November 27, 2018
The new North American Competence Center, located in Independence, Ohio, will service and support the Canadian and the US hydraulic attachments market. The organization will provide more flexibility and customer focus over the entire sales and service process by supporting the division’s complete product range. For the customers, this will ensure even greater efficiency, shorter lead times, and establish a one-stop solution for all product, parts, and aftermarket service needs.
While increasing operational performance, the North American team will benefit from sharing profound product and application knowledge. The Competence Center will include customer service, centralized inventory, parts and service support for the entire North American market. The new set-up is in line with customers’ expectations for the region, and provides a better competitive advantage.
“We saw an opportunity to create synergies on all levels, while keeping a clear focus on developing a high-performing sales and field service team,” said Goran Popovski, President, Hydraulic Attachment Tools division. “Instead of two organizations running independently, we will have one centralized North American operational hub and that will contribute to the success of the division and support our customers in a sustainable and profitable way.”
The integration will take place effective December 1st. A launch of North American Competence Center for Hydraulic Attachment Tools supports Epiroc objective to be a stronger partner for customers in construction, infrastructure, mining and natural resources industries and will bring even greater focus on productivity, efficiency and expertise.
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.
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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.”
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