The proposed solar panel and sodium-ion battery manufacturing facility is expected to create 2,500 direct jobs when operating at full capacity, with another 1,700 indirect, ancillary, or support jobs. Three or four sites have been identified and if all goes to plan, the 10-gigawatt facility is expected to be underway in the coming months.

Citing the support of the city as well as the established workforce, supply-chain infrastructure, production expertise, proximity to transmission capacity eliminating costly grid upgrade requirements, and continental distribution advantages through highway, rail, and shipping access, the community makes sense for the development.

Once complete, the massive integrated gigafactory campus will be one of the largest domestic clean technology manufacturing initiatives in Canadian history.

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In order to keep businesses alive, many Canadian manufacturers have had to open a plant south of the border, particularly small and medium sized businesses that are less equipped to deal with the ongoing trade battle.

Anamika Gadia, an industrial manufacturing expert for KPMG, said the trade climate is forcing many companies’ hands. “One would expect that the ongoing trade uncertainty and the announcement of new tariffs may increase the pace at which companies make these decisions,” Gadia said. “One thing that’s important to note from our survey is the sentiment around moving to the U.S.: While trade and tariffs are certainly a huge, significant driver of the trend, it’s not the sole driver of the trend,” she added, also noting that corporate tax rates are another impediment.

While some operations have moved outright, others are seeking to establish relationships with existing manufacturers in the U.S. to support customers on both sides of the border. This will ensure that jobs are protected in Canada while ensuring U.S. business is not lost entirely.

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The faster that knowledge moves between the hospitals, labs, and companies doing this work, the faster the standard of patient care rises, and that exchange is exactly what ADDITIV Medical, hosted by 3Dnatives, aims to accelerate.

Now in its 9^th edition, ADDITIV Medical 2026 will bring together more than 500 professionals from hospitals, medical device companies, and additive manufacturing providers worldwide, including surgeons and 3D printing leads from UCSF, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, and Children’s Nebraska, alongside industry leaders such as Erez Ben-Zvi (Vice President of Healthcare, Stratasys), Dan Crawford (Founder and CSO, Axial3D), and Michael Librus (CEO and Founder, Synergy3DMed).

The summit takes place on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 12:40 PM EDT (4:00 PM to 6:40 PM CEST) and is free to attend. The event consists of three expert panels and live audience Q&As.

“Every project we cover in medical AM traces back to a patient, a faster diagnosis, a smoother surgery, a better outcome. That’s what makes this community worth bringing together. ADDITIV Medical is our way of helping that work travel further,” said Filippos Voulpiotis, Managing Director of 3Dnatives.

What the panels cover

Panel 1: Can We Trust AI to Design a Patient-Specific Model? (4:10 PM to 4:55 PM CEST)

When a software algorithm takes over the design of a custom implant or anatomical model, who is ultimately responsible for its accuracy? This session tackles the friction between rapid automation and patient safety, from verifying that an AI hasn’t misread a scan to where algorithmic efficiency ends and human liability begins. Speakers include Anish Ghodadra, Medical Director, 3D Printing Program, UPMC and Dan Crawford, Founder and CSO of Axial3D, with moderation provided by David Adrover, President of Addliance.

Panel 2: Who Pays for Personalization? Navigating the Reality of 3D Printing ROI (5:00 PM to 5:45 PM CEST)

The clinical benefits of custom medical 3D printing are clear, but the financial pathways to sustain it are not. This panel digs into who absorbs the upfront capital costs, whether hospitals can secure insurance reimbursement for personalized guides, and how institutions build a repeatable return on investment. Speakers include Michael Librus, CEO and Founder, Synergy3DMed and Gabe Linke, Manager of 3D, Children’s Nebraska, with moderation provided byClare Scott, Managing Editor of Today’s Medical Developments.

Panel 3: How 3D Printed Guides and Models Prevent Surgical Surprises (5:50 PM to 6:35 PM CEST)

Even the most experienced surgical teams encounter unexpected variables once a patient is on the table. This discussion explores how physical, patient-specific models and guides are shifting pre-operative planning, from time saved in the OR to where the scan-to-print pipeline still bottlenecks. Speakers include Shafkat Anwar, Director, Pediatric Heart Center 3D+ Program, University of California, San Francisco; Erez Ben-Zvi, Vice President of Healthcare, Stratasys; Ferran Fillat Gomà, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Digital 3D Surgery Expert, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona; and Devid Zille, Director of 3D Medical Visualization and Printing Lab, Tampa General Hospital. Moderation provided byNaomi Nathan, Head of Healthcare Division at Mobility Goes Additive.

Sponsors and Partners:ADDITIV Medical 2026 is proudly supported by Protolabs, Stratasys Medical, and Carbon. Media partners include Today’s Medical Developments, Mobility goes Additive, ASTM International, AMGTA, SPE, 3D Alliances, Wevolver, Metal AM Magazine, Manufacturing in Focus, Tooling and Production, IAM3DHUB, Manufacturing.net, Manufacturing Engineering and Technology, and 3DPrint.com.

Registration: ADDITIV Medical 2026 is free to attend. Register now to secure your place.

About 3Dnatives: 3Dnatives is the leading global media platform for additive manufacturing, delivering cutting-edge coverage of 3D printing technologies, applications, and market trends. With over 1.3 million monthly unique visitors, it serves as a critical resource for professionals across the industry. Published in English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian, 3Dnatives partners with major players in the ecosystem to provide high-value content, data-driven insights, and strategic visibility through multimedia, branded content, and virtual events.About ADDITIV: ADDITIV is a series of global virtual events dedicated to additive manufacturing, offering panel discussions, workshops, and networking with AM experts from leading industrial companies and the most innovative firms in the field.

The post AI, ROI, and the OR: ADDITIV Medical 2026 unites global experts to bridge 3D printinggaps<p class="company"></p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

For the first time in four decades, VIA Rail passenger cars will be built in Canada thanks to a more than $4.7 billion commitment to enable the acquisition and maintenance of 313 new passenger rail cars from Alstom Canada.

Prime Minister Carney stated, “In the face of strong headwinds, a confident Canada is choosing to build. For the first time in four decades, VIA’s passenger cars will be built in Canada. Cars once made in the United States, now made here at home. This means new contracts for Canadian suppliers, good jobs for Canadian workers, and paycheques that stay in Canadian cities and towns. That’s how we build Canada strong.”

