December 13, 2018 – POSITAL is expanding its line of kit encoder solutions for motion control applications to satisfy a wider range of needs faced by machine builders, system integrators and motor manufacturers.

December 12, 2018 – HARTING's M12 Magnetics product line offers the first transformer and socket in the M12 form factor with IP65/67 ratings.

December 11, 2018 – AutomationDirect is now offering the AttaBox brand from Robroy Enclosures, which offers large selections of non-metallic corrosion-resistant polycarbonate, fiberglass-reinforced polyester, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) enclosures for equipment protection in a wide range of applications.

December 10, 2018 – American Control Electronics (ACE) has introduced the PML series, a new family of configurable controls for brushless DC motors.

December 7, 2018 – Festo Canada has added EHPS, a parallel gripper for standard movements involving small workpieces.

December 6, 2018 – Belden, the signal transmission specialist, has released the new Hirschmann BOBCAT switch.

December 5, 2018 – Automated Precision, Inc. (API) has announced the launch of its updated series of high-accuracy Radian laser trackers, which comprises three models: Radian Pro, Radian Plus and Radian Core.

December 4, 2018 – FactoryMation is now carrying a new series of slim-line DIN rail power supplies by IMO Precision Controls.

December 3, 2018 – Beckhoff Automation has announced new EtherCAT G gigabit communication technology to deliver Gbit Ethernet speeds needed to support highly data-intensive applications, such as machine vision cameras, complex motion control systems and measurement equipment operating with high sampling rates. 

November 30, 2018 – Bosch Rexroth now offers the ADVANCED performance level for its compact drive series IndraDrive Cs, featuring both a sercos master interface as well as increased processing power.

November 29, 2018 – Schleuniger has released its new CoaxStrip 6580 coaxial cable stripping machine, which the company says offers increased stripping quality.

December 10, 2018 – The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) recently opened the Manufacturing and Automotive Innovation Hub in London, Ontario, a 75,000-square-foot set of renovated scientific laboratories intended to bring together companies, governments, universities and colleges together to collaborate on breakthrough projects.

December 6, 2018 – Sarnia, Ontario’s Lambton College, which offers several industrial automation programs, has capitalized on the area’s diversification and industry partnerships to take top honours in a national ranking of research colleges.

December 3, 2018 – Baby boomers have left a footprint on every industry since they joined the workforce five decades ago. In leadership roles, they have set the organization’s vision, established the company’s culture and built the business’s reputation.

November 30, 2018 – Festo has launched a Festo Service channel on YouTube with explainer videos on how users can commission its electric or pneumatic automation products or carry out simple maintenance work.

November 29, 2018 – Toronto's Seneca College and KUKA Canada, an advanced manufacturing and intelligent automation supplier, have partnered to provide Seneca students with state-of-the-art robotic equipment and the opportunity to enhance their manufacturing skills as future graduates within the postsecondary sector.

November 21, 2018 – Registration is open for the next year of Bosch Rexroth's suite of hydraulic and mobile hydraulic training courses.

November 20, 2018 – The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) has opened a brand-new Productivity and Innovation Centre (PIC), a facility that aims to help Alberta businesses become more competitive. 

November 15, 2018 – The Yves Landry Foundation is accepting applications from manufacturers in south, central and eastern Ontario to receive up to $100,000 to offset the costs of training expenses.

November 14, 2018 – Simon Fraser University has received a $1.9 million investment from the federal government to add new equipment to its advanced manufacturing centre in Burnaby, B.C.

November 9, 2018 – Researchers at the University of Waterloo have devised a way to allow smart devices to be battery-free using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.

November 8, 2018 – The Ontario government is investing $13.2 million into its pre-apprenticeship training program for future skilled trades workers.

October 12, 2018 – A new five-year partnership between Toronto's Humber College and KUKA Canada will outfit the Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation (CTI) with the latest robotic technology.

