The provincial government has approved a change to the Professional Engineers Act that will remove an industrial exception as of Sept. 1, 2013. Any customization of design changes to production equipment or machinery will have to be licensed by Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), and representatives from the province’s leading manufacturing association are none too happy about it.

“The act of ‘stamping’ does not indicate that any real calculations or engineering was done, only that the company has an engineer on staff,” says Rob Hattin, CEO of ProVantage Automation, an automation integrator in Ancaster, Ont. and chairman of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME). “In any industrial design or manufacturing company, the most constrained resource is the engineering department (and the most expensive to operate). PEO just made Ontario manufacturers even less competitive.”

The Ontario chapter of CME is also wondering where the legislation came from.

“This came out of nowhere,” says Ian Howcroft, vice-president of CME Ontario. “And we haven’t got any clear answers as to why they’re doing this. Their reasoning and evidence has been completely anecdotal thus far.”

Marisa Sterling, an engineer and enforcement officer at PEO who is leading the project, says the regulation is to put Ontario’s manufacturers on the same page as others across Canada, who are already required to have a licensed engineer approve custom machine designs and changes for specific production runs.

“This project is about workplace injury prevention, and as it stands the health and safety act and professional engineers act are not in in harmony. They’ve been like that since 1984,” she says. “Manufacturing’s got the highest on-the-job injury rate of any industry in Canada, and now the Ontario government is taking action to harmonize those two pieces of legislation to boost public safety in manufacturing.”

However, the PEO says it has implemented provisions to ensure the transition is smooth.

When the exception was enacted in 1984, requirements existed for Ontario’s Ministry of Labour engineers to approve predevelopment reviews of proposed industrial processes and associated equipment. This requirement was replaced by Regulation 851 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which introduced the current requirement for industry to have professional engineers approve Pre-Start Health and Safety Reviews (PSRs) prior to the start-up of newly installed or altered production equipment or machinery.

If a PSR finds deficiencies, the equipment or machinery can’t be used until the necessary changes are made and are PSR approved.

Unique to Ontario

Sterling says no other province is exempt from licensed engineering practices.

“This is an Ontario-unique situation. The benefit is that Ontario repealing this section in the act now puts regulation on par with the rest of the country, which we hope will make it easier for manufacturers to move across the country,” she says.

Howcroft disagrees, suggesting that the province’s manufacturing sector has much more in common with – and more competition from – industry in Michigan and Ohio, specifically in the automotive sector.

“These new regulations are going to seriously hamper our ability to compete with our major competition, which is not relative the rest of Canadian industry.”

Sterling says the PEO has identified three ways to license modifications to existing equipment and machinery.

“If a facility is buying equipment and installing as per instruction, then there’s no impact. If it’s replacing parts and maintenance that’s ‘same as,’ there’s no engineering involved, so there’s no impact. Its only those making custom designs or modifications to equipment.”

The level of impact (and costs) will be determined by the path a company chooses to take.

The company can have the person doing the work licensed. PEO has extended its financial credit program to waive 50% of the application fee for employees identified in a manufacturer’s compliance plan.

Another choice is hiring professional engineers as full-time employees to oversee the work, so there’s no license required.

Or hire licensed professional engineers on a contract basis to supervise or perform modifications.

The PEO has also established Engineering Intern Program seminars, and will administer professional practice exams at job sites for groups of at least 20 people.

Under the regulations that enables industry to transition to the new requirement, companies that file a compliance plan with PEO before Sept 1., 2013 will be provided with a one-year buffer to meet the new requirements.

Hattin is not convinced a one-year phase-in is an all-in solution.

“Having companies voluntarily sign up for the one-year phase-in is like having innocent people register with the jailer for something they didn’t do,” he says. “Is the PEO really trying to kill what’s left of machinery manufacturing in Canada? Additional fees that manufacturers now incur when they install equipment are going to be significant. And we can forget about innovation.”

Hattin is convinced the exemption from the Engineers Act is appropriate, as it was when it was enacted, even before the high level of design automation that’s now common in today’s manufacturing sector.

“The term ‘industrial engineering’ is very vague…what does it apply to?” he says. “What’s changed, except design capability has gotten better.  These new regulations are poorly crafted and it allows inexperienced PEng’s in one discipline to ‘stamp’ drawings in a discipline that the engineer has no competency in, or even any experience.”

Howcroft says the CME has taken action against the repeal of the exemption and hopes to come to a resolution before the Sept. 1 deadline, but was unable to provide details on the direction the association is taking.

In the meantime, PEO is encouraging manufacturers to become familiar with new regulations through a set of online audit tools available at www.peo.on.ca.

Comments? E-mail mpowell@plant.ca.

This article appears in the April 2013 edition of PLANT.

The Windsor-based company has agreed to resume payments for employees and retiree benefits starting this week while both sides continue to negotiate a broader agreement for the facility’s closure, the union said.

National Auto Radiator has also agreed to stop any manufacturing or shipments from the plant for 30 days. In return, the union will neither picket nor strike.

“The fate of the facility has not changed, but this agreement will allow us the space to negotiate a closure agreement, instead of having our members locked out, and retirees cut off of health benefits,” said CAW National President Ken Lewenza.

Employees were locked out last Thursday when the union rejected wage, pension and benefit concessions from the company. National Auto Radiator also stopped benefit payments to retirees.

At the time of the lockout, there were 17 union workers at the facility and “a few dozen” that were already laid off, Lewenza said in an interview.

The company also has 200 retirees receiving pension benefits.

©The Canadian Press

Established in 1957, the institute is one of the largest engineering schools in France, providing a fully integrated approach to education, research and innovation. It collaborates with other leading universities internationally and fosters strong relationships with industry, such as its partnership with Swedish bearing manufacturer SKF.

One area of focus is the multistage analysis of lubricated contacts, which is performed by the Tribogyr test machine, often referred to as “the Beast of Lyon.” This complex, six-tonne contraption of metal alloys, sensors and computers housed in its own environmentally controlled room sits on a special pad to isolate it from outside vibration. It’s the largest and most sophisticated test machine ever built to measure friction and lubricant film thickness in heavily loaded bearing applications.

The machine, designed by the Contacts and Structural Mechanics Laboratory (LaMCoS) at INSA and operating since 2005, provides new insights into the behaviour of friction in rolling elements.

Tribogyr simulates the friction behaviour at full scale, which means it handles forces up to 3,000 N. It operates at speeds of up to 22,000 rpm, measuring frictional forces and moments in different directions given independently by the two contacting surfaces – the rolling elements and the flange. The contact gap can be five millimetres – huge for heavily loaded lubricated contacts.

“At full operating conditions, the contact could generate more than 10 kilowatts of heat dissipation, compared with a large commercial test machine of less than one kilowatt,” explains Guillermo Morales-Espejel, a visiting professor at INSA and a senior scientist at the SKF Engineering and Research Centre in the Netherlands.

“Large size spinning contacts don’t behave like small-size sprinning contacts. Larger contacts have larger surface velocity asymmetry within it. Film thickness and friction are determined by the speed of [the moving] surfaces. Asymmetry in the speed means asymmetry in the film thickness and the created friction, which is not easily calculated.”

But it can be measured. The major benefit of the Tribogyr is its accuracy. Thanks to new research it also measures film thickness. This supplies an image of lubricant flow that provides information about its behaviour.

Looking to the future, Tribogyr is opening up new testing and simulation opportunities as it continues to demonstrate how collaboration between research and industry delivers worthwhile results for both.

Source: Evolution – the business and technology magazine from SKF (www.skf.com).

Comments? E-mail jterrett@plant.ca.

This article appears in the March/April 2013 edition of PLANT West.