An act of support for its Buy Canada Policy and commitment to investing in domestic capabilities and infrastructure, diversifying trade relationships, and reducing dependence on a single trading partner, the investment will bolster the domestic manufacturing base. The investment will not only support VIA Rail, but also the Canadian steel, aluminum, and lumber industries, bringing more jobs for Canadian workers. The investment will support 700 jobs in Ontario and Quebec and will produce more than $1.6 billion in economic benefits.

The passenger cars will be manufactured and assembled in Thunder Bay, Ontario and La Pocatière, Québec, while the design and engineering work will be undertaken in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Québec. Alstom will grow its network of more than 900 Canadian suppliers to deliver the new fleet, and Canadians will benefit from a stronger economy and a stronger passenger rail network. Eight of VIA Rail’s long-distance, regional, and remote routes outside of the Québec City-Windsor Corridor will be served by the investment, which was utilized by 216,000 people in 2025.

With some of VIA Rail’s fleet reaching the end of its expected lifecycle, this investment is timely. The investment is not just in passenger rail cars and Canadian manufacturing; it is part of delivering a safer, more reliable, and modernized rail service that bolsters the economic strength of the nation.

The government has also committed $1.95 billion in 45 new passenger rail locomotives and a new assembly and maintenance facility in Montréal. The purchase from Swiss-based Stadler will see the final assembly of up to 36 locomotives in Canada, the first time in decades that VIA’s passenger locomotives will be assembled domestically.

“Today’s announcement marks a defining step in shaping the future of VIA Rail’s pan-Canadian fleet. These new Canadian-built passenger rail cars will retain signature features such as dome cars, full-service dining, and social areas, while incorporating modern amenities, improved accessibility, and greater reliability. They will help us preserve essential services to remote communities and elevate the unique onboard experience that allows passengers to discover Canada in a way that only train travel can offer. We thank the Government of Canada for this historic investment in the future of passenger rail,” Mathieu Paquette, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of VIA Rail Canada, said.

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Once used as a staple to help quench the thirst of the hordes of Egyptian slaves responsible for erecting the breathtaking structures of its ancient empires, a more sophisticated iteration of old-fashioned fermentation is now being leveraged in response to global food poverty.

So what is precision fermentation, and how are nutrients derived from it? What was once science fiction has now become reality. Today, yeasts double as “factories,” loaded with animal genes while feeding on water and sugar to produce animal-identical proteins, before the yeast and water medium is removed to render commercially viable animal-free protein.

Fermentation is the process responsible for making bread rise, cheese form, and wine and other fermented foods and beverages take shape. There are also fermented Asian soya products like tempeh and natto. Ultimately, proteins, among other organic compounds, result from the metabolic process by which yeast or bacteria convert sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol during fermentation.

Precision yeast fermentation is a significantly more complex process than that of the wild yeasts found in heritage winemaking, for instance. Historically, fermentation has always been difficult to control, presenting food producers with a challenge. This unpredictability made it necessary for those using fermentation to create food to master the process in order to achieve the highest possible quality.

Now, however, scientists have found ways to precision-engineer fermentation, transforming single-cell organisms into micro-production facilities that replicate the nutritional value of foods containing both plant and animal protein. The rationale? To feed growing populations while reducing dependence on naturally cultivated plant food and animal slaughter as sources of protein and other nutrients, by simulating bioidentical food substitutes in laboratories. By programming target molecules to replicate those found in egg or dairy proteins, the goal is to manufacture what are currently considered premium “ingredients” in controlled environments at scale.

However, transitioning food manufacturing of this kind from the controlled environs of laboratories to fabrication facilities is proving complex. Several factors challenge the transition from concept to scalable reality, including the tremendously high costs that rarely translate well from pharma to biotech food fabrication. According to experts, these are linked to facility and process sterilization; water purity; expensive downstream processes like purification, separation, drying and concentration; and product functionality, all while navigating food safety infrastructure requirements and other costs.

As a result, reports indicate the need for fabrication systems built on consistency and repeatability across large volumes over long periods of time. These challenges have not been sufficient to dishearten some of the continent’s leading pioneers in the industry, however.

According to MarketsandMarkets, 2025 saw the North American precision fermentation ingredients market reach over $2.1 billion, forecasted to climb by close to 50 percent annually to an estimated $15 billion by 2030. This is ascribed to the region’s early adoption of biotechnology and animal-free protein alternatives. Reports also note that efficient regulatory processes support market growth. The United States currently holds 80 percent of this market, with Canada’s biotech industry showing rapid growth, supported by research projects and government grants for research and development in the field. With Mexico offering reduced overheads, its market is also growing at a healthy pace.

Some alternative protein creators driving growth in the United States’ sector include Geltor. Based in San Leandro, California, it is famed for “optimizing” amino acid sequences from nature by employing Biodesigner AI. There is also MYCO Technology in Aurora, Colorado, a food innovator whose products are based on fungi. Another local changemaker is Change Foods, committed to removing cows from the dairy equation through single-cell yeast fermentation.

Further afield, a manifesto by Food Manufacturing Technologies Europe (FMTE) notes that crucial processes like waste reduction, recycling, and reusing water, alongside decarbonizing technologies, all contribute to curbing the environmental impact and long-term costs of precision fermentation. Its direct goals are to create a manufacturing environment of possibility where digital ecosystems are encouraged, infrastructure is well-funded, and regulations are efficiently managed to enable the industry’s positive growth.

Moreover, FMTE advocates and supports the development of what it calls “novel foods,” while driving the availability of such food sources by scaling up economic contributions. It also supports cross-discipline collaborations in a bid to create a healthy future food economy for Europe.

FMTE’s current forecast for 2030 predicts the food fabrication technologies industry will reach an estimated value of around $120 billion. This is based on past figures showing rapid growth, from over $13 billion in 1997 to more than $30 billion just three years ago. Moreover, the European industry is poised to provide around 100,000 jobs in the near future.

