Factory Forward: How Advanced Manufacturing is Retooling Ontario’s Industrial Heartland

July 16, 2020

Factory Forward: How Advanced Manufacturing is Retooling Ontario’s Industrial Heartland


July 07, 2020

The past few decades have been challenging for Ontario, Canada’s manufacturing heartland. The 2008 recession wiped out nearly 250,000 manufacturing jobs. In the years that followed, several high-profile factory closures helped reinforce the false perception that manufacturing in Ontario is dead or dying.

The truth is that Ontario is still a manufacturing powerhouse. In fact, more than one in 10 of the province’s jobs are in manufacturing. However, the manufacturing sector is undergoing a fundamental transformation that has deep implications for what gets made — and how — in the province. This transformation is creating a sector that bears little resemblance to traditional manufacturing because it has become far more complex.

These were the findings of NGen, the federal government’s Ontario-based advanced manufacturing supercluster. The organization recently surveyed their 2,500 members, asking them whether they saw themselves as manufacturers, technology providers or service companies. Most said they were all three.

Other manufacturing leaders are saying pretty much the same thing.

“We’ve entered a new era in manufacturing,” argues Linda Hasenfratz, president and chief executive of Linamar. “It feels like manufacturing is turning into a technology business, more than anything else.”

Research by the Innovation Economy Council supports this. IEC data show that advanced manufacturing industries generated half of the more than 45,000 factory jobs created in Ontario since 2010. Over the past decade, employment has grown 98 percent in agricultural chemicals, 45 percent in aerospace, 42 percent in industrial machinery, 22 percent in auto parts, 17 percent in electronic components, 17 percent in medical equipment, and 14 percent motor vehicles. That compares to an average of 7 percent job growth across all manufacturing industries.

These sectors are vital to the economy because they account for an oversized share of economic output, exports and R&D, according to a 2018 report by the Martin Prosperity Institute and the Brookings Institution, Canada’s Advanced Industries: A Path to Prosperity. And they are more likely to pay higher wages. The average worker employed in an advanced industry earned nearly $60,000 a year — 50 percent higher than the Canadian average.

Advanced manufacturing is not exclusively about new technology. In many cases, advanced manufacturing has overtaken and transformed existing industries — particularly as technology becomes infused into almost every product or service Canadians consume.

For example, Canada has all the tools to be a major player in the technology side of the automotive business — which is increasingly important as cars become more technologically complex, AI-powered and autonomous machines. Ontario boasts a cluster of 19,000 information and communications technology (ICT) companies, ranking it second only to Silicon Valley in North America, according to the Global Affairs Canada report Invest in Canada: Canada’s Competitive Advantage. The Greater Toronto area now has the highest concentration of AI startups in the world. And nearly 80,000 people in the region work for 1,750 knowledge-based businesses, including multinationals such as Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, IBM and EMC-Dell.

These positions, and others across Ontario’s manufacturing sector, are high-value, high-tech jobs — a hybrid between manufacturing and technology work. In other words, manufacturing hasn’t died or disappeared in 2020. It simply looks nothing like the human-powered assembly lines of the 1970s. It’s been reborn into something new, far more exciting and ultimately more lucrative.

This report examines some of the successes among advanced technology manufacturing in Ontario and offers potential approaches to drive further innovation, collaboration, investment and commercialization.

Download the report (visit source link noted above). 

 
The Innovation Economy Council is a coalition of tech-sector leaders dedicated to shaping Canada’s industrial innovation policy. Led by MaRS, Ontario Centres of Excellence, Communitech, DMZ, Invest Ottawa, CCRM, Spark Centre, CENGN and NGen, the IEC works with active members of Canada’s innovation ecosystem to identify areas for in-depth analysis and offer timely insights to increase Canadian productivity and growth.


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Northern Ontario Value-Added Agriculture (NOVA) Program Launches

October 11, 2024
The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) has launched the Northern Ontario Value-Added Agriculture (NOVA) Program to empower agri-food entrepreneurs across Northern Ontario to develop new food products. By offering workshops, training sessions, networking events, and a mentorship program, NOVA aims to equip Northern entrepreneurs with the essential skills and knowledge needed for long-term business growth and sustainability. Supported by $42,080 in funding from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, NOVA will address the critical need for professional development in the agri-food sector. It focuses on enhancing entrepreneurial skills, improving safety and risk management practices, and providing strategies to expand market presence at home and abroad. “The agri-food promise and potential of Northern Ontario is immense, and our government will continue to work with Northern partners like the SSMIC to help seize it,” said Rob Flack, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness. “NOVA will help unlock more of the huge untapped entrepreneurial energy and ambition of Northern agri-food entrepreneurs to build strong local businesses, create good-paying jobs and strengthen Northern Ontario’s economy.” Program goals include strengthened business capabilities, job creation, and increased economic activity, leading to a more vibrant and sustainable agri-food sector in Northern Ontario. By fostering public engagement with agriculture and local food, NOVA will also contribute to rural development and enhanced community well-being. "Through the NOVA Program, we are excited to provide agri-food entrepreneurs with the tools and networks they need to thrive," said Peter Bruijns, Executive Director of the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre. "This initiative not only supports individual businesses but also strengthens our entire region's agricultural ecosystem." For more information visit: https://rainalgoma.ca/programs/the-northern-ontario-value-added-agriculture-nova-training-program/ SSMIC would also like to thank FedNor the Government of Canada, and the Sault Ste Marie Community Development Corporation for their support in this exciting program. 

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