PROTECTING THE WORLD WITH QUALITY PPE Pyramex Safety Products MAKING TECHNOLOGY HUM Dalsin Industries, Inc. FAMILY MATTERS All Metals Fabricating MANUFACTURINGINFOCUS.COM JUL Y 2 02 2Quaker Houghton is the global leader in industrial process fluids, continually innovating so the world’s steel, aluminum, automotive, Shaping the future. Together. Quaker Houghton is the global leader in industrial process fluids, continually innovating so the world’s steel, aluminum, automotive, Shaping the future. Together.EDITOR’S CORNER Quaker Houghton is the global leader in industrial process fluids, continually innovating so the world’s steel, aluminum, automotive, Shaping the future. Together. Quaker Houghton is the global leader in industrial process fluids, continually innovating so the world’s steel, aluminum, automotive, Shaping the future. Together. 3 I keep hearing the word ‘normal’ lately, and it’s very obvious to me that people are done with all the chaos of recent years, and are ready for a steady state. But some say ‘back to normal’ while others are talking about ‘the new normal’ to describe either the ‘post-pandemic era’ as a temporary condition, or a world somehow changed permanently. I won’t pretend to have some great wisdom to impart on how we look at the state of the world today, but one thing seems clear to me: we find a way forward. That way forward in the manufacturing sector seems to be the adoption of Industry 4.0 to improve productivity, flexibility and resilience. The foundation of this industrial revolution is infor- mation, and how manufacturers can leverage that will impact their success in coming years. I expect we’ll see a lot more inno- vation in this direction, from how data is gathered, to how deci- sions are made, to how humans interact with systems. Allison Dempsey presents her findings on this topic in her latest piece: The Show Must Go On – Embracing Industry 4.0 Post-Pandemic. Tim Hocken Editor Suite 300, 7071 Bayers Rd. | Halifax, NS | B3L 2C2 | Canada P: 1-647-479-2163 | E: EDITOR Tim Hocken DEPUTY EDITOR Jaime McKee COPY EDITORS Thora Smith | Allister Havercroft CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Allison Dempsey | Claire Suttles Karen Hawthorne | Nate Hendley Pauline Müller | Robert Hoshowsky CONTENT TEAM MANAGER James Corbett SENIOR CONTENT MANAGER Brad Mike CONTENT MANAGERS Coleman Merry | Jamal Francis-Anderson Louis Susara | Scott Forbes SALES & MARKETING MANAGER Luke Simms SALES TEAM Pamela Taylor | Morgan Culpepper OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Julia MacQueen GRAPHIC DESIGN MANAGER Severina Gachparova GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Laura Pratt | Ashley Dowling Ebic Tristary | Yoana Ilcheva REGIONAL DIRECTOR Adam Cameron CONTROLLER Jen Hamilton PUBLISHER Jeff Hocken “The foundation of this industrial revolution is information…”INSIDE JULY FABRICATION & MACHINING ELECTRONICS & COMPONENTS AUTOMATION 4 Embracing Industry 4.0 Post-Pandemic The entire world is weary of hearing the word, but upon its arrival in 2020, COVID wreaked major havoc on our health, society, travel, business and pretty much every aspect of manufacturing across the globe. From medical equipment to automobiles, electronic parts and food products, the supply chain’s disruption is still being felt to this day, impacting numerous areas of daily life with soaring prices and the ongoing inability to access necessities. 5 MANUFACTURING IN FOCUS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ELECTRONICS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & ROBOTICS (ICEAIR) 17 – 18 July, Flushing, NY The International Conference on Electronics, Artificial Intelligence & Robotics (ICEAIR) is a prestigious event organized to provide an excellent international platform for academicians, researchers, engineers, industrial participants, and budding students around the world to share their research findings with global experts. For more information visit: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS (ICAMS) 19 – 20 July, Toronto, ON ICAMS aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects of Automated Manufacturing Systems. It also provides a premier interdisciplinary platform for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and solu- tions adopted in the fields of Automated Manufacturing Systems. For more information visit: FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL EXPO (FIME) 27 – 29 July, Miami, FL Florida International Medical Expo is the Americas’ leading medical trade fair and exhibition, gathering thousands of medical device and equip- ment manufacturers and suppliers, dealers, distributors and other healthcare professionals from across the United States, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. The show provides a strong business platform to more than 700 exhibitors from more than 45 countries, including country pavilions to showcase cutting edge device