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Siemens Canada launches Sirius Innovations Tour 2012

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:11:02 +0000

Siemens Canada has launched a new line of modular "click" technology designed to limit the amount of wiring and adjustments needed during panel assembly, and it's taking this technology on…

Sirius Innovations, a portfolio for switching, starting, protecting and monitoring, will be touring various cities across Canada between March and May. The Sirius Innovations Tour is a half-day session that introduces the product line's attributes, advantages and applications specific to the user's area of business. Attendees will have the opportunity to demo the product first-hand, and to speak to a Siemens expert one-on-one.

The session will include presentations showcasing Sirius Innovations, an interactive "Challenge Period" that allows attendees to put the Sirius line to the test, and a product demonstration session for a full review of contactors, starter protectors, motor starters and current monitoring relays. To learn when the tour is hitting your area, and to register, visit https://www.siemens.ca/web/portal/en/IA_DT/sirius/Pages/Tour2012.aspx.

Electro-Motive workers ratify closeout deal with Caterpillar

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:05:31 +0000

About 95 percent of the unionized workers at Electro-Motive Canada have ratified a closeout deal that will allow the orderly shutdown of the U.S.-owned company's locomotive manufacturing plant in southwestern…

The London-based company, Progress Rail Services, a unit of heavy equipment giant Caterpillar Inc., had employed about 500 hourly employees at the plant who were represented by the Canadian Auto Workers union.

The employees unanimously backed the deal on severance and pensions negotiated by the union with the company after the announced shutdown three weeks ago.

The closeout deal provides three weeks pay for each year unionized workers have been on the job - a measure that is beyond current provincial labour standards.

The agreement also pays workers ratification bonuses of $1,500 each, and limited company-paid health care benefits, while Progress will complete funding the employees' pension trust.

As well, Progress will pay the union $350,000 to fund settlement of all grievances, establish an adjustment program and other measures.

The manufacturer said it will issue cheques in the next two weeks and expects individual severance payments will range between a low of $13,000 for workers with three years on the job and high of about $148,000 for employees with 30 years on the job.

"The agreement, which was ratified today by union members, provides a full settlement of all claims and grievances, present, past and future, that the union or any bargaining unit employee may have against the company," the locomotive maker said in a release.

"While it is regrettable not being able to reach an agreement with the union that would have sustained the London plant, (Electro-Motive) is pleased that the parties were able to successfully negotiate a generous severance agreement for represented employees."

CAW president Ken Lewenza said the closure and shutdowns of truck, auto parts and other plants in southwestern Ontario have hit the region hard and require an industrial strategy from Ottawa to help the troubled manufacturing sector recover.

Instead, the economy is shifting towards the Western Canadian oil and other resources sectors, propping up a high dollar that is killing manufacturers in central Canada.

"We need to talk about a jobs strategy in manufacturing," Lewenza told a conference call. "We're talking only about energy in Alberta."

The locomotive plant began operations in 1951 and has many employees with decades on the job.

Electro-Motive shut down the plant early this month and is moving the work to a plant in Indiana after locking out the Local 27 CAW hourly workers in a pay dispute.

The company had demanded wage cuts of nearly half and other concessions so the plant could be in line with labour costs at its U.S. and other plants.

The union refused such large concessions and the company locked out the workers on January 1. The plant closure led critics to question federal foreign investment rules in Canada.

The shutdown will hit the industrial economy in southwestern Ontario hard and cut another 1,700 spinoff jobs linked to the locomotive plant.

Ontario's manufacturing economy has been battered in recent years from the restructuring of the North American auto sector, as well as other blue-collar industries.

While economic power in Canada has shifted to the resource-rich Western provinces, the high dollar and the streamlining at GM, Ford and Chrysler have led to the shutdown of several auto and truck plants across southern Ontario, home of Canada's auto sector.

The provincial jobless rate jumped to 8.1 percent last month, well above the national average.

Retain older workers rather than replace them, says Canadian Chamber of Commerce

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:57:51 +0000

In its discussion paper, "Incenting Seniors to Continue Working," the Canadian Chamber of Commerce reinforces the argument that retaining older workers in the workforce is part of the solution to…

"By the start of the next decade, people old enough to leave the labour force will outnumber those old enough to join it. In Canada, we predict a labour shortage of nearly one million people by 2020," said Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "We have been talking about this challenge for years; it's time to start looking at concrete solutions."