For four decades, with skilful strategy and a bit of timely luck, The Filter Shop at B.G.E. has more than held its own against much larger international competitors. Now, after years with CEO Darrel Sutton in charge, this Alberta-based, family run filter manufacturer is undergoing orderly succession with his daughter, Roberta MacGillivray, as its new president.

One might say Sutton got swept into the filter business. In 1968, after a year at the University of Alberta, he decided to halt studies and look for work while stipulating one condition of employment: it had to be a job where he could get enough time off to pursue his personal passion for competitive curling.
B. Guthrie Engineering, an Edmonton firm specializing in HVAC equipment, gave the promising young curler a shot. Sutton was entrusted with a key sales position that covered Alberta and Saskatchewan in the engineering firm’s then-new offshoot, B.G.E. Service and Supply Ltd. The subsidiary distributed brand name HVAC filtration products from various manufacturers, among them American Air Filtration (later, AAF Canada).

Payback for believing in Sutton came not only from his sales success. That time off for practise delivered the Alberta rink – led by the legendary skip Hec Gervais and including Sutton – the 1974 Brier.

For Sutton, 1974 proved auspicious for another reason when owner Bud Guthrie named the curling champ general manager of B.G.E. Service and Supply.

Over six years, Sutton had learned much about filtration. He got into the business just as Alberta’s energy sector was poised for growth and when there were changes in the air for indoor air quality: it was getting more attention from industry, health and environmental regulators. That included countering the negative impact of near invisible, micron-sized particles from tobacco smoke and other sources on people and production. In short, filters were capturing not only dust but new business.

On Sutton’s watch from 1974 to 1981, B.G.E. experienced dramatic growth. It added branches in Calgary and Saskatoon and in 1981, the parent engineering firm offered to sell B.G.E. to several employees, including Sutton. The new stand-alone firm continued to operate as B.G.E. Service & Supply, but Darrel also coined a very appropriate trade name, The Filter Shop. As B.G.E. Service & Supply celebrates 45 years in business this year, it will be re-branded The Filter Shop at B.G.E.

Eventually, Sutton bought out the other partners and The Filter Shop transformed itself into a privately held family concern. Darrel’s wife Dorothy and his brother Dean worked in accounting, while daughter Kelly was with the company for 11 years before stepping away to raise her family. The recently appointed president Roberta graduated from the University of Alberta in Commerce, and initially worked in IT before returning to the family fold.

It took some time for The Filter Shop to move beyond supply and servicing to manufacturing. That shift began in the 1980s – by accident more than design. Its major supplier, AAF Canada, discontinued a stamped-header bag filter popular with customers. Sutton still saw the need for this product and invented what is now known as the BioPac. The Filter Shop bought AAF’s remaining inventory of the stamped-header product – enough to keep existing customers supplied for about two years – and a short-term interruption was transformed into a long-term opportunity. “It was a bit like finding a diamond in the backyard,” says Sutton.

Meanwhile, with the blessing of AAF (which remains an exclusive supplier today) Sutton and company sought to replicate the BioPac, something the company did two years later just as the acquired inventory was running out. Patented in 1991, the BioPac filter was designed with a polypropylene diffusion panel header with double-reinforced pockets in custom lengths and capacities.

Transition to manufacturing

The BioPac filter did more than help turn The Filter Shop into a manufacturer. It also underlined for Sutton a lesson learned by other Alberta suppliers and manufacturers – that products and components geared for use in Florida or Kentucky don’t always work well in Alberta’s extreme cold and heat.

Sutton didn’t rest on his laurels. Continuous improvement meant that once a bag reaches the end of its life, 70% of its components can be recycled and re-used by The Filter Shop to produce “new” filters.

In 1986, the company bolstered its credentials when it opened its Biolab Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Services Division, which offers air-quality testing and HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter certification. BioLab technicians are trained to test accredited biological containment cabinets – to ensure they meet stringent standards set by the National Sanitation Foundation in the US.

Next, B.G.E. developed its own particle-size-based filter-testing laboratory to ensure its products’ quality and performance. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has subsequently adopted laser-based particle-sampling testing as a protocol.

In the late 1980s, The Filter Shop faced another potentially crippling disruption to its AAF supply chain. A small, 10-employee Edmonton manufacturer, FilterTech Industries, supplied the necessary inventory. That cooperation later led the two firms to join forces in 1989. The Filter Shop took over some FilterTech products that became part of a line-up of about 100 products that serve the commercial market, institutions (schools, government, and health care-facilities, including operating rooms), high-tech (pharmaceuticals, microelectronics), manufacturing and resource industries (oil sands, forestry and mining).

With the addition of FilterTech Industries to B.G.E., another Western Canadian-born product – Red Excell, was developed in conjunction with AAF.

“The Red Excell combined with a BioPac filter is the Cadillac of filtration for our Western Canadian customers,” says Sutton.

Meanwhile, The Filter Shop kept acquiring properties adjacent to its south-central Edmonton home base. Production, warehouse and administrative space, plus a storefront customer order desk, are all located in two buildings across 70,000 square feet.

“We have looked at other property in Edmonton,” says MacGillivray, “but this is a great location for our staff, customers and contractors.”

A new Filter Shop opened in Regina last year, joining existing outlets in Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Prince George, Fort McMurray, Vancouver and Winnipeg. The company now employs 160 people. In the face of lingering labour shortages in Alberta, The Filter Shop continues to look for ways to automate production. MacGillivray hopes that automation will allow the company to add a second shift without significant staff increases.

Besides obtaining products better suited to Western Canadian conditions, customers find sourcing bulky and sometimes custom-built filter products means delivery within hours or days, rather than weeks.

“We are not just offering solutions. We have the ability to get our products to our customers quickly,” says Sutton.

An emphasis on air-quality education doesn’t hurt either. While awareness about air exchange is far beyond where it once was, there is an ongoing need to educate designers, builders, operators and owners of buildings and industrial facilities. The Filter Shop personnel, Sutton included, continue to take the air-exchange message on the road at filter clinics organized for general and specialized audiences, such as school-board personnel and healthcare-facility managers.

The teaching task is far from done. To function well, advanced and automated manufacturing, data centres and power generation and transmission facilities require environments to be clean down to the micron level. The increased popularity of distributed cooling and heating systems – as alternatives to large, centralized HVAC systems – offer efficiencies but also negatively impact airflow.

MacGillivray says an informed clientele also benefits The Filter Shop.

“If we can educate people, they will understand our goal is providing clean air everywhere.”

Nordahl Flakstad is an Edmonton-based freelance writer.

Comments? E-mail jterrett@plant.ca.

This article appears in the March/April 2013 edition of PLANT West.

Chuck Leon

FROM THE JANUARY-FEBRUARY MM&D PRINT EDITION

Racking and storage systems loom large and carry a heavy load. Your employees move around them all day long, loading and unloading them (and in some retail environments, the customers do the same too)—and yet, too often, racking systems are overlooked when it comes to health and safety.

Pallet racks are common in DCs, warehouses, retail operations, and manufacturing plants. Whether you installed them yourself or you inherited them when you purchased the space, you are required to adhere to standards, and to protect employees and customers from harm when they are working around them.

In November 2011, the Ontario Ministry of Labour conducted a racking blitz and inspected over 977 workplaces. The blitz resulted in over 3,063 orders being issued, including 118 stop work orders.

Here are five common myths about racking safety that should be addressed.

MYTH 1: There are no standards for the safe use of pallet racks.

This isn’t true at all. In Ontario, the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) says companies must maintain equipment in good condition (OHSA, section 25(1)(b)) and provide safety information and instruction to workers as appropriate (OHSA, section 25(2)(a)). Sections 7 (pre-start health and safety review), 45 (manual material handling) and 51 (lift truck safety) of the Industrial Establishments Regulation are also important.

