Webinars

In an age where many small manufactures get frustrated and unplug their robotic welders, Elmer’s and Schnell have both integrated new welders in the last few months, rapidly ramping up utilization and production output. Jean-Marc Dequier and Brenton Dueck shared their strategy for rapid deployment of this technology and will answer your questions about robotic welding from a user perspective

Jarrod Anderson from Mode 40 took us through a presentation on the current state of AI, how it works and how it can be applied to our every day work. He showed us some live examples using “AutoGen” and some agents (synthetic employees) that he had created. He ended by giving some advice on corporate strategy to take advantage of this fast evolving tools tool.

Frontiers North and Noble Northern – Design, Construction and Operation of EV’s in Canada’s Sub Arctic

Webinar Abstract:

John and Tye presented on their EV Tundra Buggy and combined heat and power kitchen unit which is used in the sub Arctic near Churchill MB. They shared their experience on the operation of EV’s in the extreme cold, and the advantages of going EV in fossil fuel reduction, guest experience, and reduced impacts on the environment.

The VTC hosted a small OEM group meeting with Edison Motors from British Columbia on Dec 7, 2023.  Edison has been in the news recently with the development of their hybrid electric logging truck that was designed from a very practical standpoint.  Chace Barber is the CEO of the company who started development based due to a lack of available technology.

Webinar Abstract:

This is a recording of a meeting with Edison Motors and 7 Manitoba OEMS that are interested in Edison’s approach to Diesel Electric Hybrid Technology in heavy duty application and how this technology may translate to agriculture and other applications.

As a battery electric heavy vehicle fleet grows, so does the peak demand required to charge the vehicles, which may lead to large demand charges and costly infrastructure upgrades. The Mobility House is the world’s leading smart charging technology provider for fleets. Their customers include trucking and commercial fleets, national postal services, transit companies and schools. Their goal is to lower the costs of electric mobility and they have partnered with 1,000+ fleets to lower capital and operational expenses by up to 80%. Our speaker is Anna-Maria Swiridoff who leads Strategic Partnerships at The Mobility House North America. She helps The Mobility House’s fleet partners leverage charging and energy management to support rapid fleet electrification and emissions reductions in the commercial fleet and transit market. 

OTTO Motors, a Canadian company, is the industry leader in the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) industry, providing autonomous material handling with a focus on industrial applications. In this webinar you’ll learn why automation is necessary, why OTTO is safer than traditional material handling, and how you can achieve success with AMRs.  Q&A explores ROI on AMR’s, how small of a company would benefit from this technology and integration into plant operations.  

Jay Judkowitz VP of Product and Sheldon Zommerman – Director of Automotive Vertical presented

Hydrogen IC engines are on the near horizon and could be a path to rapid decarbonization of agricultural equipment and fleets vehicles. CUMMINS presented on their development of this technology. Jim Nebergall is the General Manager of the Hydrogen Engine Business at Cummins Inc. and leads the company’s global efforts in commercializing hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines. Hydrogen internal combustion engines are an important technology in the company’s accelerated path to decarbonization.

Jim is joined by Hui Xu – Technical Program Leader of the hydrogen engine development, and Jeffrey Graida – Manitoba and Northern Ontario territoity manager for Cummins.

Hans-Peter Dahm and Florian Waetzold of TGM Light Weight Solutions GmbH g in Germany presented on treating light weighting as a design process based on their work with companies like BMW, Bombardier, Boeing, Mercedes Benz, Alstom and more even including Lamborghini.

This presentation demonstrates the ease of content creation for production assembly which could be viewed through hand held or worn devices using Vuforia Expert Capture. Bill Durrand (NeuroStrategy), Greg Folkes (PTC) and Collen Garrigan (PTC) presented. This session was part of the Heavy Vehicle and Equipment Technology Conference held in Winnipeg Dec 7 and 8, 2021 hosted by the Vehicle Technology Centre and Red River College Polytech. Sound is a little wonky at first but gets better after 4 minutes.

The VTC hosted a session highlighting the National Research Council (NRC) Canada’s work in battery technology for electric vehicles.  Their presentation focused on the work they have done in the past and are continuing with energy storage including real case studies on the practical application of batteries in vehicles from a battery developer and integrators perspectives. They also touch on the mitigation of battery events through their research. Eddy Zuppel and Dean MacNeil of the NRC presented.

