Automotive News Canada - June 2020 - 4

* JUNE 2020

Making medical
is no bandage
Parts suppliers see
fertile ground outside of
automotive and intend to
continue mining for the
extra revenue that buffers
market ups and downs
By DOUG FIRBY

CALGARY CORRESPONDENT

tem. "And the medical companies have
found some new suppliers."
Sweeney estimated that 230 parts
makers in the Windsor-Essex County
region are now making medical supplies, plus an additional 200 across the
rest of Ontario. Windsor-Essex punches "above its weight" in this field
because it has so many companies that
supply automakers, said Wendy Stark,
WEEDC's manager of business retention and expansion.

AN SOS FOR PPE
THE DARK CLOUDS OF
The full extent of demand for PPE is
disruption brought on by the COVIDunclear, but the federal gov19 pandemic have a silver
ernment alone ordered 154
lining for Canadian auto
million N95 masks in May
parts makers that have
from offshore suppliers.
kept their employees workCAMM also said in May that
ing by producing medical
43 per cent of its members'
equipment and supplies.
workplaces report not havHundreds of suppliers
ing enough PPE equipment
are producing everything
on hand to ensure a safe
from face shields to hospiworkplace.
tal beds in response to the
Automakers are among
sudden and unprecedented
the companies that need
demand by medical institua lot of PPE. For examtions and industries for a
ple, each manufacturing
vast array of personal pro- Wendy Stark of
the WindsorEssex
and r&d employee at Fiat
tective equipment (PPE)
Economic
Chrysler Automobiles
and medical equipment.
receives two masks every
And many say they intend Development Corp.
said that unlike an
day as well as face shields
to continue that producoverseas source
for some tasks, said Lou
tion after the pandemic
such as China, a
Ann Gosselin, the compaeases, as a hedge against
local supplier offers
ny's head of communicathe boom-bust cycles of the customers closer
auto industry.
access to support if tions. FCA had more than
11,000 Canadian employees
A recent survey by the
problems arise.
as of Jan. 1.
Canadian Association of
PHOTO VIA
Windsor Mold is making
Mold Makers (CAMM) and W E N D Y S TA R K
several million face shields
WindsorEssex Economic
for the federal and provincial governDevelopment Corp. (WEEDC) found
ments, said COO Dave Mastronardi. In
that 60 per cent of respondents who
a two-week period, the 48-year-old comretooled to make PPE plan to stay in
pany designed plastic injection molds
the medical-supply business.
for the shields - a process that typical"I think some of them have discovly takes 12 to 16 weeks - then delivered
ered a new industry," said Brendan
the first ones within two weeks of that.
Sweeney, manager director of the
"The challenge was not so much the
Trillium Network for Advanced
design," Mastronardi said. "The chalManufacturing, a nonprofit in London,
lenge was the timeline."
Ont., that raises awareness of the provAlthough still a small percentage of
ince's advanced-manufacturing ecosysWindsor Mold's total revenue, the face
shield contract created needed work
for both a tool shop and a manufacturing plant in Windsor, he said.
PROFITS ... AND PRIDE

Essex Weld has produced a
catalogue of medical supplies. "This
keeps our guys working," said Brian
Campbell, the company's senior
sales representative.
PHOTO VIA BRIAN CAMPBELL

Parts makers cited two reasons for
making medical tools: the ability to
bring in revenue during a slow time in
the auto sector and a desire to join the
fight against COVID-19.
"I've been in auto for 30 years, and
you have your ups and downs," said
Brian Campbell, senior sales representative for Essex Weld Solutions. "This
keeps our guys working."
Essex Weld has produced a catalogue of medical supplies that includes
low-cost adjustable hospital beds,
hand-sanitizer dispensers that are activated by a foot pedal and a portable
hand-washing system.
"We have over 300 people [at a
total of four plants in Ontario, South
Carolina and Mexico], and everybody
is so proud, Campbell said.
Gary Aalbers, CEO of Aalbers Tool
and Mold, said his company is making molds for ventilator parts and face
shields at its 150-employee company in

Aalbers Tool and Mold employees such as Craig Henderson, pictured, worked
overtime and weekends to produce a mold for ventilator parts in two weeks
compared with the typical six to eight weeks. "The guys are just thrilled to be
involved" in the fight against COVID-19, said CEO Gary Aalbers.
PHOTO: AALBERS TOOL AND MOLD

Oldcastle, just outside of Windsor. Staff
worked overtime and weekends to produce the first mold in two weeks, rather than the typical six- to eight-week
development time.
"The benefit of building the medical mold is the attitude," Aalbers
said. "The guys are just thrilled to be
involved" in the fight against COVID19."
Businesses such as his are built for
the boom times, Aalbers said. "And
in the bust, you do whatever you can
to keep people working, or
willing to come back."
He said the connections
also help companies get
a "foot in the door" of the
medical-supply field. PPE
is only about five per cent
of his business right now,
Aalbers said, but he thinks
more opportunity will come
for any interested parts supplier.

for Advanced Manufacturing said the
pandemic has triggered a flood of innovation from suppliers.
"If there's a silver lining in this pandemic, then it's that we've learned a
lot about ourselves," he said. "Already
in 2020, manufacturers have learned
more about manufacturing than they
did in the previous decade."

MADE HERE MAKES COMEBACK

And Sweeney thinks the recent difficulty getting supplies of masks and
equipment from China
might cause many buyers
to rethink the offshore supply chain. For example, the
federal government recently rejected 11 million of the
N95 masks it had received
from China because they
did not meet medical standards.
"Are there reasons we
should be manufacturing things domestically? I
HEALTHY GROWTH
Vista Solutions
think the answer is yes."
adapted
Sweeney said.
Globally, the PPE marheat-sensing
Shelley Fellows, chair of
ket is expected to reach US
technology used in
Automate Canada, which
$93.61 billion (Cdn $125.16
auto manufacturing
advocates for the Canadian
billion) by 2027, a comautomation industry, said
pounded annual growth rate to produce thermal
cameras that
the pandemic has caused
of 6.7 per cent, according
measure skin
companies that normally
to a new report by Grand
temperature.
compete with one anothView Research Inc., a mar"It's been a great
er to collaborate closely.
ket research and consultengineering
Automotive coating maker
ing company based in San
challenge," said
Francisco.
Vista Vice-President BASF, for example, created a B2B directory platform
Vista Solutions in
Mike Sirizzotti.
at www.rrpcanada.org that
Windsor, Ont., has had a
PHOTO VIA
matches medical suppliers
MIKE ZIRIZZOTTI
diversified client base for
with companies seeking
years and is "not targeting
Canadian sources.
the medical industry solely," said Mike
The pandemic is "a turning point
Sirizzotti, the company's vice-presiand an eye-opener for a number of
dent. Yet Vista responded to the need
companies and for our country as a
by adapting heat-sensing technology
whole," she said. It has shown that
used in auto manufacturing to proCanadian companies can pivot sucduce thermal cameras that measure
cessfully and that it's important for the
skin temperature. The Vista product is
country to have a strong manufacturmore accurate than lower-priced proding sector.
ucts built in Asia, Sirizzotti said.
Stark of the WEEDC said a local
"It has been a great engineering chalsupplier offers customers closer access
lenge," he said. The sensors can be used
to support.
at any location where groups of people
"You're just more confident
are close together, such as airports, autoin domestic products," she said.
parts suppliers, furniture makers, law
"Hopefully, people will remember that
firms and dental practices.
when all this is over." - ANC
Sweeney of the Trillium Network

http://www.rrpcanada.org

Automotive News Canada - June 2020

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