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）一直为加拿大大西洋沿岸及其他地区的各种船舶提供全方位的制造，维修和翻新服务，包括游艇，私人商业和公共离岸船舶。虽然制造业已成为COVID-19后经济体复苏战略的支柱，但新常态要求我们重新思考我们的生产方式，并更多地了解制造业及其在弹性多元化经济中的作用。在这种情况下，LIFE正在经历与以下方面有关的挑战：（i）螺旋桨和水下齿轮产品的劳动密集型制造工艺;（ii）劳动力老化，可能导致缺乏熟悉传统加工实践的合格工匠;以及（iii）设施布局不理想，无法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省社区学院（NSCC）的帮助，以支持更高效和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。该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的合作，并帮助改善他们的流程和提高生产力。知识转化也将有机会使该行业的其他公司受益，目标是提高该地区的整体质量和生产力，面向出口市场。因此，该项目的成功结果具有巨大的潜力，有利于大西洋加拿大的海洋产业，有助于保持新斯科舍省作为世界领先的高质量海洋服务的地位。

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.