December 7, 2018 – Federal officials will review an accident in which an automated machine punctured a can of bear repellent at an Amazon warehouse in New Jersey, releasing fumes that sickened workers and sent two dozen to hospitals.

December 5, 2018 – ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada MP Inc., a manufacturer of steel products, has been fined $75,000 in Ontario's provincial offences court after a worker was critically injured attempting to connect coils to a hoist with a chain. 

November 27, 2018 – SIM/Cognibox, a Quebec-based training services company, has released 19 new e-learning training modules in English, for a range of industries including manufacturing, as part of its ongoing health and safety programming.

November 22, 2018 – Old adages advise against reinventing the wheel, but what is a manufacturer to do when customers all want different wheels?

November 20, 2018 – According to the Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada, manufacturing is statistically one of the highest risk industrial sectors to work in. 

November 19, 2018 – Robert Markle, sole director of JTF Davco Ltd., a company that manufactures screws from brass and other metal stock, has been fined $22,000 in a Ministry of Labour charge after a worker was killed at the JTF Davco plant in Toronto. 

November 14, 2018 – Manufacturing is rapidly changing, driven by trends such as low volume/high mix, shorter lifecycles, changing labour dynamics and other global factors. One way industry is responding to these trends is by changing the way humans and machines safely work together, enabled by updated standards and new technologies including safety communications.

October 25, 2018 – Give and Go Prepared Foods Corporation, a manufacturer of baked goods, has been fined $60,000 by the Ontario Ministry of Labour after a worker was permanently injured at Give and Go's Brampton, Ontario plant.

October 25, 2018 – Each year, Workplace Safety North (WSN) – the provincial health and safety association for mining, forestry, and paper, printing, and converting sectors – recognizes Ontario workplaces with a strong safety culture.

October 22, 2018 – K-G Spray-Pak Inc., a manufacturer and packager of aerosol products, has been fined $75,000 by the Ministry of Labour after pleading guilty in a case that involved a worker being injured after being caught in a conveyor belt at the company's plant.

October 17, 2018 – Traditional material handling processes focused on moving products by the case or pallet from distribution centres to brick-and-mortar retail stores, where customers would do their shopping. Today, with the convenience of e-commerce, people are shopping over the internet more frequently and buying fewer items at a time. E-commerce has turned the traditional material handling and logistics landscape on its head, compelling us to rethink the overall approach to intralogistics operations within the four walls of the fulfillment centre.

October 17, 2018 – Uponor Infra, a Hamilton, Ontario company that manufactures plastic piping, has been fined $80,000 after pleading guilty to an offence that involved a worker suffering critical injuries after being pulled into a machine while it was still in operation.

December 13, 2018 – A new study by McKinsey & Company suggests that established companies are leaving as much as US$2 trillion on the table in total return to shareholders because of missed opportunities in digital transformation.

December 12, 2018 – The organizers of Hannover Messe, the world's largest technology fair held annually in Hannover, Germany, are launching a new event on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) stateside in 2019. 

December 12, 2018 – The Industrial Internet Consortium, a global organization dedicated to advancing use of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Linaro, an open-source collaborative engineering organization that develops software for the Arm ecosystem, have partnered to promote the digital economy by preventing fragmentation and harmonizing various aspects of the industrial internet.

December 10, 2018 – Siemens and Stratasys have partnered to integrate Siemens Digital Factory solutions with Stratasys additive manufacturing techniques to bring 3D printing into the traditional manufacturing workflow.

December 4, 2018 – D3 Technologies, a North American Autodesk integrator, has announced a strategic partnership with Cetec ERP, a cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) provider.

December 3, 2018 – Smart factories are rapidly becoming the future of manufacturing, offering a new level of efficiency and productivity to those investing in them.

November 30, 2018 – PLM software developer Aras has landed a $70 million minority investment by Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing group, with participation from Silver Lake Kraftwerk, to expand its global operations and grow its open PLM platform.