Asia is also an active part of the market. According to the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), in an article published in Phys.org in August of this year, successful growth for industrial-scale microbial food fabrication relies on operators’ ability to integrate fabrication platforms into cohesive systems. These must function across entire life cycles, from product development and strain development to industrial production, quality control, and beyond. With research showing that environmental benefits alone are not enough to drive product adoption, developers have their work cut out to create fabricated food that also appeals to the senses.

While creating alternatives that people actually want to eat is a current challenge, investor spending appears to be dictated by speed to market and how easily the outcomes of regulatory approval procedures can be forecast. These are not the only curveballs, however.

Considering its potential impact on the human body, the debate surrounding the economics and ethics of laboratory-developed food has become one of the most pressing conversations of our time. In all fairness, this is a far larger topic than can be done justice to in a brief article such as this, and it is worth noting the sober opposition of thought leaders such as Dr. Vandana Shiva, an environmental activist and food sovereignty advocate who trained in physics at the University of Punjab and earned her PhD from the University of Western Ontario with her dissertation, ‘Hidden Variables and Locality in Quantum Theory.’

Dr. Shiva maintains that lab-grown food contributes to, rather than alleviates, ecological crises. “We must therefore work actively to renew and regenerate the Planet by participating in ecological processes of reciprocity and restoring biodiversity,” she writes on Navdanya International. “For this to happen, the act of eating must once again become an ecological act, so that the false solutions proposed by the advocates of artificial food, which do nothing to counter the profit-driven agri-food industry, do not create further crises.”

Whether one is for or against lab-grown protein, one aspect that cannot be ignored is the alleviation of animal suffering this biotechnology promises. Only time will tell the true long-term effects of bioidentical artificial foods on the minds and bodies of humans, however.

The post Brewing the Future of Protein<p class="company">How Precision Fermentation is Redefining Animal-free Food</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

With this, every aspect of the supply chain is under pressure to minimize its environmental impact while maximizing value, including heavy industry, which is the source of goods, materials, and equipment that keeps the economy moving. It is also the largest source of carbon emissions in the world.

Heavy industry represents 70 percent of total global industry consumption, as well as nearly 80 percent of emissions, which means there is much to gain from integrating new technologies and sustainable approaches into its function and operation to achieve desired results. Among those efforts is a push to electrify industry.

Time for some heavy lifting
Heavy industry is characterized as anything that is highly energy intensive, requiring fossil fuels or massive amounts of electricity to power its operations. These sectors, including chemicals and petrochemicals, iron, aluminum and steel, cement, and pulp and paper, are major emitters that remain crucial to the functioning of the economy. As such, there is increasing pressure to reduce these emissions while optimizing performance and profitability, and one of the ways this is being done is through electrification—and not simply electrifying, but finding ways to electrify better.

Alongside electrification, there must be a push to invest in renewable energy to meet the growing demand, as well as the adoption of lean manufacturing principles and technologies to support these advancements. According to a 2024 IEA (International Energy Agency) report, renewables are on course to meet nearly half of global demand for electricity by 2030, due in large part to supportive government policies as well as advancing technologies and capacities, such as solar. Between 2024 and 2030, the global economy is expected to add 5,500 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable energy capacity, which is almost three times the increase seen between 2017 and 2023.

“Renewables are moving faster than national governments can set targets for. This is mainly driven not just by efforts to lower emissions or boost energy security—it’s increasingly because renewables today offer the cheapest option to add new power plants in almost all countries around the world,” writes IEA Executive Director, Fatih Birol. “This report shows that the growth of renewables, especially solar, will transform electricity systems across the globe this decade. Between now and 2030, the world is on course to add more than 5 500 gigawatts of renewable power capacity—roughly equal the current power capacity of China, the European Union, India, and the United States combined. By 2030, we expect renewables to be meeting half of global electricity demand.”

While solar leads the way, more needs to be done to develop and adopt sustainable biofuels, biogases, hydrogen, and e-fuels, though their prices remain prohibitive for mass adoption at this time, limiting their value as an industrial input.

In the U.S., the Energy Information Administration (EIA) believes that the nation’s consumption of all forms of energy is likely to increase up to 15 percent between 2022 and 2050, but luckily, the use of renewables is likely to double over the same period, suggesting the sector is well positioned to adapt to shifting demand.

In Canada, demand is shifting. The use of heavy fuel oil in industry has decreased 90 percent between 2000 and 2019, with manufacturers instead turning to natural gas and electrification to power their operations. According to the Industrial Consumption of Energy (ICE) survey by the Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), energy intensity dropped by 8.5 percent between 2000 and 2019, representing an absolute decrease in energy use of 405.6 petajoules, equivalent to the amount of energy consumed by cars in Quebec, Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island (PEI) in 2019. And while this represents a positive trend from a sustainability standpoint, other particularly important changes were taking place behind the scenes to be able to leverage the advancements that enable industry to better power operations.

An industry in transition
When it comes to industrial electrification, lower-temperature applications, those that operate below 100 degrees Celsius, have led the transition, while medium-temperature applications, up to 300 degrees Celsius, and heavy industries, which operate at temperatures exceeding 300 degrees Celsius, are now starting to catch up.

Investments in sustainability are often accompanied by the optimization of operations, the adoption of lean manufacturing principles, and ultimately, more responsive and profitable output. Digitization and smarter controls are proving to be one of the most powerful trends driving and complementing industrial electrification. Luckily, falling technology costs and technological readiness are advancing industry forward.

Smart technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) can be integrated to optimize the electrification of industry, while mature technologies with smaller footprints and greater capabilities, such as electric boilers, resistance heating, electric arc furnaces (EAF), and induction heating, are already having a tangible impact.

In Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Algoma Steel, a steel producer that has been operating since 1901, made the transition from fossil fuel-intensive operations to electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking to power its high-heat operations. The steelmaker began construction on two state-of-the-art EAFs in 2022 to replace its existing No. 7 Blast Furnace, Cokemaking, and Basic Oxygen Steelmaking operations; the second EAF is expected to be completed by 2029. Upgrades to the Ontario grid are now being built to support the energy needed by Algoma Steel to operate the two EAFs after 2029.

The process leverages recycled scrap metal and electricity rather than smelting iron ore with coke in a high-temperature furnace, which results in higher emissions due to the use of non-renewables.