The first step to ensuring the safe use of pallet racks is to access a recognized source for proper procedures. The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has two standards that provide the information you need:

• CSA A344.1-05 User Guide for Steel Storage Racks;
• CSA A344.2-05 Standard for the Design and Construction of Steel Storage Racks.

MYTH 2: Pallet racks collapse solely due to errors in installation.

Racks collapse due to poor design, incorrect installation, improper use, or flawed maintenance and repairs.

You should work with a reputable rack installation company to assess your storage needs and ensure you obtain the correct product. The same company should do the installation. You should conduct regular and thorough inspections using a checklist to help you focus on priorities and look for signs of damage such as cracked paint, dents and damaged components. Any damage discovered should be repaired.

MYTH 3: Inspection frequency depends upon damage and accident rates.

According to the CSA User Guide for Steel Storage Racks, the frequency of racking inspections should be governed by a number of factors, including the nature of the environment where the pallet rack is located, frequency of damage and local safety regulations.

You should always know what your local regulations for inspections are, and conduct inspections more frequency if you have a high incidence of racking damage and/or move product to and from storage racks on a frequent basis.

MYTH 4: If modifications to existing racking are made, the manufacturer assumes liability.

If racking modifications are made and not engineer-approved, the liability of a collapse will rest with the owner of the racking. If the racking was there when you moved in, you’re still obligated to have the appropriate drawings and paperwork to show that standards were met. If you don’t, you’ll need to conduct a pre-start inspection. Do not attempt modifications or repairs without approval from a certified engineer or a rack maintenance repair company.

MYTH 5: Keeping employees safe around racking requires little training or supervision.

Supervisors need to take a “hands on” approach. That means walking the floor of the warehouse on a regular basis and observing the work habits of employees. You also need to be involved in the inspection process. It’s critical that you are properly trained so you understand what you’re looking for and can spot potential hazards or unsafe behaviour before an incident occurs.

Storing items on multi-level racking systems is a learned skill. Employees need to be provided with the appropriate training to ensure they are using the equipment properly, they know how to do their jobs safely and they have the ability to spot potential issues and problems before they arise.

A successful racking safety program is a shared responsibility. It requires a commitment from all levels of the organization and the investment of time and resources.

Chuck Leon is a warehouse/material handling specialist with Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, part of Health and Safety Ontario. He is a Certified Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) with a Professional Materials Management (PMM) designation.

The Montreal-based information technology services company said the centre, which opened at CGI’s relocated offices on the outskirts of the capital, is equipped to provide around-the-clock expertise to clients.

CGI spokesman Lorne Gorber said the change is part of the company’s efforts to target new business from the financial services and other sectors over the coming years to grow revenues in Canada.

“If all went well, it would certainly push the Canadian business and no doubt the Ottawa business unit well into double-digit growth territory,” he said in an interview.

CGI’s global cyber security operations increased with last year’s acquisition of European-based Logica.

Gorber said CGI earns about $25 million in revenues annually in Canada and about $500 million globally from its roughly 1,200 employees focused on cyber security.

CGI said the Ottawa security centre operations – one of three such accredited evaluation test centres in Canada – protects Canada’s largest corporations and deals with about 45 million potential cyber events each week for some 100 commercial and government clients.

Last year, the cost of cyber attacks in Canada grew to $1.4 billion, undermining corporate profits and reputations, the company estimated.

Gorber said the centre expects to continue adding employees as it seeks new clients and works to convince existing customers to use more of its security services, which range from product testing to making their own systems more secure and combating corporate espionage.

“This is really creating a unified global offering that now allows us to go back and knock on the doors of all of our clients,” he said, adding that CGI will go after cross-border opportunities and test products at its Ottawa testing lab.

Among its customers is the Canadian Payments Association, which ensures that more than $170 billion of transactions are cleared securely through its systems daily.

Meanwhile, CGI said Tuesday that the World Anti-Doping Agency has signed on with its Logica subsidiary in Europe to provide a new smartphone app that will allow athletes around the globe to easily notify the agency of their whereabouts to facilitate out-of-competition testing.

The software will be available for iPhone and Android smartphones in the third quarter.

The app was originally launched last year by the Dutch Doping Authority for its own athletes.

©The Canadian Press

“Companies hold excess inventory if throughput time cannot meet customer demand. Too many operations aren’t focused on the velocity of production through their value streams.”

Improving processes along the supply chain is more necessary than ever, he asserts, now that just-in-time production is a post-recession norm.

“Manufacturers are no longer cannibalizing multiple production lines into single ones. Business is coming back, so excess capacity needs to be brought back up.”

Kunst, a management consultant who helps companies become more agile, develop evolutionary management and implement lean solutions, has practiced what he preaches. Previously, he worked as the director of production at Ingersoll, Ont.’s CAMI production plant where he oversaw the production of the Suzuki Tracker and Chevrolet Equinox SUVs, and he cut inventory hold times from 14 to four hours in less than a year using lean tactics.

“Just-in-time is now the norm. A company that a few years ago had three weeks of visibility now has two or three days. It’s a reality of doing business now.”

Inventory is kept to address supply chain variations and minimize disruptions. Companies have to maintain certain levels to handle lead times or time lags along the supply chain. It also acts as a cushion during those times of uncertain supply and demand. Efficient inventory management is a balancing act, but it can be achieved by maintaining sound operational processes along the supply chain.

Here’s how to maximize the value of your inventory:

Think lean. Maximize flexibility by implementing lean concepts to reduce lot sizes and lead times. Reducing those variables reduces inventory.

“More customers are placing orders they want within 24 hours,” says Kunst. “Cycle times have sped up, and by truly adopting lean concepts, you can keep up.”

Improve velocity by understanding how it increases uptime and by getting closer to suppliers.

“For every person working in a factory, there’s 10 people producing the components your factory needs,” Kunst adds. “Consider the supplier base because it reduces variables along the supply chain.”

Collaborate. Managing inventory requires focus along the entire supply chain. Michel Girard, partner of strategy and operations at Deloitte in Montreal, says companies need to develop a collaborative sales and operational process that includes all silos of the business.

“The goals need to meet customer demands while reducing inventory,” he says. “But, a lot of companies abandon this strategy because they’re convinced they will never reach a common number. This is a major opportunity companies are missing out on.”

The collaborative process between sales, manufacturing and finance allows the team to meet a common goal. This strategy is most successful if it’s addressed consistently. Variables along the supply chain must be considered and concerns voiced.

Push to pull. “Don’t think of inventory as units. It’s time,” says Kunst.

A pull system forces companies to react to customer demand.

“Don’t make stuff and hold on to it hoping people will buy it. When the customer knocks on the door, know how to make it quickly and get it out the door.”

Push-based supply chains produce goods that travel through a channel from production to retailer, and production levels are set to react with historical ordering patterns. This strategy takes longer to respond to changes in demand and often lead to overstocking inventory or production bottlenecks.

Toyota’s production model is based on a pull-based supply chain. Procurement, production and distribution are demand-driven, but the strategy doesn’t always require make-to-order production.

Reduce variability. Forecasting is vital to meeting customer demand, especially in today’s shifting markets.

“The objective for manufacturers should be to have the right inventory,” says Robert Tousignant, partner of business advisory services at Ernst & Young in Toronto.

A lot of companies consider inventory as a target, but he says it shouldn’t be a target that’s set. Instead, inventory needs to be a calculated goal that reflects your company’s ability to predict demand and variations in capacity and supply demand.

“In a perfect world, you’d have just enough to make what you need, but the world is not perfect.”

Predictable manufacturing

Inventory is there to compensate for variations. If your goal is to reduce inventory, reduce variations.

