distribution to engineering design and integration support, the team at iAutomation strives to bring customers innovative technologies and services that are second to none. Working with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and end users, iAutomation keeps growing to best serve clients from Maine to Florida.
Feedall Automation
American industrial equipment manufacturer, Feedall Automation of Willoughby, Ohio, focuses specifically on automated part feeding and loading systems, i.e. conveyors, feeders, and other types of robotics. The company’s solutions aim to simplify part handling in facilities by mechanically sorting, orientating, and loading parts into secondary operations.
Adaptec Solutions
It can be challenging for businesses to establish a company philosophy dedicated to putting employees and customers first, particularly when continual growth and acquisition are essential for success and survival. Adaptec Solutions has managed to do both, and do them well, and is thriving under a strong and unified leadership team, an expanding business focus, and a name change.
Seeing is Believing for Industry 4.0
It’s likely you have unlocked your phone using the built-in facial recognition software, or maybe you have added dog ears or cat whiskers to a favourite headshot in your image gallery. Or better yet, maybe you’ve driven a Tesla and used the autonomous driving feature.
How Human-Robot Collaboration is Shaping the Workplace
Why is automation, the process of introducing robotics into industry and making processes more machine-driven, so often spoken of in anxious tones?
Alliance Automation
American robotics systems manufacturer Alliance Automation offers automation solutions to a multitude of sectors. The company began operations in August 2008 when President and CEO Doug Wenninger, wanting to take advantage of an opportunity he saw within the market to branch out and offer automation to underserved industries, left a Sales Manager position at another automation company to form his own.
4D Systems
The words “robotic systems” conjure up many images. However, if you automatically think “job losses,” you won’t be alone, but it couldn’t be further from the truth: 4D Systems puts humans and robots together to benefit employees, companies, industry, and the world.
Boston Conveyor & Automation
Boston Conveyor & Automation (BCA) proudly manufactures in the USA custom stainless-steel conveyor, custom engineered hard automation, integrated robotic picking, packing, and stacking systems that serve the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries. Based in the beautiful, historic village of Newburyport, on the coast of Massachusetts and strategically positioned within reach of the country’s robotic engineering epicenter in Boston, BCA works with many of the largest manufacturing companies across the USA.
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New Tech to Support a Safety Mindset
Contact with moving machine parts, slips and falls, chemical burns, falling objects, fatigue, overexertion, and vehicles are just a few causes of workplace injuries. Fortunately, technology and smart factories can make manufacturing far safer…
WEX Pharmaceuticals
When physical pain occurs—whether from an injury, surgery, or the ravages of cancer—finding the right product to alleviate symptoms can be a matter of trial and error, and is often fraught with side effects including addiction and overdose. WEX Pharmaceuticals Inc., a late-stage drug development company based in Vancouver, BC, is dedicated to reducing those threats through research, development, and manufacture of Halneuron®, a new non-opioid analgesic considered to be a breakthrough in pain-management technology.
Response Biomedical Corp.
Response Biomedical Corp. (Response) is a market leader in comprehensive acute care testing. It is a well-established, thriving Canadian company with full operations—including all manufacturing—based in Vancouver, B.C. Response competes in the in-vitro Diagnostic (“IVD”) market globally and its RAMP system is a fast diagnostics platform offering lab-quality performance in acute care settings.
StressMarq Biosciences Inc.
StressMarq Biosciences Inc. is a boutique firm that develops high-quality bioreagents for pharmaceutical companies and scientific research organizations around the world. Putting these tools in the hands of the right partners has enabled some ground-breaking discoveries…
The Canadian Tooling & Machining Association (CTMA)
The Canadian Tooling & Machining Association (CTMA) is dedicated to supporting the interests and promotion of the trades and industries of its namesake affiliations. It began operations in 1963 by uniting various trade associations into one organization, with the lasting goal of better representing the tooling industry in Canada. This includes businesses and service providers within the precision metalworking industry, including those that design, manufacture, repair, or assemble tools, dies, moulds, models, patterns, jigs, fixtures, gauges, machinery, machining systems, robotics, automation equipment, machine shop products, and cutting tools.
Black Controls Company Inc.
Known for its industrial and robotic control systems, Black Controls Company Inc. is a young and dynamic company that provides clients, often those with highly complex demands, with custom automation. Celebrating its fourth year in business this month, Black Controls Company Inc.’s team of 24 could not be any prouder.