Seniors represent a constituency that needs to be better integrated into the workforce, argues the Chamber.

"They possess the essential skills employers need. Many want to continue working and view work as an important part of their life balance."

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce believes a new business culture aimed at retaining, rather than replacing, senior workers is the correct approach to pursue. The discussion paper identifies areas that must be addressed to pave the way for the retention of older workers, including pension and tax reform. CLICK HERE for a copy of the paper.

ERP empowers equipment manufacturer to reduce lead times and cost, and improve productivity

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:45:38 +0000

Hayward Gordon designs, manufactures and distributes process equipment, products and systems relating to pumping, mixing, filtration and bulk solids handling. With 78 employees and branch locations in Vancouver, Calgary and…

Though very strong in North America, Hayward Gordon has established a growing global presence and is exporting to South America and countries such as Madagascar, Australia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Chile.

In 1990, the company decided to run its operations on Syspro.

"We went through a number of false starts before settling on Syspro," said company president John Hayward. "We used other ERP packages, and even tried to make one ourselves. When we realized what an immense task it would be to create and maintain our own ERP, we went back to the market and eventually chose Syspro."

The decision to invest in Syspro was based on three main considerations.

"Firstly, the work we do is highly varied - we're more of a job shop than build-to-stock. We felt that Syspro's Bill of Materials (BOM), Work in Progress (WIP), and Requirements Planning modules lent themselves well to a job-shop environment. Secondly, Syspro's integration of operations and finance was excellent - far better than anything else we looked at. Finally, we wanted to be sure that the ERP we chose would be properly maintained and supported. Many of the ERP companies we considered back then don't exist anymore. Syspro has stayed, and has supported its product very well," he said.

In recent years, the company has faced a major challenge - the strengthening of the Canadian dollar.

"That's put immense pressure on us to become more productive and to reduce our costs," said Hayward. "In response, we have been implementing Lean practices, which has a lot to do with leveraging our ERP. We underwent a very extensive business-process mapping project to find areas in which we could create efficiencies, and many of the ways we chose to streamline our business involve Syspro."

For example, Hayward Gordon has implemented electronic time tracking in the shop, and has automated its labour posting function.

"We get the tracking in real time now," said Hayward, "and by having Syspro do it, we've been able to eliminate a data entry position. We've also integrated Microsoft CRM directly into Syspro, thereby automating our order entry. Now people in the field can enter their orders automatically, eliminating the need for duplicate entry."

Soon, the company is hoping to implement electronic funds transfer (EFT) to streamline its payables.

"The timing for all these efficiencies has been good, because despite the market challenges, we've been seeing some growth. Getting more out of Syspro has allowed us to expand without breaking apart at the seams," Hayward says.

Leveraging Syspro has not only reduced costs, it has helped Hayward Gordon reliably meet its lead times. The company has compressed its lead times and made them more reliable, and taken advantage of the fact that processes which used to run consecutively can now run concurrently.

For example, when an order is entered, it gets reviewed and the credit check is triggered along with a customer number request - electronically and simultaneously. Previously, a paper file would spend many days travelling to multiple departments for approval before the order was placed. Now, if there's a problem with the order, action can be taken right away.

"It's much more efficient, and it's helping us serve our customers better," Hayward said.

Commenting on Syspro's ROI, he offers a useful metric: "We've seen our revenue per employee increase by around 65 percent in the past four years. You can't do that unless you build into your company the ability to grow sales without growing costs in lockstep. If you don't have the right infrastructure in place, your sales can cost more to make than they're worth. That's what productivity is about. If you have the right systems in place, it gives your company extra capacity without adding costs. That's how we've been able to measure what Syspro has done for us.

"We're very happy with Syspro - the product, the support and the ongoing development. The fact that we've been with it as long as we have says a lot. We continue to build it into our operations in a very important way."

Odete Passingham is marketing manager with Syspro Canada.