The investment enables Algoma to reduce carbon emissions by up to 70 percent, or nearly three million tonnes of CO₂, as well as eliminate benzene, benzo(a)pyrene, particulate matter, and sulphur dioxide emissions, with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Further, the steelmaker projects the investment will add 700 kilotons of finished steel capacity, aligning its steelmaking capacity with its rolling capacity.

The downside: this investment in capacity also came with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs, representing 40 percent of its workforce, and a unique set of challenges related to powering its operations.

When it comes to electrification, grid reliability becomes an issue, and recently, the steelmaker had an unexpected shutdown that lasted three weeks due to challenges with a turbine at the power generating station. Rolling blackouts in the community and a temporary hiatus demonstrate that the power needs of the operation may exceed the capacity of the existing infrastructure, and as demand for energy grows, interruptions to service become more likely wherever capacity falls short.

The potential of electrified industry
As the rate of technological advancement continues to accelerate, so too does the potential of industry to leverage these capabilities to power smarter, more efficient, optimized operations. Potential, however, is only as great as the capacity of the infrastructure and the systems which support it, which includes a strong regulatory environment that supports the adoption of more sustainable approaches.

Through smart policies, government subsidies and incentives, and the forward-thinking leadership of companies committed to investing capital, advancements in renewable energy and efforts to electrify will be most impactful.

Countries have begun implementing carbon pricing and emissions reduction targets to encourage cleaner energy solutions, creating favourable economic conditions that will accelerate the adoption of more sustainable industrial approaches. And electrification is just the start. The push to adopt more circular economic practices will also enhance activities like electrification. By simultaneously reducing waste and integrating consciousness at every level of the operation, companies, even in the heaviest of industries, can reduce their environmental footprint.

And, not unlike other specialized sectors where skilled talent is dear, to have a successful transition away from fossil fuel dependency will also require investment in workforce, both availability and capability, and a rethinking of how we educate the next generation of workers in the age of electrification.

Energy security concerns are also especially important, both from a geopolitical standpoint, given how closely tied energy insecurity is to ongoing global uncertainty, and from a grid readiness perspective, as seen with data centres and the temporary pause at Algoma’s EAF.

While companies are investing in capacity, so too must governments to ensure there is enough energy to power the lives of people and industry, without doing so at the expense of the environment. Only then will electrified industry truly shine.

The post Electrifying Industry<p class="company">Energy-Intensive Manufacturing in the Age of Electrification</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

At age 24, Miller left the community because of convictions regarding the seventh-day Sabbath. “I’m just an Amish guy who lost his hat,” he says. With years of experience and ingenuity under his belt, he started his own business in a two-car garage, and had the audacity, as he calls it, to name the company SUPERB Industries Inc., aligning with his vision of superb-quality people and products.

Created with his brother Daniel, SUPERB is another link in the family’s legacy. “Dating back to the late 1700s, Miller family craftsmen, beginning with Christian ‘Schmidt’ Miller, have been making the world a better place,” states the company. “At SUPERB Industries, this remains the mission for every engineered component manufactured.”

Smarter thinking
Founded in 1986, SUPERB Industries has emerged as one of America’s leading-edge hybrid high-speed manufacturers. Based in a 70,000-square-foot facility in Sugarcreek since 2000, the company has grown from a team of six to almost 100. The company’s many in-house capabilities include development, product and process design, engineering, assembly, die stalking, welding and more, making SUPERB a one-stop shop. Always aiming to add value, the company’s experienced engineers seek to make products faster and more affordably for customers.

A solutions-based business, the SUPERB team doesn’t see problems; they create opportunities. The company’s decades-long legacy has resulted in countless products being designed—and sometimes, re-designed—to be lighter, more durable, and more efficient. In one case, a die-cast locking system for a truck cap handle was “costly and cumbersome,” heavy, and prone to rust. Faced with this challenge, SUPERB’s engineers re-designed the lock system. Instead of heavy die-cast components, parts were manufactured using high-strength engineered polymers. Instead of the old system, the truck cap handle was remade “to include a field activate-able integrated e-lock system,” Miller explains. The result: a durable, lightweight, patented integrated e-lock system that was now more cost-effective to mass-produce.

Hybrid high-speed manufacturing
One of the many ways SUPERB has stayed ahead of the competition is by continually investing in technology, growing from a handful of production lines to over 20 today. The company’s home of Sugarcreek is renowned as “The Little Switzerland of Ohio” owing to the many Swiss immigrants who settled in the area 200 years ago. Familiar with European quality, the company utilizes the high-performance stamping presses of Switzerland’s Bruderer with the exceptional stamping, assembly, and welding systems technologies of Germany’s Bihler.

“We married those two systems together, and that’s what we call hybrid high-speed,” says Miller, who knew of the two companies because of his time in Germany and working with some Germany-based businesses. “We acquired the technologies over time and integrated them into our platform. We also have direct personal relationships with the ownership.”

Thanks to combining Bruderer and Bihler’s superior-quality equipment with SUPERB’s expertise and automating processes, the company produces quality components in great volumes more efficiently. “We do over a billion parts a year out of our facility in Sugarcreek, and we make just over five million parts a day,” says Miller.

“I call it leveraging time and space,” he adds. “Speed is a component. We have one particular automotive contact component where we make 24,000 parts a minute. So that’s speed, but another component is space.”

Made-in-America quality
At SUPERB, the company’s state-of-the-art technology and in-depth manufacturing knowledge often lead to 20 to 30 percent less material being used, which saves clients money in turn. “That’s how we’ve been able to compete with offshoring; when that was in vogue, that’s how we survived that,” Miller shares. “And now, tariffs and policies of the Trump Administration have made it a bit easier to compete in the United States, so we’re well-positioned going forward and pretty optimistic about the future as manufacturing comes back to this country.”

In SUPERB Inside 3.0, Miller wrote about how American manufacturing has been at a crossroads for years, “torn between rising costs and fierce global competition. SUPERB Inside is the story of a small-town company that bet on itself and beat the odds.”

Unlike some other American companies who farmed-out cheaper—and often substandard—overseas manufacturing, SUPERB invested in domestic capabilities, “proving that efficiency and scale don’t have to come at the cost of quality.” This commitment sees SUPERB ship more than 1.4 billion components annually with an on-time delivery rate of over 99 percent and under 0.01 percent of parts falling short of customer standards. “What’s even more remarkable?” adds Miller. “More than half of what we make is exported to low-cost countries like Mexico and China, places many domestic manufacturers left for.”

