March 20, 2019 – POSITAL has added two- and four-wire versions of the single-cable BiSS Line interface for its family of motor feedback kit encoders, allowing for compatibility with PLCs and controllers from most major manufacturers.

March 19, 2019 – Bosch Rexroth has released a new version of its MTX CNC system for the additive manufacturing process.

March 18, 2019 – Maxon has released the EC-i 52XL 200W brushless servo motor for applications with limited space that require high torque and dynamics.

March 15, 2019 – Power management company Eaton has launched its 5P rackmount lithium-ion uninterruptible power system (UPS) in North America.

March 14, 2019 – binder USA has expanded the M12 product family with the addition of the positionable and lockable M12 male panel-mounted connector.

March 13, 2019 – ETEL has announced that its TMB+ torque motor is now available with a pre-built, closed cooling jacket. 

March 12, 2019 – Palmer Wahl Instruments, Inc. has released a new generation of fixed infrared temperature sensors, called the R series.

March 11, 2019 – SCHUNK has announced the upcoming release of its Co-act EGL-C long-stroke gripper for human/robot collaboration.

March 7, 2019 – Verti-Lift has released a hydraulic upender with a V-cradle design, ideal for ergonomic positioning rolls of steel, paper rolls, coils or spools, tubular tanks and other cylindrical products.

March 6, 2019 – Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has released the APODIUS Vision System 2D, a standalone solution for advanced carbon-fibre part inspection.

March 5, 2019 – Rittal has debuted stainless-steel variants of its Blue e+ cooling unit series for ambient conditions.

March 20, 2019 – The federal government released its annual budget yesterday, which includes a potential benefit to help workers train and upgrade their skills.

February 1, 2019 – The Ontario government has implemented an online training course program to certify workers who promote health and safety at businesses in the province. 

January 31, 2019 – It’s well known that innovation and continuous product/process improvement are necessary for manufacturers to keep or expand their market share. It’s also well known that many incentives exist to offset the costs involved.

January 21, 2019 – Emerson has launched a portable automation technology training solution that helps workers safely and efficiently maintain their plants. 

January 14, 2019 – Toronto’s Humber College is set to open the new Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation (Barrett CTI) early this year, backed by a number of major partnerships that will see advanced manufacturing companies working with students and faculty to further knowledge of Industry 4.0–enabled equipment and develop solutions for real-world problems.

January 7, 2019 – The Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium (EMC) has kick-started a new three-year program to help Northern Ontario manufacturers become more productive and globally competitive.

January 7, 2019 – Heidenhain has established its first authorized training partner in North America focusing on its CNC controls, at the Community College of Denver’s (CCD) Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC).

January 4, 2019 – SICK and Humber College have partnered to build awareness of new industry automation sensor solutions and Industry 4.0 ready sensor technologies as part of Humber College's Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation (Barrett CTI). 

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.

March 20, 2019 – WorkSafeBC has unveiled new health and safety resources for British Columbia's craft beer manufacturers.

March 11, 2019 – WorkSafeBC has announced it will focus its 2019 high-risk strategy for manufacturing on preventing slips, trips and falls, which cause a wide number of injuries throughout the sector.

March 5, 2019 – Ventra Group Company has pleaded guilty to an offence by the Ontario Ministry of Labour and has been fined $130,000 after a worker was critically injured in machinery at its plant.

February 21, 2019 – Ten years ago, tourists looking for a taste of the local life in Southern Canada may have asked for one of the region’s best wines. Today, it’s all about craft beer.From entrepreneurial newcomers to large-scale producers, brewers in Canada are cashing in on the thirst for craft beer. The number of microbreweries – producing less than 25,000 cases of 24 – has more than doubled in the last seven years.

February 13, 2019 – A fire and explosion at a wood pellet plant west of Edmonton that sent three people to hospital Monday, including one with serious injuries, also had a fire at its facility in January 2019.