Altium crosses ECAD-MCAD divide at SolidWorks World 2012

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:07:08 +0000

Altium business development manager Lawrence Romine spoke with Manufacturing AUTOMATION sister publication, Design Product News, at SolidWorks World 2012 in San Diego, Calif. Romine outlined how Altium product design software…

Wago launches 2012 Innovation in Automation tour

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:49:48 +0000

Wago Corporation's 2012 Innovation in Automation Tour (IIAT) across Canada and the U.S. commences in March with vans in Mississippi and southern California.

Essentially mobile tradeshows, Wago's IIAT vans have travelled nearly 340,000 miles throughout the U.S. and Canada over six years. This has enabled Wago to connect with industrial professionals unable to attend tradeshows, while providing entire engineering staffs with hands-on product demos.

Featuring new exterior graphics, twin IIAT vans are equipped with pick-and-play displays carrying Wago's newest automation, electronic interface and interconnect solutions. Visits are co-ordinated by Wago representatives and field application engineers to address specific application issues. Free product samples and literature are available.

View the IIAT interior and request a stop at http://www.wago.us/innovationtour.htm.

Visit http://www.wago.us/products/10947.htm to find out when IIAT will be in your area.

Honeywell competition challenges engineering students to solve manufacturing issues

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:23:13 +0000

Honeywell's 2012 Americas student competition is challenging engineering students to use simulation software to create solutions to critical issues facing manufacturing companies.

The UniSim Design Challenge is held in conjunction with the Honeywell Users Group (HUG) Americas symposium, the company's largest customer event, and is open to students pursuing engineering degrees at accredited universities in North and South America.

Students must use Honeywell's UniSim Design Suite software to create ways to make plants safer, as well as more efficient, reliable and sustainable, while continuing to meet ever-growing production demands. The Americas competition is one of three held globally, and is one of several Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) initiatives designed to encourage engineering studies.

Winners of this year's competition will be flown to Phoenix, Ariz., to attend HUG Americas, where they will present details of their entries and network with industry experts and potential employers. The conference will be held June 10-15 in Phoenix.

Last year's winners, Pedro Amer and Nahir Torres from the Universidad de Oriente Venezuela, created a process simulation model of a high-pressure steam generation boiler. The pair demonstrated how simulation can train operators to evaluate different scenarios in production and design processes offline.

"Student competitions such as this serve two critical purposes," said Norm Gilsdorf, president of Honeywell Process Solutions and an alumnus of Purdue University's School of Engineering. "First, they bring fresh thinking that help solve real problems faced by real manufacturing facilities. And second, they show the innovators of tomorrow how they can put their engineering skills to use in the real world, strengthening our future workforce."

UniSim Design is used around the world to design and test processes before they are implemented in manufacturing plants. Doing this ultimately allows new plants to begin production faster, and also helps existing plants improve operations. Additionally, this makes processes safer and, in some cases, helps plants use less energy in production.

Interested students must submit abstracts and presentations by April 20 to enter the HUG Americas student competition. For more information about the competition, visit Honeywell's Student Engineers Facebook page.

www.honeywell.com

Cloud ERP technology

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:09:25 +0000

Plex Systems Inc. has added increased functionality to its Plex Online Cloud ERP for manufacturers solution to support complex assembly processes at manufacturing facilities. The new options allow manufacturers to…

Honda recalls more than 2,700 minivans in Canada

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:59:03 +0000

Honda is recalling 2,790 Honda Odyssey vans in Canada as part of a larger recall because the rear doors can fall on people unexpectedly — and have on at least…

The problem affects minivans from the 2008 and 2009 model years that have power lift gates.

The carmaker is recalling nearly 46,000 Odyssey minivans in the United States.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says on its website that gas can leak out of the struts that support the lift gates and the doors could close unexpectedly, increasing the risk of injury.

Honda says the problem has caused two minor injuries and that the company will replace both power lift gate struts for free.

The company says it will send letters to van owners next month with instructions about the recall.

- With files from The Canadian Press

CAD/CAM software enhancements

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:36:07 +0000

Siemens PLM Software's NX software, the company's fully integrated computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering analysis (CAD/CAM/CAE) solution, now includes its widely used NX Nastran software for solving challenging simulation problems.…