Boost reliability. Managing inventory is easier if you have a manufacturing process that’s predictable, says Tousignant.

“If you produce an amount one day, make sure it’s consistent. Reliability reduces variations in supply.”

This includes considering factors such as changeovers and set up times.

“Reducing changeovers and set-up times is critical to managing inventory,” he adds.

Consider supplier variations. How is their manufacturing and supply process adaptable to yours? How much can they produce? How do they deliver?

Keep ‘em close. Border challenges are still a variable manufacturers need to consider to manage inventory successfully. Girard advises assemblers to stay within four hours of their suppliers to ease any fluctuations in demand.

“Assess variations along that supply chain. Be ready for delays and account for them,” he warns.

Vendors further away also make practicing just-in-time more challenging. This can be overcome by pushing inventory to vendors and reducing transportation variations, says Tousignant.

“Being farther away introduces more variations, such as transportation and border clearance. Limit them as much as you can by keeping key suppliers close by.”

Get smarter. Girard advises companies against setting inventory as a target independent of desired service level. That requires firms to get smarter about how they’re managing their supply chains.

“Companies need to manage themselves more rigorously,” he says. “Think about inventory in the context of desired customer service level. Work to get as close to 100% as possible. That will depend on how your company is managed.”

Tousignant suggests managing inventory beyond big principles. Apply processes and implement them to ensure they cater to your market or industry.

“The devil is in the details,” he advises. “This is not a one size fits all environment.”

This article appears in the March 2013 edition of PLANT.

Manufacturing is gathering some momentum after the 2008-09 recession, but many companies remain slow to innovate and suffer from lacklustre productivity. Meanwhile, a looming skills shortage also threatens to impede their ability to improve.

Karin Lindner believes manufacturing needs a makeover and she is doing something about it. She heads Richmond Hill, Ont.-based Karico Performance Solutions, a consultancy that’s dedicated to uncovering human potential in manufacturing, and she has also authored a book that shows manufacturers how to unlock sophistication within Canadian plants.

Written in April 2012, How we can make manufacturing sexy: A mindset of passion and purpose from the production floor to the executive suite, is available in nine countries, including Canada, the US, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Because it’s self-published, Lindner controlled where it was printed, so it’s also “Made in Canada.”

The book takes aim at nonbelievers who are skeptical about the future of manufacturing, and stokes parental excitement about getting their children interested in it as a career choice; but Lindner also addresses plant culture and how to inspire confidence that creates ideas on the shop floor.

“To me, ‘sexy’ is demonstrating confidence, being attractive and attracting attention,” says Lindner. “None of this is the case with Canadian industry.”

Originally from Austria, she began her manufacturing career at automotive components giant Magna International in Aurora, Ont.

A one-year permit became a three-year stay, during which Lindner awakened a passion for working with employees at plant-level. This led to a discovery there was a major communications gap between the shop floor and upper management, and it was severely hampering morale as well as productivity.

“The company was missing a major opportunity. Brain power on the shop floor was being underused because management and supervisors didn’t know how to tap into that knowledge and bring out the full potential of their employees,” she says.

By the end of 2006, she was a casualty of restructuring, yet continued to work in manufacturing and share lessons learned. Friends urged her to get out of the business. Better to focus her expertise on employee engagement in the services sector, they suggested.

But Lindner stayed the course. “We can’t make the economy go around by making coffee and cutting each other’s hair.”

She turned to social media, and asked a simple discussion question on a LinkedIn forum: how can we make manufacturing sexy?

Within two weeks, she’d received 450 responses and had a title for her book.

“I learned a lot from those LinkedIn discussions. I chatted with a lot of small manufacturers and asked them what it would take to get manufacturing back,” she says.

Surprisingly, more than 80% of the people she talked to didn’t want their own children to go into manufacturing.

“Manufacturing isn’t interesting to young people because we rarely talk positively about it,” says Lindner. “When I wrote my book, I wanted to outline some issues within the industry, but I also wanted to inspire people to think in a new way about manufacturing and make them truly consider careers for their kids.”

As for the makeover, Lindner thinks the sector has got a lot of work to do.

Create creativity

Canada will continue its struggle to compete at a cost level, but manufacturing can improve its fortunes by creating a culture that’s dedicated to creativity.

“I go to plants, and sometimes it feels like the shop floor is staffed by zombies.”

Leveraging talent on the shop floor alleviates competitive pressures once an environment is created where people will want to go to work.

Some suggestions for achieving a sexier sector include:

• Provide workers with a proactive environment that inspires creativity.

• Utilize technology.

• Provide necessary tools for training and education.

• Encourage departments to work together instead of against each other.

• Encourage greater work-life balance.

• Place an emphasis on employee wellness.

• Make windows and natural light in the plant mandatory.

Companies must create a culture where respect between employees at all levels comes first, she says.

Few of the companies she visits that claim to practice lean can name the second pillar of TPS: respect for people, she says. “Most supervisors and managers shut people down with ideas because it’s a pain to think about implementing them.”

It’s less painful to teach employees the process of implementing an idea.

Lindner notes that the average American worker generates 1.1 ideas a year. The Japanese workforce comes up with 167 annually.

“What’s the difference? It’s not the intelligence of the people in Japan, it’s because managers intend to implement as many ideas as possible (or at least part of an idea).”

Something else has to change. Employees are still considered a liability on the balance sheet.

“We are in the age of the knowledge worker,” she warns. “People have more options.”

Lindner’s book, How we can make manufacturing sexy…is available at www.karicosolution.com.

This article appears in the March 2013 edition of PLANT.

Energy use is often seen as the cost to produce and supply a product with the focus on heating, cooling and lighting as opportunities to reduce costs.

That’s a good starting point, but it’s going to take a lot more than shutting off some lights and closing the dock doors to keep up with today’s energy efficiency demands.

The latest ISO international standard brings energy management to a new level. ISO 50001 provides manufacturers with a framework that monitors real-time energy efficiency results and encourages continuous improvement strategies. The voluntary program has been implemented at a 3M Canada tape manufacturing plant in Brockville, Ont. where the company has reduced energy consumption by 30%. It’s also the world’s first plant to achieve ISO 50001 certification.

Based on a Do-Plan-Check-Act framework, ISO 50001 helps businesses reduce energy related operational costs, boost efficiencies, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and refine energy procurement practices. ISO says the key to compliancy is a company-wide culture around energy related best practices and develop a customized energy management system (EnMS).

While the standard was still being developed, 3M proactively launched two ISO 50001 and Superior Energy Performance (SEP) pilot programs (the other at a chemicals and adhesives facility in Cordova, Ill.) with $155,000 from the Natural Resources Canada Eco Energy Efficiency for Industry program and the US Department of Energy (DOE).

The SEP standard (or MSE 50021), a US program, is a roadmap for continuous improvement in energy efficiency that also accelerates performance and management practices to increase the adoption rate of ISO 50001.

Some of the bigger challenges at 3M’s 140,000-square-foot Brockville plant included rising electricity and natural gas costs – the facility’s two main sources of energy – and developing a way to maintain energy performance.

“With any management system, there has to be a commitment from upper management,” says Andrew Hejnar, 3M’s energy manager. “They must understand the benefits of improving energy efficiency, not just from a cost standpoint, but from an environmental one as well.”

The next step is to establish a team of management and energy-familiar employees that also understand the standard, he adds.

For many Canadian companies with management systems such as ISO 9001 (quality) or ISO 14001 (environmental) standards, that knowledge base helps form a team. ISO 50001 is also easily integrated with the other systems because it’s based on the same model.

These include common document management and approval systems, while operating practices and standards incorporate into operating procedures, according to Bob Fraser, chief of engineering support services at Natural Resources Canada.