Europe and the UK have traditionally been ahead of North America in the use of adhesive technology instead of mechanical fastening. Forgeway Ltd from the UK shared some case studies of unique fastening projects they have undertaken. Based in the UK, Forgeway was established in 1995 have grown to become a global leader in the manufacturing of adhesives and sealants for the markets such as truck, bus, and couch building. Thanks to their focus on a developing their people and their products, they offer unrivalled advanced technology adhesives, with a market knowledge and experience to back it up. Working with companies like Alexander Dennis, they have developed a specialty in adhesives and sealant use in truck and coach building. Bruce Ellis of Forgeway presented.

Ballard Power Systems, Hydrogen Technology and Energy Corporation and the Canadian Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association presented on the state of hydrogen fuel cell technology with a focus on heavy vehicle and fleet applications. We will also had the opportunity to learn about hydrogen fueling infrastructure required to support fuel cell operation. The presentation was followed by audience Q&A.Our presenters were Terry Howe from Ballard Power Systems, Mitch Carlson from Hydrogen Technology and Energy Corporation and Mark Kirby of the Canadian Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association.

The Vehicle Technology Centre hosted a webinar focusing on digital production flow optimization and digital inspection of large and complex large objects and assemblies. This was presented by CAD Micro Solutions and Visual Components.

The presentation included 2 case studies (AGCO and NIMAK) that utilized 3D manufacturing simulation to optimize cell workflow.  It also included demonstrations of 3D scanning in large assembly environments.  We also got a sneak peak at some of the work Cad Micro did scanning a full size Avro Aero full model in southern Ontario which has applications to heavy equipment and vehicle manufacturers.

The Vehicle Technology Centre hosted a webinar focusing on WI-FI connected assembly tools that electronically measure, collect, and store production data as assembly tasks are being performed. These tools eliminate the need to manually record data into assembly logs or books while ensuring that tasks are being done in the proper sequence by properly trained personnel. Applifast Winnipeg and New Flyer presented on the benefits and use of these tools including demonstration of the capabilities in actual production tasks. This webinar focused on advanced connected fastening systems available through Desoutter tools that can:

• Achieve torque accuracy by measuring and recording actual torques applied (in comparison with current sign off sheets that confirm that a minimum torque was reached).
• Can control who performs an assembly process and in what order steps are done to improve quality.
• Electronically collects and stores all fastening data and can report on exceptions or prevent the next step if the prior step is not completed properly.
• Enhance operator experience using quiet, ergonomic tools Applifast and New Flyer presented followed by Q&A from the attendees.

Thanks to Brian MacKinnon of Applifast and Sheldon Schultz of New Flyer and Lance Mlodzinski at MCI for preparing and presenting this webinar.

Skylight, is used at companies like Boeing to display assembly instructions on smart glasses to reduce mistakes and increase efficiency. Their technology can also train workers faster, allow workers to call for help digitally, use voice commands to navigate SOPs, and allow them to keep both hands on their work reducing task time.

During this webinar, Upskill will provide overview of their technology, a live demonstration using wire harness assembly and remote service call scenarios, and present on how companies can prepare their reference information to be ready to integrate this technology.

The Manitoba Heavy Equipment and Vehicle Cluster hosted a webinar by Siemens in October of 2020 where future trends in the electrification of heavy equipment and vehicles was addressed. The path to electrification of heavy vehicles operated on predetermined and repeated schedules in a local municipal area has some clarity. for high horsepower, high load applications (like agricultural tractors) the path to electrification is not as clear. In this webinar, David, Ray and Kyle from Siemens present their views on where they see the future of electrification of large vehicle going. Many thanks to David Wilson, Ray Little and Kyle Ferguson of Siemens for presenting and to Roberta Desserre of Siemens for coordinating the webinar presenters and material.

Getting products to market faster is key to maintaining competitive advantage. When manufacturing heavy equipment and vehicles, the complexity of the integration of systems as well as variable line loading leads to challenges both planning assembly and creating the standard operating procedures and other documentation required by the line personnel. Axiscades has works with a number of large equipment manufacturers all over the world and has experience in modeling the plant and the workload in a virtual environment allowing planning to occur concurrently with the design process, reducing time to market. Sanjay Rout, Subbu Vijayen, and Murari Seshadri from Axicades presented to the Manitoba Heavy Equipment and Vehicle Cluster in June of 2020.