SUPERB’s at-home manufacturing and dedication to American values keeps earning the company recognition, including regularly earning a spot on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 100 fastest-growing, privately held U.S. manufacturers.

Of course, “Reshoring is great, but you need qualified people, and there’s a shortage of them,” says Miller, adding that the current immigration system needs work, as SUPERB needs legal immigrants. “We’re having a really hard time finding enough qualified people because there’s just no unemployment in our area.” The company currently has several legal immigrants on its team; part of the challenge, Miller says, is that the H-1B Specialty Occupations visa is connected to a costly $100,000 fee. “That’s something that has to get fixed.”

Making the world a better place
While SUPERB Industries serves customers worldwide, the company has always been there for its local community. Post-pandemic, the company responded to a request from the Amish Mennonite community for home canning lids, since there was a shortage. SUPERB ended up engineering a lid that was superior to existing products, holding its seal for 36 months instead of 18. Independent labs evaluated meat pressure-canned almost six years ago, and it was still fresh and edible. This not only got the attention of the leading brand of canning lids but also saw the creation of Superb Canning and the company’s entering the retail market.

“It’s like inventing another soft drink and competing against Coke,” says Miller of the lid, which has earned over 60 per cent confidence from the Amish Mennonite community and captured 2.5 percent of the market. From the time of the first call the week of Thanksgiving 2020, SUPERB designed, validated, and shipped a million lids by canning season 2021.

An IATF 16949 certified company (the international standard for Automotive Quality Management Systems), SUPERB is audited annually for automotive standards, and Miller says he was surprised by the lack of standards for canning lids. The company applied its own rigorous engineering standards and disciplines in doing the lid validation, benchmarking the competition and far exceeding existing standards. At present, the company is now validating an even better lid.

“I like to tell my employees that our mission is to make the world a better place,” says Miller of the company’s many products. “By noon on Monday, they will have made enough components to control 3,000 hot water heaters, which is enough to put a new one in every residence in our immediate area. So that’s what I want them to envision—they are not just making parts and putting them in a box, but rather making the world a better place, because thousands of people are going to get hot showers instead of cold ones.”

Turning 65 this year, Miller is working on a succession plan which will see his son, a trained electrical engineer, assume control of SUPERB, “and take the company where I couldn’t.” In the years to come, Miller sees the company growing, largely because of the SUPERB Technical Institute, a joint training initiative between SUPERB, the Buckeye Career Center, and L.I.G.H.T. Founded in 2012, the Institute offers a range of apprenticeship training programs to the technicians of tomorrow. “Employment opportunities in this area are phenomenal,” Miller tells us.

Planning to be operationally out of the business by 70, John Miller looks forward to traveling. Publishing one book this past year, he is working on three others, “and then I’ll have to figure out something to do to not go stir-crazy,” he laughs.

As for SUPERB, which represents 10 generations of craftsman going back to Colonial times, Miller confidently says, “We’re not going anywhere.”

The post SUPERB in Name, SUPERB in Nature<p class="company">SUPERB Industries</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

With the support of its parent company ISGEC—a multi-billion-dollar publicly traded corporation based in India—Eagle Press & Equipment has access to impressive research and development and artificial intelligence resources. “Some of the most brilliant people I have ever spoken to are part of that company,” says Ken Polewski, Sales Manager and professional engineer.

While Eagle Press & Equipment primarily serves the automotive industry with fine mechanical press technology, it is fast becoming increasingly popular with appliance, energy, and solar technology, as well as with defence manufacturers for the fine accuracy of its heavy-capacity hydraulic presses.

To maintain premium quality, the company ensures that its staff is well vetted before being appointed. A firm grasp of technical complexity and an aptitude for engineering are preferred in most hires as creating solutions here requires thinking like an engineer. This has led to the entirety of the sales and operational teams being mechanical engineers. The total team of about 70 is composed of machinists, assembly personnel, technicians, project managers, controls and mechanical engineers, an accounting team, and a sales department, all supported by an executive management team.

Operating from a 150,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Oldcastle, Ontario, Eagle Press & Equipment boasts ample assembly space and a fleet of equipment that includes CNC lathes and boring mills, four large horizontal boring mills, an assembly pit that can accommodate presses exceeding 40 feet in height coupled with more than 300,000 pounds of crane capacity, and much more. The company also offers a full-service facility next door to its main facility and a smaller welding outfit that takes care of smaller components.

As a proud member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO), The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Precision Metal Forming Association, the Canadian Tooling & Machining Association (CTMA), and other industry representatives, Eagle Press and Equipment is a key stakeholder in the Canadian mechanical engineering industry, helping to uphold its strict codes of conduct and standards in every project. The firm is also passionate about supporting and developing its local economy through its industrial endeavours.

The company’s commitment to quality and innovation has led to a number of successful projects, such as the recent commissioning of a turnkey Eagle press with a coil feed line and a press feed system at a Tier 1 automotive supplier’s Canadian facility. One of its winning products is a servo hemming press developed in collaboration with an automation group in Windsor, and this partnership has built around 40 such presses for Ford facilities in the United States and Canada. These machines are used to hem doors and other closure components for Ford’s F150, Mustang, and other models. Servo motors power the hemming press, joining the edges of two sheet metal panels by folding and compressing them into permanent bonds.

Another servo-based press features a microinch system in its mechanical trial press, a testing drivetrain used to test customers’ tools. The unit enables accurate contact between lower and upper tooling surfaces. This is coupled with a 400-tonne capacity pneumatic cushion, which supports accurate contact between the lower and upper die. “We have some cool tech built into it,” Polewski says.

Founded in 1959 by Ted Polewski Sr., the company was later managed by his sons and now by the third generation. Impressively, many longstanding members of the team are still on board, driving success through generational knowledge of press manufacturing and mechanical engineering that would be difficult to match without their expertise. Newer arrivals typically enjoy the opportunity to learn, and Eagle Press provides significant opportunities for professional development and training.

