Continuous Improvement in Manufacturing
We’ve spoken a bit about continuous improvement on our blog, but we haven’t yet talked about WHY exactly it is important for manufacturers, and how exactly you can apply it to your business. As a brief reminder, continuous improvement is the process of constantly making your business run more efficiently, with better effectiveness and producing […]
Aerospace Sector Soars Above Economic Turmoil
The aerospace and defense industry is one of the few sectors in manufacturing that is currently not only surviving but thriving amid the recession, despite the grim predictions for job losses and bankruptcies among other Canadian manufacturers, plummeting oil prices, and the ever fluctuating CDN dollar. Employment rates and revenue are even continually on the […]
Lean Manufacturing Principles
According to Wikipedia, “lean is centered around creating more value with less work.” Lean manufacturing is basically creating a more streamlined process where we learn from our mistakes and reduce waste – whether physical waste or wasted time. It uses both innovation and problem solving to produce better results. The concept of “lean principles” comes […]
AMIS – Ontario’s Advanced Manufacturing Investment Strategy
Lines of credit have almost completely dried up in this recession, and it’s harder than ever for businesses to fund their new development projects. Ontario’s Advanced Manufacturing Investment Strategy (AMIS) is a great venue for Ontario manufacturers to pursue. What’s more, AMIS is available to companies from all manufacturing sectors in Ontario. The $500 million […]
Save Money & Make Smart Decisions When Purchasing From Foreign Sources
Cambridge area manufacturer Purchasing Manager Walat Yasin offers the following advice to fellow companies: Buying foreign has become of great interest to our company recently, especially as we have the order quantities to justify the purchases and save significantly. We also do not have the local manufacturing resources for particular products. We, like any company, […]
Continuous Improvement: What IS Kaizen?
We’ve all heard the term “Continuous Improvement.” We all know that it’s something we definitely want to strive for in our businesses – to constantly be working towards better efficiency, better effectiveness and better quality. But what is Kaizen, and what does it have to do with Continuous Improvement? Kaizen is a Japanese term, roughly […]
SR&ED – Essential To Canadian Manufacturers
The current economic recession has proven to hit even harder than many economists anticipated. An estimated 129,000 Canadians lost their jobs in January alone, of which Statistics Canada reports that Ontario workers lost a staggering 71,000. Alberta, once a thriving, profitable province, is even feeling the blow, having recently announced another 15,000 jobs lost. Forecasters […]
Manufacturers Can Breath Sigh of Relief With Lower Canadian Dollar
The loonie took a beating alongside stocks last week, falling 7.77 cents or 8.4 per cent this past week, and 2.59 cents alone on Friday. The loonie has now dipped below 90 cents against the U.S. greenback. The silver lining is that non-resource manufacturers will likely benefit from this drop because their main customers tend to be in the […]
Manufacturing Success During Tough Economic Times
Rising oil prices, poor currency exchange, and a sagging US economy have contributed to a decline in the Canadian manufacturing industry. More and more products have been outsourced abroad, which has further contributed to the sagging fortunes of manufacturing companies in Canada. However, some companies have still been able to prosper in these tough economic […]
Manufacturing News
B&W Canada gets contract for 8 replacement steam generators for Bruce Nuclear Power Plant. Goodyear to open Retread Plant. Trend in construction, mining, forestry 7 recycling industries have prompted Goodyear Canada Inc to open a plant in North Bay, On to be completed in fall of 2008. Onex gets Husky! Onex to pay $960 million for […]