Process Innovation and Resilience at the Lunenburg Industrial Foundry and Engineering (LIFE) Production Plant

卢嫩堡工业铸造与工程公司(LIFE)一直在为加拿大大西洋及其他地区的各类船舶提供全方位的制造、维修和翻新服务，包括游艇、私人商业和公共近海。尽管制造业已赢得其作为后新冠肺炎时代经济体复苏战略支柱的地位，但新常态要求我们重新思考我们的生产方式，更多地阐明制造业及其在弹性较强的多元化经济体中的角色。在此背景下，LIFE正在经历与以下相关的挑战：(I)螺旋桨和水下齿轮产品的劳动密集型制造过程；(Ii)劳动力老龄化，可能导致缺乏熟悉传统加工实践的合格工匠；以及(Iii)设施布局没有理想地配置为最大限度地提高制造效率，导致成本增加和制造能力有限。该公司现在寻求新斯科舍社区学院(NSCC)的帮助，以支持更高效、更具成本效益的制造工厂和工艺流程的定制设计布局。NSCC的工程技术应用研究实验室专门从事产品开发和工艺优化。实验室配备了产品设计和先进的制造资产，将用于实现与LIFE的协作，并帮助增强他们的工艺流程，提高他们的生产率。还将为知识翻译提供机会，使该部门的其他公司受益，目标是提高该区域针对出口市场的整体质量和生产率。因此，如果该项目取得成功，将有助于保持新斯科舍省作为高质量海洋服务世界领先者的地位，从而极大地有利于大西洋加拿大的海洋产业。

The Lunenburg Industrial Foundry & Engineering (LIFE) has been offering a full range of manufacturing, repair and renovation services for all sorts of vessels including yachts, private commercial, and public offshore throughout Atlantic Canada and beyond. While manufacturing has earned its place as a mainstay of the recovery strategies of post-COVID-19 economies, the new normal requires us to rethink the way we produce and to shed more light on manufacturing and its role in resilient diverse economies. In this context, LIFE is experiencing challenges related to: (i) A labor-intensive manufacturing process on propeller and underwater gear products; (ii) An aging workforce which could result in a lack of qualified craftsmen familiar with traditional machining practices; and (iii) A facility layout not ideally configured to maximize manufacturing efficiency, leading to increased cost and limited manufacturing capacity. The company now seeks Nova Scotia Community College's (NSCC) help to support a custom-design layout of a more efficient and cost-effective manufacturing plant and process flow.NSCC's Engineered Technologies Applied Research Lab specializes in product development and process optimization. The Lab is equipped with product design and advanced manufacturing assets, which will be used to enable the collaboration with LIFE, and help enhance their process flow and increase their productivity. Opportunity will also be available for knowledge translation to benefit other companies in the sector, with the goal to elevate overall quality and productivity in the region, directed to export markets. A successful outcome in this project therefore has a tremendous potential to benefit Atlantic Canada's marine industry, by contributing in maintaining the position of Nova Scotia as a world leader for high quality marine services.