February 6, 2019 – Automate 2019 takes place April 8-11, 2019 in Chicago, and organizers have announced a slate of conference sessions about automation around the theme Win the Future.

February 1, 2019 – Rex Pak Ltd, a food blending and packaging co-manufacturer, has been fined $60,000 by the Ontario Ministry of Labour after one of the Rex Pak's workers received a permanent injury while assessing a sugar-filling line at the company's industrial facility in Scarborough.

January 28, 2019 – Two Canadian manufacturing companies recently landed on the 2019 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World Index (Global 100), one of the world's leading sustainability indices.

January 22, 2019 – Ontario's Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) has created an online tool to help businesses keep track of the latest provincial and federal legislation changes. 

January 16, 2019 – The Ontario Provincial Police say they're investigating after a man died in what they describe as an industrial accident in Caledon, Ont.

January 2, 2019 – Ontario's Ministry of Labour is investigating two industrial accidents at Dofasco plants in Hamilton.

January 2, 2019 – Scientists at the University of Waterloo have created a powder that could capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from factories and power plants.

March 21, 2019 – Avidbots, a Kitchener, Ontario–based robotics company, has raised $23.6 million in a new round of funding, which it says will be used to expand its staff.

March 21, 2019 – Petuum, an artificial intelligence software provider, has partnered with CEMEX, a global building materials company, to implement software for autonomous operation at its cement plants.

March 21, 2019 – Montreal-based machine vision supplier Matrox Imaging has launched a new training website for users of its vision systems and software. 

March 18, 2019 – Dragos, Inc. a provider of industrial asset identification and threat detection platforms, has acquired Atlanta-based NexDefense, a provider of industrial controls system (ICS) visibility technology.

March 18, 2019 – One of the hottest topics at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos was the wave of automation expected from advances in artificial intelligence (AI), and the consequent displacement of workers. This anticipated realignment was depicted as good or bad news depending on who was speaking and who was listening.

March 15, 2019 – Emerson has received the industry’s first ISASecure System Security Assurance (SSA) Level 1 certification for cybersecurity in its DeltaV automation system.

March 14, 2019 – Volkswagen Group has released a video of a robot installing the headliner for its e-Golf vehicle at its Dresden, Germany facility in what it says is a world-first standard.

March 14, 2019 – Litmus Automation, an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform provider, has partnered with Siemens as part of its cloud-based open IoT operating system, MindSphere.

March 13, 2019 – Schneider Electric has joined the Cybersecurity Coalition, a collection of companies that assists government policy makers in developing the cybersecurity ecosystem.

March 11, 2019 – What is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), how does it integrate into your business and why should you care?

March 4, 2019 – ABB and Dassault Systèmes have entered a global partnership on end-to-end software solutions from product life cycle management to asset health.

March 4, 2019 – John S. Rinaldi, founder of Real Time Automation and an expert in industrial automation, has released a new book on the EtherNet/IP automation protocol.

February 18, 2019 – Modern machine safety practices call for the use of guarding, personal protective equipment and proper training, but ensuring the appropriate levels of machine safety can be a complicated task.

February 13, 2019 – When you hear the words "connected mobility," chances are the first thing that comes to mind is Wi-Fi technology that connects mobile devices like smartphones, laptops and tablets. In fact, wireless technology is what enables mobility – and mobility drives data, voice, video and location applications.

January 28, 2019 – Does the term “artificial intelligence” (AI) scare you, or does it get you excited about the future?

January 25, 2019 – Measuring the right things is just as important as measuring things right. Measuring the wrong things can get in your way and impair your ability to grow, distracting you by putting your focus on the wrong things. Success and growth come from doing more of the right things right, and less of doing the wrong things right.

January 18, 2019 – If you’ve been reading Manufacturing AUTOMATION over the past few years, you’ve come across concepts such as digital twins, augmented reality, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and digitalization.

January 16, 2019 – The January/February 2019 digital edition of Manufacturing AUTOMATION is now available!