Filling the gap

“Improvement suggestion systems and corrective and preventive action systems can also be shared, and the energy elements of a company’s environmental management system link to the EnMS.”

Fraser says Canada recognizes the value of the SEP system, and plans to develop a similar support system for ISO 50001.

3M’s Brockville team included Hejnar, plant engineering leader Earl Taylor, master technologist Tyler Blakely and internal auditor Alan Polk.

Once the team was assembled and everyone understood what was necessary to comply with the standard, it performed a Gap analysis to determine project costs and how ISO 50001 would integrate with other management systems already in place.

“The big difference with this standard is the energy part. You need to have a management system that covers quality, energy and environmental components, but there is also the energy portion that requires calculating energy, and developing targets and action plans,” says Hejnar.

The plant’s entire workforce must also be trained, educated and involved. To engage the facility’s 170 employees, plant manager Rich Muir says management installed posters, bulletin boards and corkboards throughout the facility explaining where energy costs go. A TV in the cafeteria displays the plant’s energy use information and it’s a topic of conversation at team meetings.

“We try to treat the plant as we would our homes. If we leave a room, we turn off the lights and shut down equipment when it’s not being used,” says Muir. “We have the entire workforce focused on energy reduction. We found air compressors that weren’t working at peak efficiency, compressed air leaks in our piping, and chillers that weren’t working efficiently.”

The plant also has a web-based system in place that encourages employees to submit ideas for the energy team to work on. About 75% of the flagged opportunities came from employees on the production floor. 3M has also contracted Enbridge Gas Distribution, Hydro One and Energy Performance Services for third party opinions on further improvements.

Like most plants, the Brockville facility uses compressed air, but discovered that using such a powerful system to create a light breeze in its wrapping process was a big waste of energy.

“It works, but it can be a very inefficient process,” says Earl Taylor, 3M’s plant engineering leader. “We had a hot air blower using compressed air to shrink film around the tape. Now we’re using blowers to achieve the same air flow and using far less energy.”

This simple change to the wrapping process dropped the compressed air system’s energy use by almost 90%.

Through an internal audit, the team also discovered the plant’s natural gas powered ovens used in the drying process would benefit from more circulation and decreased the amount of fresh air it used.

“We did some trials on increasing the internal circulation and found that we could still achieve the same results using less energy. We just had to adjust some dampers and air flow controls,” says Taylor.

The plant was retrofitted with high efficiency T8 florescent lighting and peripheral lighting was converted to LEDs to save energy used by its lighting system.

3M also verified efficiency specifications of its HVAC units and hired an external company to maintain them.

“Before, we’d say ‘just change the filters, clean the units and make sure everything works,’” says Hejnar. “Now they report how efficiently the system is running.”

All of the plant’s gas and electrical use is metered and now reports into its EnMS, displaying real-time results and historical data for comparison.

“You can never have enough metering. It can be expensive and difficult, but it’s not as expensive as not knowing where your energy is going,” says Taylor.

He describes ISO 50001 as a good way to formalize good practices and ongoing processes for improving energy.

“We didn’t need it to implement energy savings, but we found that without it, energy management is less focused and more vulnerable to personnel changes.”

To hold the system together, the team developed a roles and responsibilities matrix to identify workforce needs to support the system, which is also a part of the standard requirements.

“The plant manager is accountable for the entire system, I’m responsible for energy objectives and timelines, the energy management system coordinator takes care of the reporting system, and all operators and supervisors have defined roles to support the system and make sure it works,” says Hejnar.

Although the Brockville plant has been working on implementing energy efficiency practices for many years, Hejnar says the pilot project took about a year to complete and generate the data to show that the facility is 30% more efficient over the past three years. Such results recently landed the Brockville plant ISO 50001 designation and the SEP platinum certificate, the first Canadian operation to achieve both.

The Cordova, Ill. plant has also received ISO 50001 certification.

Achieving the platinum level SEP will certainly bode well with 3M’s North American customers, such as Walmart and Home Depot. Both demand stringent efficiency processes from their suppliers.

Thanks to the success of the Brockville pilot project, 3M will implement a system to meet ISO 50001 requirements in just six months, and it’s already scoping out two other facilities for the designation.

According to the US Department of Energy, the ISO 50001 standard could influence up to 60% of the world’s energy use, and since energy costs directly affect a manufacturer’s bottom line, early adopters will certainly gain a competitive advantage by decreasing operational costs and gaining favorable attention from customers.

However, as supply chains continue to turn up the heat on environmental responsibility, ISO 50001 might not be voluntary for long.

Noelle Stapinsky is a Toronto-based business writer and editor, and former features editor of PLANT.

This article appears in the March 2013 edition of PLANT.

“It isn’t up to me to say how far they’ve gotten in resolving this,” Ito said, after ANA management met earlier this week with Boeing CEO Ray Conner. Connor is visiting Tokyo to explain to Japanese transport regulators and airlines his company’s proposal for fixing the problems with overheating of the 787′s lithium-ion batteries. ANA, which has 17 of the 787s as Boeing’s launch customer, has stood by the Dreamliner, while trying to minimize the impact on its operations from the battery fiasco.

“If the battery problem is resolved, I am confident the aircraft will be fine,” Ito said. “Once the (Boeing proposal) is approved, we will discuss when to resume operations.”

But Ito acknowledged that ANA has a challenge in reassuring its customers. If the grounding of the aircraft drags on beyond June, the carrier will have to make more drastic changes in its scheduling and other plans, he said. On February 28, Boeing’s Conner met with Akihiro Ota, who heads the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and with the director general of the Civil Aviation Bureau.

“I just want to reiterate that the 787 is still the game-changing aircraft it is meant to be,” Conner told reporters between meetings in Tokyo. He would not give details of Boeing’s plan, but said it had come up with a solution “that addresses all probable causes of the incidents in the aircraft.”

“It is not an interim solution. This is a permanent solution,” Conner said. “We are very hopeful that we will get the aircraft back in the air very soon.”

Dreamliners were grounded after an overheated battery aboard an ANA 787 domestic flight forced an emergency landing in Japan on January 16. Investigators are still probing the cause of that event, and of a January 7 fire that erupted in an auxiliary power unit battery of a JAL 787 about a half-hour after the plane landed at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Boeing’s plan, presented to US regulators last week, calls for revamping the batteries to prevent potential short-circuiting from spreading from any one battery cell to others.

Officials in the US said Boeing would fix the problem with the batteries overheating by having more robust ceramic insulation around each of the battery’s eight cells so as to prevent any thermal runaway, a chemical reaction that leads to progressively hotter temperatures that was found in damaged batteries in JAL and ANA incidents.

“This solution takes into account any possible event that might occur,” Conner said. “We see nothing in the technology that would tell us it’s not the appropriate thing to do,” he said.

The US Federal Aviation Administration is considering the plan. There are a total of 50 of the planes in service worldwide, and Boeing had orders for 800 of the airliners at the time they were grounded. ANA has extended the cancellations of its 787 flights to May 31, with the total number of flights affected at nearly 3,600, involving some 167,820 passengers. JAL has cancelled its 787 flights through Mar. 30.

If you’re a manufacturer looking to showcase your product with CIEN, please e-mail product releases to PLANT’s Assistant Editor Matt Powell.

