Automation and Digitization to Address Productivity and Workforce Challenges in the Manufacturing and Food Processing Sectors

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Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Adv. Learning is Waterloo region's only provider of polytechnic education with more than 300 career-focused programs, including Ontario's only fully accredited, college-based engineering degrees. To address the business challenges of our regional industry partners in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Conestoga proposes to leverage our existing capacity and expertise to undertake a set of applied research projects providing innovation and technology to support the economic recovery in key sectors in our region.The greater Waterloo region (including Kitchener, Cambridge, Guelph, Brantford) is home to a large number of manufacturing companies, more than 1,850 in Waterloo alone, in such diverse sectors as automotive, aerospace, robotics, plastics and fabricated metals. Waterloo region has the 4th largest manufacturing workforce in Canada and is the #1 employer by sector, representing 57,000 jobs. The Ontario food and beverage processing sector is also the largest in Canada, with 4,000+ companies employing more than 95,000 people, and the Toronto-Waterloo-Guelph corridor is the largest food manufacturing area in the province.Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters has identified two main drivers as key to helping manufacturers recover and become more competitive as they emerge from the pandemic; 1) getting the workers that manufacturers need and 2) stimulating investment in innovation and advanced technologies. The Waterloo Wellington Dufferin Workforce Planning Board has also identified skills shortages and cash flow challenges as the greatest sources of uncertainty for post-COVID economic recovery. We propose three interrelated research themes that align with the needs of our industry partners as they recover from the challenges caused by the global pandemic. 1. Automation - Robotics solutions and mechanical or software automation to support process improvement and enhance efficiency. 2. Digitization & Artificial intelligence (AI) - Digital transformation for data capture (sensors, machine vision, etc.) and utilization via machine learning, visualization, and analytics to help improve products and processes.3. Technology for Workforce Challenges - Augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) based training solutions to address skill gaps, automation solutions to address labor shortages, and assistive technologies to address lost time due to injury and support recruitment and retention from underrepresented groups