The 1st annual Manufacturing Innovation Summit in Barrie, ON, brought together leading executives, investors, and entrepreneurs from around Ontario to explore how new innovative technologies are changing the manufacturing landscape.

Dan Ritchie, President of R&M Poleline Products, was a featured speaker on a roundtable panel discussion entitled: Lights out Manufacturing: The adoption of Robotics. He shared his insights on the challenges and opportunities that innovation brings from the perspective of an SME that is at the beginning of the automation journey.

Sink or Swim

Manufacturers of all sizes can no longer afford to overlook innovation. From the simplest of spreadsheet tasks to full on work, innovation is starting to catch up to job shops where turnover can be high. As technology from large automotive enterprises starts to trickle down, it’s critical for smaller companies to exploit the advantages of reusing it at a lower cost.

“Automation companies and suppliers need to capitalize on new innovative process opportunities to increase manufacturing capabilities and maintain a competitive edge,” says Mr. Ritchie. “The game is always changing. Just when you’ve decided how you’re going to automate and put the best technology forward, in a snap of the finger, the dynamics change, and you find yourself behind again. So it’s important to future proof your automation.”

Advice for SMEs

According to Mr. Ritchie, SMEs shouldn’t be daunted when facing innovation, adding that there are key strategies smaller companies can employ to help ensure success when adopting new technology. “The first is to make sure you have a plan to get your staff on board before you start,” he says. “Because if not, you’re sure to fail; innovation can create worry among employees.”

Many SMEs mistakenly perceive innovation and automation as expensive, and many companies aren’t sure where to start when staring down a potential price tag that can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But Mr. Ritchie is quick to point out that automation can provide many benefits including employee safety, quality control, and cost savings.

“The reality is that we divided and scaled our ROI first within the quarter, then took those savings into six-month ROI, and then over a year,” says Mr. Ritchie. “Working in smaller increments allowed us to springboard forward. And once you get the ball rolling, it moves pretty fast.”

Manufacturers need to be realistic about potential savings and realize that automation is not going to replace all labour; staff and technology may initially need to work hand in hand. “Don’t overestimate the savings,” says Mr. Ritchie. “Innovation is about creating capacity and having the ability to refill that capacity.”

Industry-Academic Partnerships: Integral for Success

R&M Poleline Products has capitalized on the mutual benefits of working with academia to drive local employment as well as company innovation. Working in partnership with the Georgian College Centre for Applied Research and Innovation, the company increased its knowledge base and generated innovation cost savings while providing students with essential hands-on experience.

“We started out with value stream mapping, and that’s progressed to equipment builds,” says Mr. Ritchie. “Part of our strategy will be to align and support students that need projects to get started, It was a win-win situation.”

Through maintaining a big-picture approach, including its employees in the process, and leveraging incremental savings to springboard forward, R&M Poleline Products has become a model for SMEs looking to take advantage of the opportunities innovation has to offer.

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Six major categories of plastic packaging help to significantly reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions compared to packaging alternatives made with other materials.  A study: “Impact of Plastics Packaging on Life Cycle Energy Consumption & Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the United States and Canada,” provides a detailed life cycle assessment showing the energy and climate benefits of using various types of everyday plastic packaging compared to alternatives.

These categories include caps and closures, beverage containers, other rigid containers, carrier (or shopping) bags, stretch/shrink wrap, and other flexible packaging.

“Plastic packaging enables the safe and efficient delivery of various products which form part of our daily lives, everything from food to essential health and safety aids. However, many are unaware that plastics carry out these functions while at the same time conserving energy and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. This study clearly articulates these benefits to sustainability,” notes Carol Hochu, President & CEO of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association.

Study authors used life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to compare current amounts of various plastic packaging products to packaging made with alternative materials.  The findings were striking.

The assessment found that for the baseline year, replacing all plastic packaging with non-plastic alternatives for these six types of packaging in Canada would:

• require almost 4.4 times as much packaging material by weight, increasing the amount of packaging used in Canada by nearly 5.5 million tonnes or 5.5 billion kilograms;

• increase energy use by 2.0 times – equivalent to the amount of oil transported by 18 supertankers; and

• result in 2.3 times more global warming potential – equivalent to adding 3.3 million more cars to our roads.

Plastics packaging is highly engineered enabling innovation in performance and reductions in material use resulting in enormous sustainability benefits throughout the entire life cycle, as this study shows.

After use, plastics make further contributions to sustainability by being re-purposed through recycling or recovered for its energy value and converted into a liquid oil, electricity and into other fuels.

Great progress has been made in recycling.

In a Report on Access to Residential Recycling of Plastics released in 2016, PET beverage bottles show an access to recycling rate of 99%; plastic containers made from PET, HDPE, LDPE and PP show access rates of 90% or higher. The access rate for PVC and other (#7) types of plastic containers have risen to 88% and 91% respectively. Rates for containers made of polystyrene have increased from 63% in 2014 to 70% in 2015.  As well there was a significant access rate increases in the film and bags categories (from 55% in 2014 to 65% in 2015).

A Study on Post Consumer Plastic Recycling in Canada released in March 2017, shows that for a sixth year in a row, the amount of post-consumer plastic material being recycled across Canada has increased.  In total, over 322 million kilograms of post-consumer plastic material was collected for recycling in Canada.

Plastic packaging collected for recycling includes plastic bottles, non-bottle rigid plastics such as deli and dairy containers, bakery, vegetable, fruit containers, and plastic film, bags and outer wrap. These valuable resources are reused to make, for example, fleece jackets, new plastic bottles, pipe, pallets, crates and buckets, decking and other lawn and garden products.

Today’s intelligent plastics are vital to the modern world. These materials enhance our lifestyles, our economy and the environment.

Courtesy of  Canadian Plastics Industry Association

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2011 saw R&M Plastic Products Ltd. officially move to Barrie from Brampton where their business has been growing stronger since. Barrie, ON provided the infrastructure and had the space for a plastic extrusion manufacturer since losing many in the recession. Barrie was more than accommodating to R&M, seeing the plastic extrusion company expand with the addition of 30 talented and dedicated employees.

Bob, now the owner of R&M, has no plans to retire any time soon and enjoys working alongside his son, Dan. R&M Plastic Products Ltd., doing the family business proud since 1966.

Read our interview, and full history, in Canadian Plastics magazine.

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