innovations and solutions. For more information INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANUFACTURING (ICIRM) 8 – 9 August, Montreal, QC ICIRM brings together leading academic scientists, researchers and scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects of Industrial Robots and Manufacturing. It also provides a premier interdisciplinary platform for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the fields of Industrial Robots and Manufacturing. For more information visit: CERAMICS EXPO 2022 29 – 30 August, Cleveland, OH The premier event for the advanced ceramics and glass manufacturing supply chain, Ceramics Expo brings together engineers, decision makers, end-user OEMs, and buyers from across the globe to source new materials, components, and technologies, network with like-minded profes- sionals, and discuss the challenges and opportunities in the ceramics industry. Industry leaders share their technical expertise in ceramics and provide real-world case studies, new technologies and materials, and information on industry trends. For more information visit: INDUSTRY EVENTS 6 Are you planning an event relating to North America’s growing Manufacturing Industry? To get your event listed in Manufacturing in Focus, please contact us at least six to eight weeks before the event takes place at or call 1-647-479-2163INDUSTRY NEWS CANADA TO BAN MANY SINGLE-USE PLASTICS While environmental groups are praising the recent move by the Canadian federal government to ban what it refers to as “harmful single-use plastics,” manufacturers and many in the food service industry, including restaurateurs and grocery store owners, are less than impressed. Vowing to address plastic pollution last December, the Government of Canada published final regulations in June prohib- iting single-use plastics, from checkout bags to cutlery, ring carriers to stir sticks, and foodservice wares to straws. While organizations such as Greenpeace Canada stated the move was a step in the right direction but still didn’t go far enough, others are concerned about the impact this will have on manufacturers and users of these products, such as restaurants reliant on plastic takeout containers, which saw their use skyrocket during COVID-19 with a huge increase in contactless and no-touch food deliveries. On its website, Restaurants Canada, the voice of the nation’s food- service industry, expressed its concerns about the government announcement. Save for a few exceptions, the new regulations will come into effect this December, with the sale of these plastic products becoming prohibited as of December 2023. “The news is placing added pressure on the foodservice industry as it continues to struggle and rebuild following the pandemic,” stated Restaurants Canada. “Single-use items pose a unique chal- lenge for foodservice operators, as Canadians are increasingly turning to delivery and takeout. While on-premise dining still accounts for most foodservice sales nationwide, on-premise sales have been losing market share to takeout and delivery orders.” Without affordable, sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics, it is believed the industry will see an estimated 125 percent increase in costs, and shortages of existing products. Stating the ban is the result of “evidence, facts and rigorous science,” the federal government has still not provided clarity to affected industries, many of whom believe a phased-in approach to plastics regulations—and exploring safe, cost- effective packaging alternatives—would have been prefer- able to an outright ban. Meanwhile, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) states banning single-use plastics will not help to attain environmental health goals, and will hurt Canadian manu- facturing jobs. Instead of an outright ban, the CME stated a circular economy approach – where plastics are treated as a manageable resource and recycled back into the economy instead of being treated as waste – is preferable. “Canada acting alone to ban single-use plastics without coor- dinating with other countries will do little to move the needle on reducing plastic pollution,” stated Dennis Darby, CME President and Chief Executive Officer. “It will punish Canadian manufacturers and all their suppliers. Production of these products will just move to the U.S. or to other countries and we will still have not solved the problem.” 