Like many businesses today, yours may be wrestling with the realities of automation, sustainability, supply chain management, and a rapidly increasing choice of new materials and their promises to improve product development and deliver higher profits.
Industrial robots have had their place in the manufacturing world for decades.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration says manufacturing consumes 20 percent of the country’s annual energy output, about the energy in 3.6 billion barrels of crude oil. That’s the kind of big statistic that warms the heart of American manufacturers, but how do we sustain it?
In a marketplace that has been filled with uncertainty, global upheaval, supply chain issues, inflation, acts of nature and more, strong leadership is needed more than ever. And while that’s true for any size company, it is certainly a necessary element for a second generation machine shop located in the rust belt of Indiana fighting for relevancy and growth.
Astronauts go through extensive training to contend with zero gravity and the realities of space navigation. Interestingly, the preparation is not so different for people who produce cell and gene therapies for delivery to patients. Theirs is a field of challenging complexity where health and lives are in the balance and as such, there is rigorous training in protocols and standards for everything from product development to mass-market manufacturing.
Reshoring parts manufacturing may be better for your bottom line than you think, says Sean Cassidy, founder and CEO of Cassidy Manufacturing. “If you take an offshore component, you can truly double or maybe triple the price if you add in all the unseen costs.”
It’s likely you have unlocked your phone using the built-in facial recognition software, or maybe you have added dog ears or cat whiskers to a favourite headshot in your image gallery. Or better yet, maybe you’ve driven a Tesla and used the autonomous driving feature.
For International Custom Products (ICP), the challenges of COVID-19 didn’t result in the well storied downturn in business typical of the global pandemic. How did this Toronto-based sewing company that makes expertly-stitched custom textile products like parachutes turn a quickly mutating virus into an entrepreneurial success story? What’s more, how did ICP catapult to 143 percent revenue growth over three years and reach a place among Canada’s Top Growing Businesses on the coveted annual list by the Globe and Mail?
“I said to the staff, ‘this is our call to duty.’ And when we found out there was going to be a shortage of masks and gowns, we started making these items without an order, saying, ‘Hey, we can do this. And we can give you thousands of these a day if you want.’”
-Marc Langlois, President of ICP
The electroplating of beryllium and of magnesium, ultra-lightweight metals used in aerospace components, is a super-specialized process perfected by AOTCO – the Always On Time Company.
