Shipments end 2006 on upswing
OTTAWA, Ont. — Canadian manufacturers ended 2006 on a positive note as factory shipments increased for the second month in a row in December, according to Statistics Canada's Monthly Survey on Manufacturing.
However, the year-end growth was not enough to offset several months of weak performances earlier in the year. As a result, total shipments for 2006 edged down 0.6 per cent to $587.4 billion from 2005.
Factories shipped goods worth an estimated $49.7 billion in December, up 1.7 per cent from November. The transportation sector, led by automobiles, shipped $10.2 billion worth of product in December.
Manufacturers started 2006 in a cautious mood, according to the Business Conditions Survey, but became increasingly pessimistic as the year wore on. Coming off a stellar year in 2005, survey respondents reported that the appreciation of the Canadian dollar, higher raw materials costs and competition from cheaper foreign imports were growing impediments to production. Meanwhile, manufacturers in Western Canada listed a lack of skilled labour as a limiting factor to production.
In 2006, manufacturing job losses were seen primarily in Ontario and Quebec. In contrast, large gains in manufacturing were seen in Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba over the course of the year.
According to the Labour Force Survey, manufacturing employment took an upturn in December, as the sector gained 10,000 jobs. But during 2006 as a whole, manufacturing lost 59,000 jobs, a 2.7 per cent decline from 2005.
New orders broke through the $50 billion level for the first time since January 2006 thanks to strong gains in the last two months of the year.
www.statscanada.ca

Canada needs more graduate students, study says
TORONTO, Ont. — Canada needs more graduate students to keep up with global competition, says a new study by the C.D. Howe Institute. And to achieve that goal, the report says that the federal government should channel funding directly through students.
In Room at the Top: Strategies for Increasing the Number of Graduate Students in Canada, authors Ross Finnie, research fellow and adjunct professor at the School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, and Alex Usher, vice-president and director (Canada) of the Educational Policy Institute, say that a voucher-type system holds the greatest promise for increasing both the size and quality of the graduate education system (master's and PhD programs).
As for increasing demand from would-be graduate students, the authors recommend: expanding graduate student loan eligibility and raising loan limits; increasing grants, scholarships and bursaries to help make graduate education affordable and more appealing as a career investment; and varying awards by discipline, depending not only on schooling costs, but also outside employment opportunities, and the social and economic value of the schooling.
These changes would enhance the appeal and affordability of graduate studies, the authors said.
For a copy of the study, go to: www.cdhowe.org/pdf/commentary_245.pdf.

Rockwell Automation buys ProsCon Holdings
CORK, Ireland — Rockwell Automation Inc. has acquired ProsCon Holdings Ltd., a privately held engineering firm headquartered in Cork, Ireland. The company's management team and employees will join the Rockwell Automation global solutions team and continue to serve their customers locally and around the world.
www.rockwellautomation.com

Xycom Automation changes corporate name
SALINE, Mich. — Xycom Automation is adopting Pro-face America as its new corporate name. The name change better reflects the company's existing global presence by aligning itself more closely with the international network of Pro-face sales and support offices throughout the world. Pro-face is a supplier of operator interface products and industrial PCs. The Xycom name will continue to remain a product brand name in the Pro-face family of HMI and IPC products.
For additional information, visit www.profaceamerica.com.

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Accu-Sort names VP of marketing
Adnan Ahmed joins Accu-Sort Systems Inc. as vice-president of marketing. Ahmed comes to Accu-Sort after four years with Motorola, most recently as senior director of product operations in the cell phone division. He holds a bachelor's degree in electronics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
www.accusort.com

Adnan Ahmed


MESA International appoints Rockwell director to board
Matt Bauer, market development director for information software at Rockwell Automation, has been named chairman of the board of directors for the Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) International. MESA, a community of manufacturing end-users, system integrators, hardware and software suppliers, industry analysts, and consultants, is focused on improving manufacturing production systems through open forums that exchange ideas and interpret emerging standards.
As chairman, Bauer will work with MESA to promote the exchange of best practices, strategies and innovation for managing manufacturing operations, as well as achieving plant-floor execution excellence.
www.mesa.org

Automation software
GE Fanuc Automation's Proficy Machine Edition Version 5.60 automation software deploys HMI, motion and multi-target control in an integrated development environment designed to provide a common user interface, drag-and-drop editing, and a set of development tools. Combining traditional programming and graphics applications with such open industry standard technologies as COM/DCOM, ActiveX, OPC and XML, Proficy Machine Edition is designed to provide a smooth migration path to the latest development tools. In addition, all components share a common database and common objects across applications, including logic, scripts and animation. Once a variable is created, it can be used in all other components of a project. All Machine Edition components are part of a common integrated development environment and use a single project database. Enhancements in this release include: PACSystems LD Online Compare integrated directly into Logic Developer PLC; file recovery option; improved tool chest custom structure support; and enhanced function block diagram editor.
GE Fanuc Automation
www.gefanuc.com

Network management software
Hirschmann Automation and Control GmbH has released a new version of its Industrial HiVision network management software – Operator Edition 3.0. With this latest release, information such as the device status, link status or network load can be integrated directly into SCADA systems via an OPC Data Access 2.0 server. No specialist SNMP knowledge is required. The overall status of the network or sub-networks can be displayed with a single OPC variable, and a graphical representation of the network topology can be embedded into SCADA systems via an ActiveX control. The software, which is available for both the Windows 2000/XP and Linux operating systems, also supports automatic detection of network topology via Link Layer Discovery Protocol.
Hirschmann Automation and Control GmbH
www.hirschmann.com