Innovation: The New Standard of Manufacturing in Ontario

Innovation. This simple word represents a driving force in manufacturing. It builds meaningful employment, ensures successful business operations, and creates the modern conveniences of today. It is essential in the smooth operations of every business. It is a catalyst for a promising future.

But innovation has another meaning besides the nuts-and-bolts of production and inventory control. It means to think differently. This particularly applies to Ontario’s current economic and manufacturing landscape, where the recent recession and international competition have slowed growth. The need for innovation is essential to compete globally, to meet changing consumer demands, and to ensure financial prosperity in southern Ontario. Times are changing, and so is innovation in Ontario.

This innovation has arrived in the form of programmers, designers, and engineers, a new workforce that is “…high-tech, high-skilled…and highly responsive.” Complete with 3-D printing, robotics, printable electronics, and more, it is clear this sector is shifting its focus to new ways of effectively conducting business. Primed for opportunity, more Ontario manufacturers will likely adopt this approach:

“That innovation includes not only new products and services, but a shift to transformative partnerships and collaborations with other firms and local post-secondary institutions that are training the crop of talent the industry will need to compete.”

These concepts were recently outlined in a presentation at the Manufacturing Canada Conference by Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). He is also the MP for Cambridge, Ontario, a manufacturing hub of the province. (To read this CanadianManufacturing.com article, please click here).

One innovative example is 3D printing. This new technology has potentially far-reaching possibilities for Ontario manufacturers. Toronto’s 3DPhacktory uses specialized software to generate models of virtually any product, and then prints a model in three-dimensional form. This process can enable manufacturers to create prototypes, and even print “…metal moulds, parts and tools for production,” with time, cost, and material savings. (To read this CBC article, please click here).

It is clear that with enterprising ideas, a new perspective, and a willingness to adapt, Ontario’s manufacturing sector has an industrious future indeed.

• 
  Destination Ontario: Silicon Valley of the North

  Silicon Valley. To many, these words represent industry, innovation, investment, technology companies, students, graduates, and money. Known as "…the largest innovation corridor in the world,” warm Californian breezes and palm trees may also enter the equation. But replace the latter with temperate values and green fields, and you have the future of Canadian manufacturing.