Polewski makes it clear that the company’s suppliers are just as crucial to its success, with a carefully selected group of trusted suppliers stretching from Toronto to Windsor providing Eagle Press & Equipment with the finest in hydraulics, gear machining and design, welding supplies, and more. “It’s the wealth of knowledge and expertise built over almost 70 years and our core supply base that has helped us build Eagle,” he adds.

Having its products vetted and analyzed by third-party engineers outside of the organization, the company is confident in the uncontested quality of its work. “I would consider our team as the best people in the world for machining and designing presses,” Polewski says, adding that the third-party engineers “have been blown away. Our quality comes out of years and years of experimentation, trial and error, learning, failing, recovering, and redesigning. We are at a point right now where we feel we have an unmatched product.”

Of course, the company is supported by rigorous quality management systems that span the full range of design, fabrication, and testing processes. “Over the years, we have developed very strict fabrication and welding testing and qualification procedures. We have also developed an in-house inspection and testing plan,” says Polewski.

The quality of Eagle Press’s steel is regulated as per the official ASTM International standards, which means that its materials, typically a minimum of A36 steel sheeting, are chemically and structurally sound and can be traced back to their exact location and date of manufacture, providing its customers with confidence in its base materials. This requires meticulous recordkeeping and full accountability. Moreover, the company’s welding is also guaranteed to be performed by Canadian-certified professionals in the field. The quality of its welding processes is verified by third-party, Canadian-certified, Level-3 welding inspectors according to CSA W59 standards—Canada’s strictest national standard for structural steel work in metal fabrication for sheeting exceeding 3mm in metal arc welding on dynamically loaded structures.

Equally rigorous testing and quality protocols pertain to design, press start-up machining, and assembly. As part of this, a press is run for 30,000 cycles to ensure absolute functionality over multiple days, and Polewski is particularly gratified by these rigorous testing protocols. “We push it to its limits to make sure that it is going to function on the customer’s floor,” he tells us.

Amidst its many accomplishments, the company continues to cultivate a reputation for providing top-notch training for both customers and employees. To this end, it regularly welcomes engineering students from Ontario’s University of Windsor, not only providing fresh professionals with hands-on experience but also introducing potential new employees to Eagle Press’s systems. The approach has been successful, with at least two such engineers having served the company for around six years.

Polewski makes clear that when it comes to achieving its goals, the company is and will remain centred on delivering customer satisfaction on every project, and so it goes to great lengths to ensure that it maintains and increases its capacity. To achieve this, Eagle Press has procured all the property around its facility with the goal of doubling capacity. It is also building larger teams in its service, assembly, hydraulics engineering, and controls engineering departments.

Customers benefit from these improvements in marked ways. With a dedicated press service team and network in place, help is only ever a phone call or a message away. “Press expertise and press technicians are few and far between now. I believe we have some of the best in the world here,” Polewski says. Beyond these in-house professionals, the company has established strong relationships with other industry professionals across the continent.

“We’ve developed a good network of people that we believe are qualified enough to go and service on behalf of Eagle Press,” he continues. This means that, no matter where in North America a customer’s press is located, a trusted service provider is always ready to assist in any needed physical maintenance or repair. Moreover, predictive maintenance technology allows the company to monitor press functionality remotely, within customers’ security limitations.

“The customer is the only reason we exist,” Polewski says. “In everybody’s minds here, the customer is always right. That’s rule number one. Rule number two? The customer is always right. That’s it.”

Thanks to Eagle Press & Equipment’s size, ability to respond to customer needs with individualized care, attention to detail, and premium machinery, its high-end offering holds its own against even the largest competitors in the market. “We want to be known as the best press builder in the world,” says Polewski, and attaining that honour appears close at hand. While it grows from building 12 to 15 presses annually to building 20 to 25 presses annually, Eagle Press & Equipment is fast on its way to becoming known as the best in its field.

The post Unmatched Quality<p class="company">Eagle Press & Equipment</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“The company pioneered portable coordinate measuring machine arms, laser trackers, handheld 3D scanners, optical CMMs, software, and automated inspection solutions,” says Rich Nobliski, Director of Integrated Demand Generation.

Joining forces, FARO CREAFORM combines the complementary strengths of the two entities into a single, complete portfolio of portable and automated 3D measurement solutions, helping quality, production, maintenance, and design teams work faster, smarter, and with total confidence. “FARO CREAFORM brings together two pioneers in 3D measurement,” adds Nobliski of the company, which is a business unit of the multinational industrial technology solutions company AMETEK, Inc.

Trusted by thousands of clients
Today, FARO CREAFORM’s customers are among the who’s who of industry, including many of the world’s foremost automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing companies such as Ford, Boeing, Airbus, John Deere, and engineering organizations like Pratt Miller, to name a few. “Our solutions are trusted by more than 10,000 customers, including many major industrial OEMs,” says Nobliski. “We serve industries such as automotive, aerospace, heavy equipment, transportation, energy, metal fabrication, machinery, research, and general manufacturing.”

Customers use FARO CREAFORM’s state-of-the-art technology for many applications, including quality control and quality assurance, dimensional inspection, product development, reverse engineering, alignment, large-part measurement, automated inspection, non-destructive testing (NDT), and surface-damage assessment. And whether they are measuring small components or large assemblies, the goal is the same: capture reliable data and make better decisions.

Along with software programs like Creaform Metrology Suite™ and CAM2^® Software, the company is renowned for its handheld 3D scanners for metrology-grade measurement. “In simple terms, 3D measurement is the process of capturing the physical dimensions and geometry of an object and turning that information into accurate digital data,” explains Nobliski. “That can be done through 3D scanning, which captures thousands or millions of data points across a surface, or through probing, which measures specific features and dimensions with high precision. Many manufacturers use a combination of both approaches.”

Some of the biggest benefits of using FARO CREAFORM’s handheld 3D cameras are speed, accuracy, flexibility, and confidence. 3D scanning quickly captures complete surfaces and complex geometries, while probing is ideal for measuring critical features such as holes, edges, slots, and datum references.

For users, another major advantage is portability. “Today’s measurement systems can be brought directly to the part, whether it’s a small component, a large assembly, or equipment already installed on the shop floor,” says Nobliski. “This allows manufacturers to inspect parts faster, identify issues earlier, reduce rework, improve quality, and accelerate product development. Ultimately, 3D measurement helps organizations make better decisions based on reliable data and gives quality, engineering, and production teams greater confidence in their processes.”

