November 20, 2018
The recently held Mazak Canada Discover Automation with Mazak event drew much attention from regional manufacturers, area students and the media, so much so that a third day was added. During the event from November 8-9, Mazak Canada provided live demonstrations of machine and robotic automation and showed how it can truly benefit manufacturing production and overall productivity. It also hosted an appreciation night for VIP guests, including members of the Canadian Tooling Manufacturing Association and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.
Mazak Canada quickly added the third day to Discover Automation with Mazak after learning that a group of 55 students from the Essex County School Board in the Windsor area also expressed great interest in attending the event. November 12 was then officially deemed Mazak Discover Automation for Students day. With the announcement, more teachers from across Southwestern Ontario contacted General Manager Ray Buxton about bringing their students. Representatives of the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities also wanted to get involved, and the attendance quickly swelled to 250 high school juniors and seniors, along with college students, by the Monday of the event.
CTV News was on hand and featured a video of the Discover Automation with Mazak event, showing how today’s manufacturing environments are clean and modern and offer challenging and rewarding career opportunities. Many students and their parents that came to the event still held outdated perceptions of manufacturing as dangerous, dirty and boring work, but Mazak showed them the reality is that it’s exciting and cutting edge.
CTV News - Mazak Discover Automation
Discover Automation with Mazak attendees experienced demonstrations of the Mazak VARIAXIS i-300 AWC, QUICK TURN 250MSY with the GR100 gantry robot and the QUICK TURN 250 with RoboJob. Renishaw shared its Renishaw Equator™ 500 and showed off probing techniques on the VC-500A/5X. JMP Engineering also assisted with a Fanuc CR35 collaborative robot loading demonstration on a VCN-530C. In addition to the demonstrations, GoPro cameras inside the machines captured live video of pallet and tool changing mechanisms and Mazak machining capabilities.
With Canadian manufacturing suffering from a growing labour shortage, the participation of industry in skills development is emerging as a vital component in hiring and retention.
The needs are stark: The Canadian Exporters and Manufacturers Association says almost 40% of its members have jobs they can’t fill. Five years from now, 60% expect to be short-staffed, especially when it comes to skilled trades. Statistics Canada forecasts the country’s labour force growth rate will remain below 0.2% for the rest of the decade, below replacement levels.
This growing shortage is affecting companies of all sizes. Already, some manufacturers acknowledge losing out on contracts because they can’t find the manpower to fulfill them.
In reality, the challenge is two-fold: to replenish and expand the workforce to help close the gap between the number of job seekers and vacancies through 2030 when the last baby boomers reach age 65, and ensure workers get opportunities throughout their careers to upgrade or add to their skillset as current technologies evolve and new ones emerge. Festo, through Festo Didactic, one of the world leading provider of equipment and solutions for technical education, intends to help Canada meet this challenge on both fronts. In essence, the approach Festo has always taken is that the learning never stops.
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New Product
Emerson recently introduced the ASCO™ Series 209 proportional flow control valves, which offer the highest standards of precision, pressure ratings, flow characteristics and energy efficiency available in a purpose-built, compact architecture. With this combination of size and performance, Series 209 valves allow users to precisely regulate the flow of fluid in a wide range of devices that require exacting performance, like those found in the medical equipment, food and beverage, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industries.
Accuracy, response time and repeatability are critical in high-precision flow control applications, such as controlling tool speed in dental chairs, the flow of steam in coffee makers, water flow in cooling systems and hydrogen flow in fuel cells. Series 209 valves have low hysteresis (less than or equal to 5%), excellent repeatability (less than or equal to 1%) and high sensitivity (less than or equal to 0.2%) that contribute to their precision.
To find out more, click here
Featured Product
Teledyne FLIR Integrated Imaging Solutions is pleased to announce the all new Ladybug6— the latest addition to its field proven Ladybug series. Ladybug6 is the leading high-resolution camera designed to capture 360-degree spherical images from moving platforms in all-weather conditions. Its industrial grade design and out-of-the-box factory calibration produces 72 Megapixel (MP) images with pixel values that are spatially accurate within +/- 2 mm at 10-meter distance.
“The new Teledyne Ladybug6 is designed for mobile mapping and all-weather inspection projects requiring excellent image quality and high resolution,” said Mike Lee, Senior Product Manager at Teledyne FLIR. “With the addition of Ladybug6, we are now pleased to offer a wider variety of spherical cameras with higher resolutions ranging from 30 MP to 72 MP.”
To learn more, click here
