Walk into the reception area of Canadore College’s ICAMP facility and you’ll meet “Baxter.”
With his largely chunky arms and kindly, expressive cartoon eyes peering from a computer monitor face, he’s the unofficial ambassador and greeter at the Innovation Centre for Advanced Manufacturing.
Supplied by Rethink Robotics of Boston, the five-foot-tall mobile industrial robot, mounted atop a pedestal with casters, can be programmed to work on assembly lines, pack boxes, or even fetch a cup of coffee for his human companion.
He also provides a futuristic glimpse of the factory floor.
“We thought he would be a good asset to ICAMP,” said Tracie Marsh-Fior, the facility’s coordinator and the college’s dean of trades and technology.
The whole premise behind building the 8,500-square-foot innovation centre was to work closely with local small and medium-sized manufacturers to take their production capacity and innovative abilities to a new level.
“Innovation centres are not a new concept for colleges and universities in Ontario, but ours is a little different,” said Marsh-Fior. “There’s no academic program associated with the centre; it’s about industry.”
The facility, which opened its doors in September 2013, was built inside the college’s Commerce Campus, located within a North Bay industrial park subdivision.
With its array of technology, it serves as a kind of research and development arm for many companies that wish to design, test and prototype new products on some leading-edge equipment that would normally be too expensive to buy.
The facility is outfitted with 3D printers, an electron microscope, Solid Works design software packages and a waterjet cutting table.
One interesting feature is a handheld optimal scanner that takes precise measurements of objects. It’s a handy tool to have for examining the wear and tear on parts, or for reverse engineering purposes for pieces that aren’t made any more or come without drawings.
Each piece acquired by ICAMP was done with local industry input.
More than four years ago, the college began talks with local manufacturers about the concept of a technology “sandbox” where companies could come in and try out new equipment on processes that would contracted to an out-of-town provider.
“We went to industry to ask, what is it that you need to help your business grow or be competitive?”
Marsh-Fior said they were careful not to purchase equipment that would take away business from local machine and fabrication shops.
“We’re here to support them whether they want training or whether they want us to do the work for them.”
The premier attractions are the industrial robots, specifically a hulking IRB 4600 mounted on a track system which works in concert with a 9-axis CNC milling machine and a smaller Flex Trainer installed inside a cell. Each robot has pick-and-place arms that can handle material or can be configured to handle repetitive tasks like arc welding.
The idea of ‘bots’ entering and automating the workplace always generates the prescient fear of humans being replaced by machines. But it may provide an answer to deal with the North’s chronic skilled trades shortage.
Why have skilled employees perform boring and mundane tasks that can be better delegated to robots? said Marsh-Fior.
The ICamp environs also provides a small 3-D theatre to be utilized for presentations or designing components.
Marsh-Fior said many of their clients have been predominately North Bay manufacturers, but they’ve assisted a Sudbury mining supplier and a movie production company, worked in the health-care sector to design a device, and are partnering with a Parry Sound hovercraft maker to redesign a component to make it more lightweight.
On the latter project, the prototyping phase affords an opportunity for the college’s welding faculty and students to participate.
“It‘s a great experience for them to be able to deal with something that’s hands-on, real and tangible,” she said.
Funding for the $6.8-million centre came from a mix of government and private partners. Some local companies sponsored individual rooms, including Pilot Diamond Tools, which has their plaque on ICAMP’s Material Testing Lab.
Steve Perrin, president of Pilot Diamond Tools, chuckled when asked how the company he acquired in March 2012 used to handle new product development.
“There wasn’t a lot of it. Pilot just existed. It’s been a phenomenal company, they’ve done very well. But as for innovation, new products and new markets, that type of thing, it’s been pretty much non-existent.”
First established in 1969, his company makes an array of diamond drilling products for the mining and construction sectors.
With his shop located just down Seymour Street from ICAMP, Perrin said having easy access to this kind of capacity has the potential to push his 40-employee company forward by leaps and bounds.
Perrin, who serves on ICAMP’s advisory board, said the centre offers the ability to improve what’s already in their catalogue, but more importantly design and develop a new suite of products to enter different target markets.
“Even from the machining standpoint, if we wanted to diversify into different areas like natural gas or oil, you’re into fairly large prototyping.”
At ICAMP, they’ve made extensive use of the metallurgical testing equipment and a 3D printer for prototyping and modelling.
Due to the proprietary nature of his technology, Perrin declined to go into specifics on what ICAMP was helping him with.
“We’ve taken a pretty substantial hit on our manufacturing the last couple of years. If we can reinvent ourselves and innovate, that’s huge. The more knowledge you have in North Bay, the better for everyone here.”
Though open for a year and half, Marsh-Fior said ICAMP still remains in its infancy and has only scratched the surface of its potential.
“I’ve had companies come in and their first response is, ‘We don’t think this is of any use for us.’”
But after a tour, she said, you can see the internal light bulb suddenly go on.
“It’s about planting the seed for a lot of our companies.”
The facility was never intended to stay static, she said, but constantly evolve and stay current with new technology to cater to their industry clients.
“It’s not yet complete. We still go out to them to say, what’s next?”
Further expansion is in the discussion stage.
“As much as we’re still building and launching this new centre, we’re constantly looking forward as well.”