November 30, 2018 – LMI Technologies (LMI), a 3D scanning and inspection specialist, has had its Gocator 3D snapshot sensors certified for integration with Universal Robots (UR) cobots.

November 29, 2018 – Microsoft has made several additions to its industry-agnostic Azure IoT suite that it says well help companies approach the Internet of Things (IoT) more holistically, including a dashboard for security deployment, security protection for connected microcontroller devices, and a platform to create virtual models of physical environments.

November 28, 2018 – On November 27, Microsoft highlighted several new additions to its Azure IoT system at the IoT in Action event in Toronto, including the IoT-ready version of Azure Security Center, a dashboard for security deployment, the Azure Sphere for secure microcontroller devices, and Azure Digital Twins, a platform to create virtual models of physical environments or products.

November 28, 2018 – Do the far-reaching benefits of automation in manufacturing outweigh the potential cost of eliminating human jobs?

November 22, 2018 – Machine vision has always been a necessary evil. While manufacturers require visual QA to detect defective products, it is an expensive, complex and expert-dependent process.

November 23, 2018 – Because it’s relatively intangible, the concept of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) can be a difficult thing to wrap your head around. But it’s essentially a catch-all term for the network of physical devices embedded with sensors, actuators and other connectivity enablers that collect data to send to the cloud, where it can be accessed by end users in your plant.

November 19, 2018 – The modernization of the factory is changing the way manufacturers are conducting their operations by connecting the entire business.

November 12, 2018 – It is easy for me to identify the “true all-stars” on the teams I worked with over the years. They were the performers that not only got things done, but that products, divisions, and even companies were built upon. Some were diamonds in the rough, discovered along the way. Some were fresh graduates with that certain “spark.”

October 22, 2018 – It is official: recreational marijuana is legal in Canada with effect from October 17. With that comes a patchwork of jurisdictional laws establishing where and how marijuana products will be sold and used by consumers.

October 22, 2018 – Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) was, unsurprisingly, the topic of conversation at last month’s International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. We’ve been writing about this monumental shift in the industry for years now, but connected manufacturing is really only starting to trickle down to the SMEs that make up much of Canada’s output. The reason why it’s been a slow start is obvious: cost. So maybe the better question to ask is, why now?

October 18, 2018 – Ten years ago, as the global recession waned, I observed the emergence of two major Lean trends – one that saw it deployed in a wider range of industries and disciplines, and another that has carried Lean thinking to the corner office.

October 12, 2018 – On the factory floor, every new connection point is an opportunity for operations teams to monitor, analyze and optimize performance. It’s also a security risk.

October 11, 2018 – Regular readers of this column probably wonder if I am still working, or if I’m retired, given that so many of the columns I’ve written highlight my recent recreational pursuits and adventures, many of them with my granddaughter.

September 21, 2018 - There are moments throughout history that change the way societies work and function on a daily basis. In the 18th to 19th centuries, rural societies became urban, iron and textile industries grew, and the steam engine made its mark on history. Fast forward to a paradigm shift that began in 1870: the world saw its first light bulb, as well as the invention of the telephone and electricity for mass production. More recently, digital technology has put a mobile computer in our pockets to communicate in ways once only imagined in science fiction films.

September 17, 2018 - Cannabis is set to be legalized for recreational use as of October 17, 2018. For many employers still struggling with how to accommodate employees who have been prescribed cannabis for medicinal purposes, this will create new challenges and questions. How do you define impairment and fitness for work? What types of tasks are safety sensitive?

September 12, 2018 - I’m pleased to introduce myself as the new editor of Manufacturing AUTOMATION. I come to the magazine from another trade publication in a different industry, so I’ve spent the past few weeks reading through back issues of MA to understand what trends, topics and challenges are most important to manufacturing professionals in Canada.

December 10, 2018 – Action-camera maker GoPro says it will move production of U.S.-bound cameras out of China by the summer over tariff-related concerns.

