Not goodbye, but see you later

I’m happy to report that the risk-adverse, technologically conservative, inward-focused job shop or manufacturing plant is almost extinct.

Change, for individuals and corporations is inevitable and managed correctly, beneficial. Despite the Great Recession triggered by the 2008 banking fiasco and persistent pressure from low wage manufacturing regions like China and Mexico, Canadian companies in our sector have responded better and faster than anyone imagined possible. One of the best parts of editing a magazine like Canadian Metalworking has been the ability to visit excellent Canadian businesses from coast–to-coast and see firsthand how they’re succeeding. It may be a generational shift, relentless cost pressures or the disappearance of weaker players, but integration of multiaxis CNC technology, ERP software and extensive use of the Internet is widespread, down to the smallest shop. It’s heartening to see.

Interest rates are low, and machine financing is cheaper than it’s been in a generation. The equipment in turn, is easier to program, more versatile and more reliable. Re-shoring is now an entrenched fact with many shops (southwestern Ontario’s mold makers come to mind) actively winning back customers lost to Chinese and Mexican competition. This win is not simply based on price. it’s about quality and delivery, which is key to building sustainable, profitable operations in the long term.

Challenges? They’re still there, primarily the skilled labour issue, but advances in machine automation are removing much of the need for highly skilled workers in many operations. I recently visited a medium-sized shop with 6 part designers, none of whom were engineers.

They were producing outstanding work using a common CAD/CAM platform, but derived their expertise from the shop floor. The ability of non-engineers to perform some of the tasks usually handled by P.E’s suggests a new “democratization” of the design/build process: like the computer software billionaires, making things can now be tackled by people who would never be given a chance to get involved in the product lifecycle in the “old days.”

With very few exceptions, change in our industry has been a good thing. At Canadian Metalworking we’re changing too. Many readers have noticed our new look, and starting with the October issue, CMW will have a new editor, as I’m moving over to a new position with an engineering website. It’s been my pleasure to edit this magazine and to our crew here and more importantly, to you readers of Canadian Metalworking, thank you for making this a tremendously satisfying and interesting magazine to produce. For many of you, I’ll see you in my new role, and I expect to attend many of our industry trade shows, so if you see me on the floor, be sure to say hello…it’s not “goodbye,” it’s “see you later!”

JIM ANDERTON

janderton@canadianmetalworking.com