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

Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Adv. Learning是滑铁卢地区唯一的理工教育提供商，拥有300多个以职业为重点的课程，包括安大略唯一完全认可的大学工程学位。为应对新冠肺炎疫情后我们区域行业合作伙伴面临的业务挑战，康内斯托加建议利用我们现有的能力和专业知识开展一系列应用研究项目，提供创新和技术，以支持我们区域关键行业的经济复苏。（包括基奇纳、剑桥、圭尔夫、布兰特福德）拥有大量制造公司，仅滑铁卢就有1，850多家，涉及汽车、航空航天、机器人、塑料和金属制品。滑铁卢地区拥有加拿大第四大制造业劳动力，是行业中的头号雇主，代表57，000个工作岗位。安大略省的食品和饮料加工业也是加拿大最大的，有4，000多家公司，雇用了95，000多名员工，多伦多-滑铁卢-圭尔夫走廊是该省最大的食品制造区。加拿大制造商和出口商已经确定了两个主要驱动因素，这是帮助制造商从疫情中恢复并提高竞争力的关键; 1）获得制造商需要的工人，2）刺激对创新和先进技术的投资。Waterloo惠灵顿Dufferin劳动力规划委员会亦将技能短缺及现金流挑战视为COVID后经济复苏的最大不确定性来源。我们提出了三个相互关联的研究主题，以满足我们的行业合作伙伴从全球疫情带来的挑战中恢复过来的需求。 1.自动化-机器人解决方案和机械或软件自动化，以支持流程改进和提高效率。 2.数字化和人工智能（AI）-数据采集的数字化转型（传感器、机器视觉等）通过机器学习、可视化和分析来帮助改进产品和流程。3.技术应对劳动力挑战-基于增强/虚拟现实（AR/VR）的培训解决方案，以解决技能差距，自动化解决方案，以解决劳动力短缺，以及辅助技术，以解决因受伤而损失的时间，并支持招聘和保留代表性不足的群体

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