November 21, 2018 – German firm Siemens AG has landed a 1.5 billion pound ($1.9 billion) order for new trains for the London Underground's busy Piccadilly line, which brings 700,000 people in and out of central London every day.

November 13, 2018 – Brookfield Business Partners LP and the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, together with a group of institutional partners, have signed a deal to buy Johnson Controls' power solutions business for US$13.2 billion.

November 12, 2018 – A Bombardier-Alstom consortium says it will supply Montreal's transport agency with 153 more Azur metro cars in an order approaching a half-billion dollars.

November 7, 2018 – POSITAL FRABA, a manufacturer of industrial position and motion sensors, has upgraded its facilities for producing Wiegand sensors.

November 1, 2018 – General Motors will attempt to cut costs by offering buyouts to about 18,000 white-collar workers in North America.

October 29, 2018 – ABB has announced that it is investing US$150 million to build what it says is the world's most advanced, automated and flexible robotics factory.

October 3, 2018 – General Motors and Honda will team up on self-driving vehicle technology as big automakers and tech giants race to develop the next generation of personal transportation.

October 2, 2018 – Tesla Motors accelerated production of its pivotal Model 3 sedan during the summer just as CEO Elon Musk promised, vindicating the electric car maker's leader amid a backdrop of baffling behaviour that jeopardized his job.

September 28, 2018 - Honda of Canada Mfg. (HCM) has made a $50,000 donation through the Honda Canada Foundation to the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA) to build a new, accessible pathway in Riverdale Park in Alliston, Ontario.

September 27, 2018 – Ford Motor Co.'s historic Rouge factory complex will continue well into its second century of production with the announcement Thursday that it will make at least one version of the next-generation F-150 pickup truck.

September 27, 2018 - Orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods rose at a healthy pace last month, though the increase was mostly driven by a surge in aircraft demand.

December 10, 2018 – Mercer International Inc. has completed its previously announced acquisition of Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd. (DMI), which owns 100 per cent of a bleached kraft pulp mill in Peace River, Alberta. The deal was worth $465 million.

November 30, 2018 – The Squamish Nation has approved economic benefit agreements for Woodfibre LNG, a project worth up to $1.8 billion in British Columbia's Howe Sound.

November 29, 2018 – During SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg, Germany this week, ABB debuted a new asset management product and an update to its security system for process industries. 

November 7, 2018 – Parmalat Group says it has reached an agreement valued at $1.62 billion to acquire Kraft Heinz Canada's natural cheese division.

November 5, 2018 – Irving Pulp & Paper Limited was ordered to pay a $3.5 million penalty after being sentenced today in connection with three offences under the federal Fisheries Act.The New Brunswick Provincial Court in Saint John rendered the decision, which was the maximum allowable penalty.

October 30, 2018 – Emerson has completed a $73 million contract for automation systems and cloud engineering services at North West Redwater Partnership's new Sturgeon Refinery in Alberta.

October 25, 2018 – Resolute Forest Products Inc. has announced $40 million in investments at its Northwestern Ontario operations, in addition to $13.5 million in major maintenance repairs and the creation of 25 new jobs.

October 10, 2018 – Ahlstrom-Munksjö has recently completed a EUR 23 million investment in its plant in Madisonville, US.

October 4, 2018 – Cascades has announced that its president and CEO, Mario Plourde, received the 2019 Clean50 and Clean16 awards from Delta Management Group.

October 3, 2018 – Emerson, the automation supplier for process and industrial applications, has announced it will acquire Intelligent Platforms, a division of General Electric that offers machine control, industrial computing, input/output (I/O) and networking devices, project and integration services and other hardware/software solutions.

September 13, 2018 - The federal government has announced funding to support Indigenous jobs and manufacturing efficencies in Canada's forestry industry.

August 23, 2018 - Rockwell Automation has won a US$50-million contract to supply a mine control system to Codelco, the Chile state-owned copper mining company, for its Chuquicamata underground mine.