Tuesday, March 25, 2014 – Productivity Alberta and GO Productivity in collaboration with the National Research Council-Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium (EMC), WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation and Interactive Manufacturing Innovation Network (iMiN) have brought together a delegation of Alberta (13), Saskatchewan (3) and Manitoba (1) manufacturing companies to Ontario on a Benchmarking Mission.
Our Western Manufacturing friends are looking to benchmark ideas for implementing lean manufacturing principles and systems! The objective of the mission is to visit stand-out manufacturing facilities in industrially strong Ontario communities to learn best practices, share and exchange ideas, and build relationships. For some time, Ontario manufacturers have been ahead of the curve as a result of forward thinking, access to expertise, industry demands and in some cases, customer pressure. The suppliers to the oil sands in Alberta have not had these specific pressures or opportunities. That said, this is an opportunity to be inspired by your operations and the application of these principles and more importantly engage in peer to peer discussion about the real life challenges and expectations for deploying a lean organization.
Our Alberta delegates will participate in plant tours on Tuesday, March 25th and Wednesday, March 26th and be inspired by such operations at Toyota, Ontario Drive and Gear (ODG), David Wilson Manufacturing Ltd, Anchor Danly (Windsor) and CenterLine (Windsor) showcasing their application of their lean manufacturing principles and systems more importantly engage in peer to peer discussion about the real life challenges and expectations for deploying a lean organization.
“The energy sector companies in western Canada will be impressed with the depth of innovation and expertise that Ontario manufacturers bring to the table,” said Sandra Pupatello, CEO for the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation. “Ontario manufacturers are leaders in advanced technologies and excel at meeting stringent production schedules by focusing on lean technologies and process improvements. Our companies have the attributes and capacity to be a value-added link in the supply chain.”
Al Diggins, President & General Manager of Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium also added, “We are delighted to participate in coordinating such an event with Productivity Alberta, GO Productivity, National Research Council-Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) and WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation. Manufacturing excellence is part of our grassroots activity and has been bringing manufacturers together to benchmark and learn from each other for decades. It’s only natural to extend this beyond the borders of the province. I anticipate this is the beginning of a wonderful initiative between manufacturers of all sectors and in all regions of Canada. By leveraging best practices and building relationships where we feel comfortable to ‘Share with Pride’, we not only learn the value of leveraging strengths but we learn to work together to strengthen manufacturing for the good of our Canadian Economy.”
As part of the delegation’s visit to Windsor, WindsorEssex Economic Development Corp. will welcome the participants at a networking session to introduce the Alberta delegation to prominent local Windsor companies.
For more information, please contact:
Jeanine Lassaline-Berglund,
Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium Field Service Advisor,
Senior Project Lead, IMIN Community Development
Mobile: 519-365-5009 | jeanine@emccanada.org
Lana Drouillard,
Director, Marketing & Communications
Windsor Essex Development Corporation
519-997-2394 | ldrouillard@choosewindsoressex.com
