WINDSOR, ONT. — The Canadian Association of Mold Makers (CAMM) is spearheading an effort to establish the Windsor-Essex region as a leader in the emerging field of mechatronics, a high-tech, multi-faceted manufacturing process key to building factories of the future.
Starting in March, CAMM will become the umbrella group for a new association promoting the interests of the region’s growing cluster of companies specializing in automation.
The region already has the continent’s highest concentration of tool, die and mold makers that service various sectors, including the North American auto industry. And it is home to more than 300 companies, with expertise ranging from robotics, electronics to mechanical and computer engineering.
“We have hundreds of automation companies and yet nobody outside of a person who works for that company really knows what an automation company is, knows what an economic influence they have or that it can be a career for their kids,” said Brent McPhail, president of Brave Control Solutions, who will also head the new association.
“It’s a very niche, specialized, large industry that nobody knows about,” McPhail said. “Mechatronics is the combination of the mechanically designed system and the automation system working as one to accomplish a manufacturing task or some other type of task.”
The initiative was announced Tuesday during the 3rd annual Emerging Technologies in Automation Conference and Trade Show, organized by the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation.