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Handle nasty fluids up to 317 GPH
	Bredel’s APEX optimized hose pumps dose, meter and transfer between 0.7 and 317 gph for tough industrial applications involving corrosive, viscous, shear-sensitive, gaseous, crystallizing fluids or fluids with a combination of these properties.Models are three pumps in one, with a single pump body adjustable for three hose sizes (10, 15 and 20 mm) when production volumes rise. They handle pressures up to 116 psi and the flow boosted by a new generation of long-lasing hoses that also support repeatable accuracy when dosing additives. The continuous pumps speed of up to 100 rpm provides a wide capacity range.The cast aluminum housing dissipates heat and maintenance requirements are light for extended up-time and process continuity. Bredel is a brand of the Watson-Marlow Pump Group with US operations in Wilmington, Mass. www.wmpg.com
Improve water flow
	Neptune Chemical Pump Co.’s Series 7000 mechanically actuated metering pumps eliminate the use of contour plates on the liquid side of the diaphragm and improve flow in water and wastewater applications with a straight-through valve and head design. The North Wales, Pa. manufacturer pegs the maximum capacity of the pumps at up to 300 gph (1,135 L/h), 150 psi. and flow rates from .01 to 20 gph. They operate on a manual control that produces speed ranging from 15 to 300 strokes per minute. EZE-CLEAN valve cartridges can be removed without disturbing the piping. The pumps are manually adjusted from 10% to 100% of capacity via micrometer dial flow or controlled automatically by electric stroke positioners, or by motor speed controls. Capacity is to 80 gph (302 l/h) simplex and 160 gph (605 l/h) duplex at pressures up to 3,000 psi (210 kg/cm). www.psgdover.com
Handles harsh chemicals
	Watson-Marlow’s 620 pumps for sodium hypochlorite combine power and control for wastewater applications. The off-gassing feature prevents vapour lock while maintaining +/- 0.1% accuracy in hypo metering, which contributes to lower chemical use. High flow rates at pumphead speeds don’t compromise tube life, which extends performance and delivers up to 50% more flow with a control ratio of million:1. The pump handles harsh chemicals in water and wastewater treatment, including sodium hypochlorite, ferric chloride, sodium bisulfate, aluminum, fluoride, carbon and lime slurries, polymers, aqueous ammonia, potassium permanganate and caustic slurries. There are no valves or seals to clog, so it requires minimal maintenance.Watson-Marlow Pump Group has US operations in Wilmington, Mass. www.wmpg.com.
Eco-friendly power for waterjets
	The 30-hp ECO-JET waterjet from Jet Edge Inc. delivers more eco-friendly pumping. It consumes up to 40% less electricity than a 50-hp pump thanks to its direct-drive design. The pump produces up to 1 gpm of 55KSI ultra-high pressure water for precision cutting, cleaning and surface preparation. Running on a 0.015-in. waterjet orifice, it powers most manufacturers’ cutting systems and tools. Jet Edge is a pump manufacturer based in St. Michael, Minn. www.jetedge.com

If you’re a manufacturer looking to showcase your product with CIEN, please e-mail product releases to PLANT’s Assistant Editor Matt Powell.

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SJ-301 improves surface testing
	RESOLUTE UHV ultra-high vacuum encoders from Renishaw Inc. deliver absolute position feedback, sub-micron accuracy and resolutions to 1 Nm for both linear and rotary applications. They’re made from clean vacuum-compatible materials and adhesives with low out-gassing rates. Based on proven clean residual gas analysis (RGA), they’re suitable for high performance, semiconductor and scientific applications that require vacuum compatibility to 10-10 Torr. Switch it on and the ultra-high vacuum variant immediately determines position. Instant commutation means axes are under control after power loss to eliminate unchecked movements or collisions, which is an advantage in applications such as wafer handling. The encoders eliminate auxiliary 1 Vpp signals, provide higher noise immunity and detect data corruption. A range of serial protocols include BiSS, FANUC, Mitsubishi and Panasonic. Renishaw is a developer of measurement and motion control technologies based in Glouchestershire, UK. The company has a Canadian office in Mississauga, Ont. www.renishaw.com.
Long sensor range detects magnetic fields
	MFxM proximity switches from Baumer detect magnetic fields over distances up to 60 mm where the target is behind a wall of non-ferromagnetic metal, such as stainless steel or aluminum. MFxMs replace inductive sensors where long distance influences the detection of magnetic fields. A large sensing range increases tolerance to compensate for objects subject to rocking motion. Compact rectangular housings measuring 8 x 8 mm, or standard M8 are available. Baumer, based in Frauenfeld, Swizerland, is a manufacturer of sensors for process automation. It has a Canadian office in Burlington, Ont. www.baumer.com.

If you’re a manufacturer looking to showcase your product with CIEN, please e-mail product releases to PLANT’s Assistant Editor Matt Powell.

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SK 200E drives add HP

NORD DriveSystems has extended its SK 200E line of decentralized drives for motor or wall mounting with a size 4 inverter that has a rated power output of 15 to 30 hp.IP55 housing protects the self-cooling inverters from dust and water jets. Standard functions include sensorless current vector control, an integrated brake chopper, a control module for an electromagnetic brake, and “Safe Torque Off” safety feature. There’s a choice of control boxes or free NORDCON software for programming and operation. Common applications can be quickly selected via DIP switches. An analogue input allows for variable speed adjustment of the pump drive, and if a pressure or flow sensor is connected to the second analogue input, the SK 200E actively and autonomously controls process values. During partial load operation, an integrated energy saving function kicks in. The new size 4 is a practical extension to the SK 200E family, applications that include locally transporting heavy loads in large conveyor systems. Power electronics integrated in the motor or mounted nearby generate savings by making long shielded motor cables, output filters and chokes unnecessary. NORD DriveSystems is a manufacturer of drives based in Germany with 60 international locations. Nord Gear Ltd. is based in Brampton, Ont. www.nord.com

If you’re a manufacturer looking to showcase your product with CIEN, please e-mail product releases to PLANT’s Assistant Editor Matt Powell.

For advertising opportunities, please e-mail PLANT’s publisher Michael King

Do a quick pressure check
	Check pressure status with just a glance using the PG10 digital gauge from Automation Products Group Inc. This IP65 rated indoor/outdoor gauge has a 5.5-in. display casing, full five-digit display with 0.68-in. characters, a 270-degree digital “dial” or radial bar graph that shows a user-selectable pressure range from 0 to 100%, and four large set-up buttons.Standard features include tare, peak hold, and max-min readings, as well as user-selectable units of measure and an auto-off timer. Two solid-state relays or SPDT mechanical relay outputs for basic to semi-advanced automation are optional. The gauge operates within a 0 to 160 degree F range and is accurate by ±0.25%. Pressures range from vacuum to 500 psi, or 0 to 10,000 psi.Outputs are 0-2 VDC for battery-powered units, 4-20 mA for loop-powered units, and 0-5 VDC for externally powered units. Data logging provides local access to the latest 60 readings. The Automation Products Group Inc. based in Logan, Utah supplies level and pressure sensing solutions for process control applications. www.apgsensors.com
Streamline surge protection testing
	To effectively protect equipment, operators must test surge protection devices regularly. Weidmuller’s V-Test portable unit streamlines testing with the Varitector VSPC pluggable surge protectors.The instrumentation manufacturer says the hand-held, battery-driven unit takes seconds to perform the test, without disconnecting any wiring from the installed surge protection device. Pluggable arrestors feature optional remote status, where the surge protector generates an alarm when the control system has not detected the condition. This works well with V-Test to confirm the condition of the arrester. Simply plug the arrester module into the the V-Test, enter the 10-digit item number via the keypad, observe the resulting “OK” or “NOT OK” display, and replace a failed arrester with a spare to get the system back in operation. The Weidmuller Group, based in Richmond, Va., makes industrial instrumentation. www.weidmuller.com.
SJ-301 improves surface testing
	Mitutoyo Canada Inc. has improved the surface measurement capabilities of the SJ-301 with the SJ-310 portable surface roughness tester. It comes with the same carrying case and includes a large colour LCD touch panel for high visibility, as well as the option to choose from one of 16 display languages. The X-axis measuring range is 16 mm (5.6 mm with a transverse tracing drive unit), and the resolution of the detector is 360 μm. Three drive units are available: standard, transverse tracing and retractable. External ports include USB, Digimatic output, RS-232C port and footswitch. Power is supplied from either a built-in Ni-MH rechargeable battery or an AC adapter. An optional SD memory card stores large amounts of measurement results and condition data and a high-speed, high-quality thermal printer built into the display unit prints approximately 1.5-times faster than the printer for the SJ-301. Mitutoyo, based in Toronto, is a supplier of measurement and inspection instruments. www.mitutoyo.ca.
Measures without coating removal
	You don’t have to mess up a product part to get a thickness measurement with Olympus NDT’s handheld 45MG ultrasonic gauge. It’s used for applications ranging from wall-thinning measurements of internally corroded pipes using dual element probes to very precise measurements of thin materials using single element transducers. Optional Thru-Coat and Echo-to-Echo technologies measure thicknesses without removing paint and coatings, and time-based B-scan converts live thickness readings into cross-sectional drawings. An optional single element high penetration feature measures on thick or highly attenuating materials, such as cast metals, rubber and fibreglass. It handles a range of weather conditions and difficult inspection environments, and meets IP67 requirements. An optional data logger provides internal storage capacity of inspection data equivalent to more than 475,000 thickness readings, or 20,000 waveforms in various file formats, while the MicroSD card slot provides additional storage. Olympus NDT is a manufacturer of non-destructive testing instruments based in Waltham, Mass. www.olympus-ims.com.

