Canada’s Advantage in the Future of Advanced Manufacturing—An Interview with Dr. Jayson Myers

It has been four long years since the manufacturing industry gathered for FABTECH Canada. Given the level of innovation and change that has taken place in the interim for this rapidly evolving industry, saying there’s a great deal for attendees to catch up on when the event returns to Toronto June 14-16 would be an understatement.

One of the most notable names helping the field get up to speed is Dr. Jayson Myers, CEO of NGen, the industry-led nonprofit driving Canada’s advanced manufacturing supercluster. An adviser to both private and public sector leaders, Dr. Myers has counselled Canadian prime ministers and premiers, as well as senior corporate executives, and served as president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, Canada’s largest industry and trade association.

At the heart of his current mission with NGen is finding ways to develop world-leading technologies and innovative solutions that will “help catapult Canadian manufacturers to the forefront of industrial competitiveness.” His upcoming keynote at FABTECH Canada, Advanced Manufacturing: Canada’s Competitive Advantage, will address the changes and challenges happening throughout the manufacturing industry and how they can open doors to opportunities for manufacturers—if they rethink how they do business.

One of the key messages Dr. Myers hopes will resonate with manufacturers is the need to not only evolve with the industry but to do so in an intentional way that makes sense for their individual business. While manufacturing as a whole is transforming through the adoption of digital technologies, he advises that every company needs to have a good idea of their own business objectives and model and start from there—not from the technology itself.

“The digital revolution isn’t as formidable as everybody seems to assume,” Dr. Myers says. “If it is done the right way, it can support your business and where your business is going.”

When we think about advanced manufacturing, our minds instantly go to the latest technologies but, as Dr. Myers explains, technology is only part of the equation. It’s also about the strategic thinking behind new business models and how to create value in a volatile environment when customers and stakeholders are becoming more demanding, and competition is growing increasingly fierce. It’s about doing business differently, reinventing processes, and integrating those processes in a way you’ve never done before—across the entire innovation value chain.

“When industry 4.0 started, it was all about connectivity,” Dr. Myers says. “Well, now it’s all about data analytics and prediction.” In other words, it’s not necessarily the technology that’s changing the industry—although that’s a major factor—but the use of the technology to create value and the ability to compete. Companies competing based on data and analytics versus a strictly commodity-based business will ultimately be more successful.

In discussing how manufacturers can make this pivot and harness Canada’s competitive advantage, Dr. Myers stresses the importance of collaboration.

“You know, these issues are just too big for every company to take on themselves,” he says. “A lot of manufacturers think that they’re the only ones on Earth facing these problems and most of the challenges are common across the industry. There’s an awful lot of good practices out there that should be at the basis for what these companies are trying to do themselves.”

In his talk at FABTECH Canada, Dr. Myers plans to share some of the trends he’s seeing not only in Canada but around the world, in terms of how companies are looking at and deploying technology to improve their businesses—as well as the pitfalls and cautionary tales that will help manufacturers understand what to avoid.

He will also highlight Canada’s unique strengths that “don’t exist anywhere else in the world” and how they can be leveraged to create new solutions that benefit manufacturers and all Canadians. Dr. Myers notes that while Canada is not usually recognized as a leader in advanced manufacturing, due in part to its smaller-scale production facilities, its ability to solve future-focused engineering problems gives it a real competitive edge.

“To use a hockey analogy—look where the puck is going, not to where the business is right now,” he says.

NGen is seeing the foresight and strength of the country’s engineering play out in the electric vehicle industry, where new solutions driven by Canadian research and technology are helping to solve some of the biggest roadblocks in getting cars to market. Dr. Myers also cites the success of additive manufacturing applications in mining—enabling significant improvements in the environmental impact of mining and oil and gas extraction; exciting new robotics biomanufacturing projects in cell and gene therapy; and the world’s first project to digitize steel production as prime examples of the Canadian advantage at work.

Commissioned by a large steel company, this last initiative—a collaborative integration of materials science, sensors, AI, connectivity, and automation systems—would be the first application of its kind in the world if successful, effectively modernizing the steel industry in one fell swoop.

Another groundbreaking innovation that has Dr. Myers optimistic about the future is the development of a fully automated manufacturing facility processing proteins from crickets—named one of the Top 10 AI applications in the world by the United Nations for achieving its sustainable development goals (NASA is the only other organization in North America to win this award).

Beyond bringing his message to manufacturers, Dr. Myers is looking forward to connecting with the industry at FABTECH Canada for many of the same reasons attendees are.

“I’m just looking forward to meeting people and talking about their businesses and sort of seeing what they’re doing,” he says. “It’s just a great opportunity for me just to catch up as well, and it helps me understand better where the industry is going. And it’s always helpful to identify companies that are doing great things, so when other companies are looking for potential partners, we have a pretty good idea of what’s out there.”

Interested in hearing Dr. Myers at FABTECH Canada? Click here to register.