November 29, 2018 – Manufacturers have seen massive communication and operations improvements through the convergence of informational technology (IT) – the ever-present systems sending and storing information throughout an organization – and operational technology (OT) – the systems informing direct change through monitoring and control of devices and processes. IT and OT offer significant improvements in plant efficiency when the proper technology is in place to enable communication between the systems.

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.

March 14, 2019 – Seeq Corporation is adding more than 50 system integration partners for process manufacturing customers in North America, the Middle East, Europe, South America, and Asia—along with new offices in Malaysia and Europe.

February 28, 2019 – Cascades Inc. has announced it will cease operations of two tissue paper machines located in Ontario, affecting 68 positions at the plants.

February 22, 2019 – Saputo Inc. has signed a friendly deal to buy United Kingdom-based company Dairy Crest Group plc in an agreement valued at about $1.7 billion.

February 22, 2019 – Endress+Hauser, a specialist in process measurement and instrumentation, and electrical distributor Westburne have expanded their partnership to service Manitoba with automation solutions.

February 21, 2019 – Rockwell Automation and Schlumberger have partnered to create a new joint venture, which they are calling the first fully integrated digital oilfield automation solutions provider.

February 21, 2019 – Steel producer Stelco Holdings Inc. says federal protections for the industry have helped prop up earnings as it focuses more on the domestic market.

February 20, 2019 – Alberta is giving $80 million in future royalty credits for construction of a new methanol plant in the province's northwest.

February 12, 2019 – The Open Group, a vendor-neutral technology consortium, has launched a new standard to enable the construction of scalable and secure process automation systems.

January 11, 2019 – Algoma Steel, Canada's second-largest steel producer, will receive investments from the federal and Ontario governments totalling $150 million. 

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.

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. 

March 20, 2019 – Ford Motor Co. is repackaging a previously announced manufacturing investment in the Detroit area and now says it will spend $900 million and create 900 new jobs over the next four years.

March 19, 2019 – Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday it will shift 550 jobs to its Kentucky Truck Plant to boost production of its Expedition and Lincoln Navigator to meet growing demand for its large SUVs.

March 18, 2019 – President Donald Trump stepped up his pressure on General Motors to reopen an Ohio manufacturing plant that recently closed and put 1,700 people out of work.

March 15, 2019 – U.S. regulators charged Volkswagen and former CEO Martin Winterkorn with defrauding investors during its massive diesel emissions scandal.

March 14, 2019 – Toyota Motor Corp. announced Thursday it is investing an additional $750 million at five U.S. plants that will bring nearly 600 new jobs, including the production of two hybrid vehicles for the first time at its Kentucky facility.

March 13, 2019 – Gov. Mike DeWine isn't optimistic that General Motors will bring a line of new vehicles to the sprawling Ohio assembly plant the automaker shut down last week, possibly for good.

March 4, 2019 – General Motors will end production this week at the first of five North American plants it wants to close by early next year as part of a company-wide restructuring.

February 28, 2019 – Canada's auto industry was left on the sidelines in a major spending commitment by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles this week, just as analysts were raising concerns about the future of the company's Brampton, Ont. assembly plant.

Fiat Chrysler on Tuesday announced a $4.5-billion investment plan it said would increase its workforce in Detroit and the surrounding suburbs by about 6,500 jobs to build all-new or next-generation SUVs, in a move touted by officials as an uncommon opportunity to revive the regional economy.

February 26, 2019 – Vancouver-based electric vehicle manufacturer Electra Meccanica Vehicles Corp. has opened a new production facility in China for its SOLO electric vehicle (EV) line.

February 19, 2019 – Japanese carmaker Honda plans to close its car factory in western England in 2021, a fresh blow to the British economy as businesses struggle with the uncertainty associated with leaving the European Union next month.

February 14, 2019 – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. will expand its network of eight Canadian manufacturing facilities with a new factory in Quebec – its second in the province.