Each WIC and Kaman will remain separate and independent entities, but they will join forces to compete for business-to-business and supply agreements with customers in multiple jurisdictions, providing an alternative to country-based supply agreements. The alliance will operate under the name Sourcepoint Industrial.

Wajax Corp. is a Canadian distributor and service support provider of mobile equipment, power systems and industrial components.  It has three core business that operate across the country through a network of 126 branches. It supplies customers in the manufacturing, natural resources, construction, transportation, industrial processing and utilities sectors.

Wajax Industrial Components, a wholly-owned division of Wajax Corp., operates a total of 65 branches and 13 certified service and repair centers across Canada.

Kaman Industrial Technologies distributes industrial parts, and operates more than 200 customer service centers, 18 fabrication and assembly shops as well as five distribution centers across the US, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Start by categorizing threatening events according to how quickly potential danger arises. Slow onset events such as climate change, soil erosion and droughts demand less expedient notification and action. It’s the rapid onset events that put pressure on emergency notification planners and systems.

Tornados, hailstorms and winter ice storms are among the most sudden and unpredictable of nature’s weather disruptions. Canada experiences an average of 80 tornados a year, most between May and September, according to Environment Canada. There are more twisters in the US, many of them forming in a central area known as Tornado Alley, which extends through Ontario and the Prairies.

Environment Canada notes southern Ontario, southwestern Quebec, Alberta, and a band stretching from southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba through to Thunder Bay, Ont. are prone to violent storms. The interior of BC and western New Brunswick are also tornado zones.

Hailstorms present another major danger. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, a Calgary storm in 2010 set a record for damage after a bombardment of hailstones measuring nearly four-centimetres wide and a storm that hit the city in 1998 caused a warehouse to collapse. Two years earlier, a storm knocked out 911 service.

And let’s not forget one of the most severe winter storms in recent memory. The “Storm of the Millennium” in January 1998 killed 25 people and left millions without power, some of them for weeks. The Financial Post estimated damage at $500 million and losses from interrupted production at billions of dollars.

Planning ahead for these emergencies is key. Create emergency plans for shutting down equipment and getting your people to storm shelters, but also practice and update them regularly.

Monitor weather conditions on a day-to-day basis. Events can occur in hours, even minutes. There may be long lead time indicators of an earthquake or hurricane, but the actual temblor or flooding can happen unexpectedly. The best source for warning of rapid onset weather events is WeatherRadio Canada or NOAA Weather Radio in the US. Both systems are government-operated warning systems that push alerts out over the weather band to dedicated radios on towers across the country. Alerts are in the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) format, which are automatically understood by a variety of emergency notification systems.

When a severe event is detected, notify your people and set your emergency plans in motion. Consider how you alert everyone; how you tell them what to do; and how they notify you.

Action plan
Emergency notification in a large facility with hundreds of people will be more involved than telling everyone to “shelter in place.” Work out where each group will take shelter, how they will get there in a safe and orderly fashion and establish a way to quickly notify everyone in the plant to initiate emergency procedures.

Old emergency notification systems were based on sirens designed to evacuate buildings. Modern systems run on easy-to-use software that features voice notification and sends different alerts to different parts of the facility. This allows emergency and plant managers to broadcast specific instructions. Alerts are planned and programmed in advance so the plant manager can send them in seconds, with a few clicks of the mouse.

Systems also integrate with a variety of diverse technologies. For example, sensors that detect and report non-weather-emergencies such as hazardous spills can also be monitored and pulled into the software. Systems often feature an inbound emergency call for help feature as well. Hitting a button immediately transmits the location of the trouble spot, and connects with security or other personnel via a live voice link.

Emergencies do not discriminate. Having plans in place for the most common, destructive, rapid-onset weather disruptions will go a long way toward keeping your people and plant safe.

Tim Means is the director of product management, Metis Secure Solutions, an Oakmont, Pa. supplier of emergency notifications systems. Visit www.metissecure.com.

Raymond Corp.’s iWarehouse fleet management system does the same thing for material handling. It collects and analyzes real-time data from the operation of forklift trucks used in warehouse and manufacturing operations.

Joe LaFergola, Raymond’s manager of business and information solutions for the manufacturer of forklifts based in Greene, NY, says the iWarehouse system streamlines traditional activities previously performed through analogue methods.

“There was a lot of discontinuity in the types of data that was being collected – data on specific trucks didn’t match data in the vehicle management system [VMS], which caused major issues and irregularities, such as a number of potential failure points.”

The system, accessible via a third-party web portal, generates reports and benchmarks the productivity of lift trucks and operators.

iPort connects to forklifts through a single connector, replacing “octopus” designs that require up to 12 wires to make a connection. A single connection reduces the number of switches, contactors and external sensors required to collect shop floor data, reducing the number of potential failure points.

Measurable benefits

“The data is sent digitally between the vehicle management system and the lift truck to ensure that data is always synchronized,” he says.

Since launching in 2009, the system has shown measurable benefits in time savings, lower maintenance and operating costs, incident prevention and fleet rightsizing. For example, so far, iWarehouse has achieved maintenance cost savings of up to 10% and it saves up to 15 minutes per truck by permitting operators to electronically complete and store pre-shift vehicle checklists. Analogue pre-shift checklists took up to 17 minutes.

LaFergola says an “annoying” set of static questions also encouraged operators to pencil-whip the checklist, which can lead to maintenance and safety issues.

“iWarehouse randomizes those questions digitally so they’re answered properly,” he says. “We’ve also cut filing times and the paper trail.”

And those reports are available in real-time should safety inspectors show up unexpectedly.

The company markets the system as an “electronic brain” that constantly monitors multiple functions and issues alert codes designed to simplify diagnostics and repairs. It collects data sent at one-second intervals for monitoring. Managers with remote access set enterprise-wide benchmarks to enhance a fleet’s productivity. The system consists of the following modules:

• iAlert sends alert code notifications via e-mail to service technicians to identify maintenance actions and provide early indications for impending maintenance issues.

• iControl configures operator profiles based on skill level to limit acceleration and truck speed when the operator signs into use specific vehicles.