Innovative offerings
The company’s expert metrology staff are on hand to help customers determine the most suitable product to meet their specific needs. This includes its world-famous 3D measurement solutions, metrology products, and application software. One of the company’s latest products is the MetraSCAN™ BLACK2, a portable optical 3D scanner designed for shop-floor inspection. By combining scanning and probing capabilities in a flexible system, it helps quality teams inspect parts faster while maintaining metrology-grade accuracy.

Described by the company as “engineered for accuracy, designed for usability,” the HandySCAN 3D EVO Series™ makes handheld 3D scanning more intuitive through its integrated display and real-time user guidance directly on the scanner. Portable, reliable, and efficient, the HandySCAN 3D EVO Series boasts a powerful, embedded graphical user interface, enhancing the user experience and delivering metrology-grade qualities, such as accredited accuracy.

For portable coordinate measurement, the Quantum X FaroArm® Series gives manufacturers the flexibility to scan or probe parts with metrology-grade accuracy, making it ideal for inspection, reverse engineering, and production applications.

For larger parts and assemblies, the FARO Vantage® S6 Max and E6 Max Laser Trackers provide fast, accurate large-scale measurement and alignment capabilities, helping manufacturers confidently measure everything from tooling and molds to complete assemblies. “Together, these products demonstrate the breadth of the FARO CREAFORM portfolio, from handheld scanning and portable CMMs to large-scale metrology solutions,” states Nobliski.

Industry expertise
Much more than a manufacturer of innovative 3D scanners, FARO CREAFORM is recognized globally for its customer support, services, and solutions. The company’s team boasts a broad mix of technical, manufacturing, and customer-focused specialists. Teams include mechanical, electrical, optical, robotics, automation, and software engineers, along with metrology specialists, manufacturing professionals, application engineers, technical support teams, sales, marketing, and customer success professionals. “What makes us successful is how those teams work together to combine hardware, software, application expertise, training, and support into a complete customer experience,” says Nobliski.

Having headquarters in Lévis, Québec and Lake Mary, Florida allows FARO CREAFORM to combine the innovation and expertise of two industry leaders while staying close to customers across North America and around the world. According to Nobliski, the company’s Lévis site is closely tied to Creaform’s innovation in handheld 3D scanning, software, and automated inspection, while the Lake Mary location has long been home to FARO’s expertise in portable measuring arms, laser trackers, and industrial metrology. “These locations are supported by a global network of repair and service centres, multilingual support, and technical resources that help customers maximize the value of their investment throughout the life of their equipment,” he says.

As a further commitment to quality, the company is supported by internationally recognized certifications and accreditations, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 27001, and ISO/IEC 17025. Earlier this year, FARO CREAFORM’s HandySCAN 3D EVO Series received the prestigious Red Dot Award for Product Design, recognizing its combination of performance, ergonomics, usability, and industrial design.

Along with strong word-of-mouth business from satisfied clients, the company promotes its products and services through a mix of digital marketing, trade shows, webinars, social media, customer success stories, distributors, and direct customer engagement. Additionally, attending trade shows like FABTECH is mutually beneficial for the business and potential clients.

“Trade shows are especially valuable because they allow customers to see the technology in action and talk directly with our experts,” Nobliski explains. “We complement those events with educational content, product demonstrations, videos, webinars, and application-focused campaigns that show manufacturers how 3D measurement can improve quality, productivity, and decision-making. At the end of the day, our focus is less about promoting products and more about helping customers solve real manufacturing challenges and achieve better outcomes.”

A look ahead
Worldwide, manufacturers continue facing increasing pressures. These include quality improvement, accelerated product development, and the need to manage more complex production environments. With a focus on making 3D metrology more mobile, usable, and accessible through continued innovation in handheld scanning, probing, portable CMMs, laser trackers, automated quality control, and software solutions, FARO CREAFORM provides manufacturers with valuable technologies to increase efficiencies.

Certainly, the company is well-positioned for the years to come, and Nobliski says confidently, “The future is about helping manufacturers turn dimensional measurement into an even greater competitive advantage. We’re focused on improving the overall customer experience through integrated hardware and software, intuitive workflows, training resources, global support, and solutions that evolve alongside our customers’ needs,” he says. “With one of the industry’s most comprehensive portfolios of portable and automated 3D measurement technologies, we’re well positioned to help customers tackle everything from product development and reverse engineering to quality control, manufacturing, and large-scale measurement applications. Our goal is simple: help our customers work faster, smarter, and with total confidence.”

The post The Power of Precision<p class="company">FARO CREAFORM</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

During its impressive 55 years in business, APM has expanded from a simple injection molder into a full-service manufacturing and product development company, with customer service forming the foundation for developing additional core skills in supply chain sourcing and project management.

Handling markets that include automotive, consumer/appliance, electric/utility, healthcare, industrial, lawn and garden, material handling, and office furniture, APM’s capabilities include injection molding, tooling/moldmaking (SMT), assembly and kitting, rubber gaskets and seals, insert molding, automation, visual inspection, overmolding, vibration welding, vertical molding, post mold decorating, design assistance, and supply chain management.

The company’s core values remain at the heart of daily operations; whether it’s integrity, purpose, teamwork, perseverance, or gratitude, it’s about communicating with unshakable candor, honesty, and respect, functioning with transparency, being motivated by meaningful work, and behaving with compassion and decency.

These goals have become easier to achieve since APM became employee-owned under an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in 2013, which in turn encouraged workers, boosted output, improved employee retention, maintained local employment, and supported business longevity.

“Employee ownership is at the heart of who we are,” says Lily Coomer, Controller. “Since becoming 100 percent employee-owned, we’ve built a culture where everyone understands they have a direct stake in our success. We often say there’s an owner in every seat, and that’s not just a slogan: it’s how we operate every day.”

In turn, APM’s employee-owners understand that their quality of work, the service they provide, and the decisions they make have a direct impact both on customers and on the future of the company collectively, she adds.