7AMAZON ADVANCES DRONE DELIVERY… BUT THERE’S A CATCH Known worldwide for its endless product selection and speedy service, the world’s biggest online retailer outside of China recently upped its delivery game when it stated that Lockeford, California, will be one of the first locations in America to receive delivery via drones. Currently in discussions with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on permissions for drone delivery, Amazon aims to get its Prime Air drones—which can carry up to five pounds (2.27 kg) and reach speeds of 50 mph (80.5 kph)—up in the skies later this year. According to Amazon, the company has been working for about a decade on safe and fast deliveries via drone in less than an hour. “The [Lockeford] community boasts one of the early pioneers of aviation—Weldon B. Cooke, who built and flew early planes in the early 1900s—as a former resident,” stated Amazon on its website. “Now, over a century later, residents will get the opportunity to sign up for free drone delivery on thousands of everyday items.” The company also stated how Lockeford residents will play a vital role defining the future. “Their feedback about Prime Air, with drones delivering packages in their backyards, will help us create a service that will safely scale to meet the needs of customers everywhere—while adding another innovation milestone to the town’s aviation history.” Despite the nod to history and the promise of ultra-fast deliv- eries, not everyone is as enthralled as Amazon about the high- tech project. Some residents of the rural ranch town, including an 82-year-old woman whose home is directly across from the drone facility site under construction, said the plan came as news to her. Others have actually gone so far as to state they will use the drones—which measure 6.5 feet in width (two meters) and about four feet (1.2 m) in height—for target practice. PLANT-BASED FOOD WRAP DEVELOPED created to get away from petroleum-based food packaging, replacing it with something that is safe, antimicrobial, non- toxic, biodegradable, and sustainable, and that extends shelf life while reducing food waste. Through technology, biopolymers from food waste are trans- formed into ‘smart fibers’ that are used to wrap food, creating the ultimate ‘green’ food packaging. With the goal of creating environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic containers and wrapping, a team of scientists has developed an innovative, plant-based coating. The coating, which is sprayed onto foods, is biodegradable and protects against microorganisms and damage due to transportation. Developed by researchers from Harvard and Rutgers Universities, the innovative, scalable new technology was INDUSTRY NEWS 8MANUFACTURING SALES UP: STATISTICS CANADA There is good news for the Canadian manufacturing sector, with Statistics Canada reporting manufacturing sales increased 1.7 percent to $72.3 billion in April, the latest available figure. Among the leaders were petroleum and coal products, motor vehicles, and primary metal sectors. “While the recovery in the motor vehicle sector appears to have stalled in May, the strong rise in unfilled orders in April and the improvement in the S&P Manufacturing PMI in May nevertheless bode well for further gains in output,” wrote Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics, in a report. According to Brown, this increase indicates manufacturing sales volumes are now above their pre-COVID-19 peak. Statistics Canada stated higher prices helped increase sales of petroleum and coal products, which gained 3.7 percent to hit a new record high of $10.1 billion in April. Other leaders included the automotive industry, which saw sales of motor vehicles rise 8.2 percent to $4.5 billion in April. Primary metal sales increased by 4.1 percent at $6.2 billion, while aerospace products and parts went up by 11.2 percent, at $1.6 billion. Other sectors, including wood product sales and paper products, didn’t fare as well, decreasing 6.0 percent and 7.9 percent in April. INDUSTRY NEWS MENCOM RELEASES NEW TOOLLESS RECTANGULAR CONNECTORS FOR 10,000 MATING CYCLES There are industrial applications that require frequent mating cycles throughout life such as measuring/controlling draw- er-mounted equipment, molding control equipment, and replaceable tools. Since the connectors of these applications need to be connected and disconnected several times a day, failing to install high-performance connectors with a suffi- cient mating cycle rating could result in unstable connections with lower reliability, which will cost more in the long run. Mencom offers the new Squich HNM (High Number of Mating) inserts designed to maximize ease of use while mini- mizing maintenance downtime. These rectangular inserts feature special contacts with galvanic high-performance gold plating and lubrication, which allow up to 10,000 mechanical mating cycles when installed in compatible HNM enclosures. In addition, the Squich spring clamp technology with actuator buttons provides not only fast and reliable wiring but also high resistance to vibration from industrial applications. The standard HNM inserts (RSH) are available in 6, 10, 16, and 24 poles, and the high-density versions (RDSH) are available in 9, 18, 27, and 42 poles. The high-density versions (RDSH) feature probing points for multimeter measurements on each contact and an additional coding system. For more information, contact the factory or visit 9Next >