• iImpact sends notifications to managers if a lift truck is involved in an impact.

• iVerify requires operators the review OHSA-mandated operator checklists before the lift truck will start.

• iMetrics tracks usage data for facility managers to determine if the truck is best suited for specific applications.

• iTrack produces reports on fleet data by truck, facility, region and company to give national managers access to shop floor data across a company’s entire supply chain.

• iBattery monitors battery condition and extends battery life.

The system also keeps people from driving around aimlessly by identifying whether a truck is travelling with or without a load thanks to a hydraulic sensor that monitors pressure on the forks.

“Managers are able to identify those employees who are the most efficient and who is on a specific vehicle, which makes operators increasingly accountable for their actions,” says LaFergola.

Promising results

So far, testing has proved the system boosts productivity by up to 5% and one Wisconsin-based company has cut lift truck impacts by 80%.

Raymond developed iWarehouse with two third-party VMS producers. Total Trax Inc. provides real-time vehicle, driver and inventory tracking technologies, and Shock Watch, a producer of indicators and condition-based monitoring devices, contributed monitoring technologies necessary to identify forklift-related data. Raymond developed software that accommodates new fields into a single package.

“Testing was done in-house in Greene, where we manufacture our lift trucks, so all new lift trucks are being outfitted with the iWarehouse system,” says LaFergola. “We’ve built a truck simulator in our lab to simulate data collection.”

LaFergola believes collecting data is about maximizing under-used floor space. “Companies need to ask themselves if they can get greater productivity out of the same footprint.”

Opening a real-time window on forklift operations will make better use of that footprint.

Every manufacturer is under pressure to improve products, reduce time-to-market, and offer better pricing, making business process improvement (BPI) all the more essential to protecting the bottom line. Like its name, business process improvement, also known as business process enhancement/modelling/optimization, is about making one or more processes within a company and its supply chain more effective and efficient.

BPI’s value comes from being proactive. Many companies today expend huge effort, time and expense addressing problems that arise each day. As a result, processes throughout the supply chain – from procurement, through production, to delivery – often fall out of alignment, and sometimes break down completely. Crisis mode ensues. Performance suffers.

Business process improvement focuses on achieving well-defined and designed processes that complete work more cost effectively, quickly and easily. Given their competitive significance, inventory and procurement are often the focus of improvement projects for manufacturers. Results typically include time and cost savings, improved quality, happier customers and higher profitability. One company, for example, used business process improvement to update a file management process, streamlining a six-employee department to one staff member, while producing faster, more accurate and complete reports.

Improving business

Approaches to business process improvement will vary, but they will include the following steps:

• Identify future vision and obstacles. Management needs to create a clear picture of the ideal future state and the obstacles in the way. What are the company’s goals, priorities and needs? In which area of the business is progress restricted by wasting money, time, resources or opportunities? What outcomes are expected from the improvement process?

• Define the scope of the project. Since processes are linked and changes to one affect others, it’s necessary to specify the parameters of the project. Target processes, start and end points and identify the stakeholders involved.

• Develop a case for change to ensure buy-in. This requires identifying the stakeholders who would be most impacted by the change and those who are most likely to resist. Address the reasons why processes require improvement and the value this will deliver to the company and to these people.

• Map and assess the current state. This will help you fully understand each process and to establish a baseline for what’s working well and what isn’t. Identify the objectives for each process, inputs and outputs, the sequence of steps required to execute each process, the resources required to execute each step, the speed or effort expended to perform each one, and the decision points and options along the way. Acquiring these details may involve reviewing documents, shadowing personnel as they perform processes, and by conducting interviews. Map the details and interrelationships then map in a pictorial representation of workflow and functions.

• Analyze gaps. Identify the barriers and success factors critical to reaching the desired future state. Where are the inefficiencies, bottlenecks, unused deliverables and repeated activities? Where are the opportunities? Where are best practices underutilized?

• Devise recommendations and prioritize. Base them on the company’s goals and needs. Urgency, probability of success, potential impact, financial value and available resources may influence what is implemented first.

• Develop an implementation plan. This plan, which may be phased in according to project priorities, sets out next steps including targets, required resources and metrics to measure progress.

• Assess progress. Once improvements are underway, they need to be tracked and measured against performance metrics to ensure they’re delivering the expected results.

While improvement initiatives can be unsettling, one success often leads to another. When a company succeeds with one project, business performance improvement often becomes addictive. Managers and employees alike crave the challenge of striving for goals, the triumph of meeting them and the resulting rewards.

How do you know if it’s time to begin improving your business processes? Change to policies, resources, products, technology, competitors, markets or performance is a catalyst. When it becomes more cost effective to adapt than to hang onto the status quo, it’s time to act.

Glenn Fraser is the leader of the GTA region Food & Ag manufacturing practice of MNP LLP, a Calgary-based accounting and advisory firm. Caroline Copeman is a senior manager in the consulting practice. E-mail glenn.fraser@mnp.ca or caroline.copeman@mnp.ca. Visit www.mnp.ca.

If you’re a manufacturer looking to showcase your product with CIEN, please e-mail product releases to PLANT’s Assistant Editor Matt Powell.

For advertising opportunities, please e-mail PLANT’s publisher Michael King

Stacklights are explosion proof
	Patlite’s AR-070 and AR-078 LED explosion-proof stacklight towers are ideal for Zone 2 (flammable) and Zone 22 (dust) environments. They’re rated to IP65 without alarm/flashing, and IP54. The manufacturer of network systems based in Torrance, Calif. recommends the tower’s glass fibre-reinforced polyester base, 1.5 m cable and a sealed cable exit for user-adjustable alarms up to 85 db (AR-070) and 90 db (AR-078) in gaseous and dusty environments. They’re wall or direct mounted, and can be stacked five high in red, amber, green, blue and clear configurations. AR-070 models are 40 mm in diameter and have an optional 1/2 in. NPT. AR-078 models are 60 mm in diameter and have an optional 3/4 in. NPT. LED modules are interchangeable to eliminate rewiring. www.patlite.com
Flood-light produces super white-light
	Say “let there be light” and Lind Equipment’s 108W LE990 portable fluorescent flood obliges with energy efficient white illumination. The light has a rugged plastic housing with rubber gasketing and a strong polycarbonate lens for use in food plants where the use of glass is prohibited. At 8,250 lumens, it produces approximately the same light output as a 500 W quartz halogen, but uses only 20% of the energy. Lind Equipment is a manufacturer of portable power and light products based in Markham, Ont. www.lindequipment.net.

The test flight lasted one hour and 29 minutes and was uneventful. Flight-tracking service FlightAware showed that the plane flew from Boeing Field in Seattle, east over Washington State, and back.

Federal officials grounded the 787 on Jan. 16 because of battery problems that caused one fire and forced another plane to make an emergency landing. Boeing won permission from the Federal Aviation Administration last week to conduct test flights under special conditions, including that the planes fly over unpopulated areas.

Boeing said the test flight included two pilots and 11 flight test personnel. The test plane includes special equipment that lets it track the conditions of its two big lithium-ion batteries during the flight. It’s one of Boeing’s fleet of six 787 test planes that were used for flight testing before the plane went into full production.

Boeing said it will be analyzing data from the flight in the days ahead. It said the data is part of the investigations into the battery incidents, so it wouldn’t release any details about what it found either on Monday’s flight or on the earlier one conducted Saturday.

Boeing is continuing to build 787s while the planes are grounded, but it can’t deliver them to airline customers.

In an annual filing on Monday, Boeing Co. said it is too soon to estimate how much the 787 problems will cost. The financial impact will depend on what the cause turns out to be, how long it takes to find it, and the fix required to get 787s flying commercially again, the company said.

©The Associated Press