HAMILTON, Ontario, July 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), the industry-led organization leading Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster, has announced a collaborative funding effort worth $28.8 million to support nine cutting-edge projects across Canada. NGen’s contribution of $11.3 million is leveraging an additional $17.5 million in investments from 27 industry partners.

“Manufacturing supports 1.7 million jobs across Canada, and is one of the key drivers of our economy,” said Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “Our Government’s investment in the NGen Supercluster is resulting in Made in Canada solutions that improve our quality of life, create quality well-paying jobs and promote clean growth.”

The projects, which combine Canada’s manufacturing strengths with new and emerging technologies, were selected for NGen funding by a panel of independent experts. Twenty-four of the industry partners are small and medium-sized companies.

“The advanced manufacturing projects we support combine some of the best in knowledge, technologies and production capability that Canada has to offer,” said Jayson Myers, CEO, NGen. “Collaboration allows Canadian companies to create leading edge solutions for Canada that can then be leveraged to capture new market opportunities around the world.”

Each of the nine projects approved for NGen co-investment will result in unique manufacturing capabilities in Canada and provide important benefits for all Canadians. The projects include:

• The digitization of a hot-ladle steel production process to minimize manual intervention, reduce process variation, and improve final metal properties. Project lead: ArcelorMittal Dofasco (Hamilton, ON). Partners: IBM Canada Ltd. (Markham, ON), Tenova Goodfellow Inc. (Mississauga, ON), and i5O Canada (Windsor, ON).
   
• The creation of the world’s most sophisticated steel forming press to support domestic shipbuilding on Canada’s East and West coasts. Project lead: Conrex Steel Ltd. (Etobicoke, ON). Partners: Macrodyne Technologies Inc. (Concord, ON), Source Industrial Services Inc. (Brampton, ON).
   
• The integration of medical science and precise imaging and measurements with industrial 3D printing to revolutionize the manufacturing of orthopedic implants. Project lead: Orthopedic Innovation Centre (Winnipeg, MB). Project partners: Pega Medical Inc. (Laval, QC), Spinologics  (Montreal, QC), Conceptualiz (Halifax, NS), Precision ADM Inc (Winnipeg, MB).
   
• New technologies designed to reduce the environmental impact of oil sands production. Project lead: Exergy Solutions (Calgary, AB). Partners: Suncor Energy (Calgary, AB), Precision ADM Inc. (Winnipeg, MB).
   
• The development of a system to manufacture flexible, transparent electrodes and heaters with clean technology applications such as batteries, electronics and solar cells. Project lead: NanoCnet (Waterloo, ON). Partner: Evercloak (Kitchener, ON).   
   
• Development of a process for production of graphene and thin-film membranes to be applied primarily in the cleantech sector. Project lead: Evercloak (Kitchener, ON). Partner: ZEN Graphene (Thunder Bay, ON).
   
• A new manufacturing process designed to transform the way automotive components are made, allowing cycle times to be cut in half, increasing productivity, and decreasing costs. Project lead: MPC (Oro-Medonte, ON). Partner: Niigon Machines Ltd.  (Vaughan, ON).
   
• A solution to improve tool life and lower costs by reducing the amount of lubricant required in manufacturing processes. Project lead: KSL (Burlington, ON). Partner: Wolfedale Tool & Stamping (Mississauga, ON).
   
• A Microsoft Azure software platform to enable real-time monitoring of production assets to help manufacturers identify inefficiencies, boost productivity and reduce waste. Project lead: Panevo (Vancouver, BC). Partner: Accuenergy (Toronto, ON). 

For more information on each project, including industry partner quotes, please visit this fact page.

About NGen – Next Generation Manufacturing Canada
NGen is the industry-led not-for-profit organization that leads Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster. Its mandate is to help build world-leading advanced manufacturing capabilities in Canada for the benefit of Canadians. NGen works to strengthen collaboration among its membership of more than 2,500 manufacturers, technology companies, innovation centres, and researchers, and provides funding and business support to industry-led initiatives that aim to develop, apply, or scale-up transformative manufacturing solutions in Canada for commercialization in global markets