“What makes me most proud is the sense of responsibility and commitment that ownership creates,” says Coomer. “When people think and act like owners, they take greater pride in solving problems, helping teammates, and doing what’s right for the long term. That mindset is one of the reasons we’ve been able to build lasting customer relationships and create opportunities for our employees.”

APM is also fortunate to have an engaged board of directors that helps provide strategic oversight and long-term stewardship. Together, the board leadership team and employee-owners are working toward the same goal: building a stronger company that creates value for future generations of owners.

Michael Cook, President and CEO, agrees. “All of this is built around our company’s five core values that are very near and dear to our hearts: integrity, teamwork, purpose, perseverance, and gratitude. We’ve built behaviors around each of those core values that help embody how we work and how we demonstrate those core values. That’s really our foundation,” he says.

Indeed, the company’s commitment to its employees and its ESOP model has truly helped facilitate APM’s success. “It’s a great model,” Cook emphasizes. “For us, it’s something that was fully embraced and has enabled us to reward a lot of employees with generous financial commitments, and that goes both ways.” More growth for the company is also on the horizon, but with plans to grow “the right way with the right customers and for the right reasons,” he adds.

“We’re not just trying to grow for the sake of growing. We’ve focused on disciplined, profitable growth that creates opportunities for our employee-owners while still delivering exceptional service and value to our customers.”

That focus has resulted in investing in technology, automation, talent development, and leadership growth while also exploring and evaluating some strategic opportunities that can accelerate APM’s long-term vision. “Ultimately, our goal isn’t simply to become bigger,” says Cook. “It’s to become a stronger company to create more value for our customers, employees, and shareholders.”

Being a successful ESOP has also earned the team a sterling reputation in the industry, with the means to draw in new, qualified, and passionate employees. “We’re a 55-year-old business, and the value of the ESOP has spread amongst the community,” says Cook.

The challenge, however, is that some of the younger, newer employees don’t always see the value in that long-term ESOP ownership piece. To help alleviate that concern, APM has been showing new employees what value can look like for employees and what that means, not only long-term but short-term as well.

Drawing in outstanding employees bolsters the company’s ability to serve clients and provide total solutions within the industry. Many APM customers are looking for plastic injection molded parts, coupled with a partner who can help problem-solve for them. “That’s how we view our role,” says Cook. “We don’t want to just be another shoot-and-ship plastic injection molding company, and part of being a total solutions provider means we bring engineering support, tooling management, molding, assembly solutions, quality systems, automation, and supply chain management under one roof.”

APM is also dedicated to a number of community initiatives, with the company recently communicating to its employees that it will offer voluntary time off to participate in a charity they’re passionate about—or even one that APM sponsors—with up to eight hours of paid time to support that organization.

“It’s really encouraging employees so they don’t have to take their personal time and they can give back to the community during a normal working day,” says Human Resource Manager, Jennifer Donohue. “As a company, we’re also allocating a percentage of our earnings each year to go back to the community.” This initiative allows individuals within the organization to bring awareness to charities APM may not be familiar with, as well as encourage organizations throughout the community to approach APM for potential donations.

The response within the community has been positive all around. “Being a small, rural community, the opportunity for someone to have a day off and it not affect their pay is something that they really appreciate,” says Donohue. “Now people are trying to figure out where to support the community with what charity so they can take advantage of that opportunity.”

Although challenges over the past year have included labor availability, inflationary pressures—especially with some of the resin raw materials—supply chain disruptions, and changing customer demand, APM understands that the pace of change in manufacturing continues to accelerate, which requires businesses to adapt quickly while maintaining their operational excellence.

“I’m really happy and proud about it,” Cook says. “In the last year, we’ve strengthened our foundation while continuing to grow. We’ve doubled down on our EOS, the entrepreneurial operating system, working with an EOS implementer who’s helped us gain alignment, accountability, communication, and execution throughout the entire organization.”

In fact, APM has leveraged EOS across its entire organization, which has given the company a common language and a clear framework for turning its vision into action. It has also formulated a 10-year vision and a plan to achieve it.

“That’s been really instrumental in our ability to face the volatility and the challenges,” says Cook. “We’ve also launched a fair amount of new programs this year and continued to deepen our relationships with our existing customers. And really, none of that is possible without the engagement of our employee-owners.”

While growth is important to APM, the company aspires to go beyond financial performance to continue building a world-class employee-owned company that provides meaningful opportunities for current and future generations of employee-owners. Over the next several years, it hopes to expand within its target markets, strengthen relationships with key customers, develop future leaders, and continue investing in technologies and capabilities that support long-term success.

“We also plan to continue expanding on our EOS throughout the organization, so every team member benefits from greater clarity, accountability, and alignment,” says Coomer. “Most importantly, we want to continue increasing the long-term value of our ESOP. Every improvement we make as a company creates value for employee-owners, and that’s the one most rewarding aspect of being an employee-owned organization.”

Cook adds that what helps set APM apart within the industry is the three pillars of its culture, starting with an owner in every seat. “We feel very strongly about that,” he says. “Every person has a personal stake in the company’s success.”

The next pillar is the EOS system and the implementation of the daily, weekly, and monthly cadence of working through the most important issues day in and day out, he adds, along with holding themselves accountable with full transparency.

“The final pillar is our governance,” Cook says. “We benefit from having an engaged board of directors that brings valuable experience, strategic perspective, and long-term thinking to our organization.”

Essentially, that involvement helps APM make better decisions to stay focused on creating sustainable value. “We’re committed to being more than just a molding company,” says Cook. “Our customers rely on us to be a trusted manufacturing partner that helps them solve problems.”

It’s that ongoing dedication to both employee involvement and commitment to clientele that will continue to set APM apart for decades to come. “It’s an enjoyable place to work, and the team is fully engaged,” he adds.

Essentially, for APM customers, instead of them managing multiple suppliers and trying to coordinate solutions themselves, they can work with the company as a trusted partner from concept through production. “What it means for our customers is reduced complexity, faster decision making, and ultimately fewer headaches,” Cook says. “We’re committed to being more than just a molding company. Our customers rely on us to be a trusted manufacturing partner that helps them solve problems. That’s our mindset.”

The post An Owner in Every Seat: Core Values Create Customer Relationships and Employee Opportunities<p class="company">American Plastic Molding</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.