By Lisa Bastian

The modern production method known as advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) is a major force behind Canada’s strong economy. World-class AMT produces goods by means of sophisticated high-tech and/or automated manufacturing processes. In recent years, it has also become an integral component of modern manufacturing plants seeking to shave costs and time without sacrificing product quality.
Tens of thousands of Canadians working within diverse industries embrace AMT, using it for everything from manufacturing design, e-manufacturing, forming and assembly to robotics, reverse engineering, metal cutting, and high-speed machining. Here is a brief look at some of Canada’s key sectors that use AMT for part or most of their operations; monetary statistics refer to Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

Automotive
The Canadian automotive manufacturing and distribution industry is the country’s largest manufacturing sector — representing 21 percent of all manufacturing jobs — and the world’s eighth-largest producer of cars and trucks. Canada is also the third-largest exporter of automotive products, since more than 90 percent of its vehicles and nearly 60 percent of its systems and parts production go to the United States and other nations.
According to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, the automotive sector supports 13 assembly plants, more than 540 parts manufacturers, 3,900 dealerships, and many other related industries. It employs more than a half-million people, with nearly a third of them working in assembly and component manufacturing and two-thirds in distribution and sales/marketing. Manufacturing is primarily conducted in central Canada, while distribution activity is found throughout the country.
The latest government figures show that Canada produced more than 2.7 million passenger and commercial vehicles in 2005. Light-vehicle assembly operations are concentrated in Ontario, which for the second year in a row made more cars than Michigan. While Greater Toronto is home to the second-largest automotive cluster in North America, a number of other cities located west of it also are integral to the industry’s robust health.
For example, Toyota’s $800 million Woodstock facility assembly plant opening in 2008 (its second plant in Woodstock) will employ 2,000 and produce up to 150,000 SUVs yearly. The carmaker joins Ford, GM, DaimlerChrysler, CAMI (GM-Suzuki), and others producing a wide range of vehicles. In contrast to similar U.S.-based operations, most are “flexible” manufacturing plants that can make more than one model. In total, approximately 40 light- and heavy-duty vehicle plants have shipments with a combined annual worth of about $72 billion.
Canada’s yearly capital investment in its automotive sector has averaged nearly $3.5 billion for over 10 years. One vital project is AUTO21, a national research initiative exploring ways to improve the global competitiveness of the Canadian automotive industry. It currently supports more than 230 top researchers at 39 academic institutions and research facilities in Canada and other global sites. Ongoing R&D explores new manufacturing processes, advanced electronic systems, materials, and fuels for tomorrow’s vehicles.

Aerospace
Approximately 80,000 employees working for more than 500 companies throughout Canada contribute to the country’s thriving aerospace industry, which generated about $21.7 billion in sales in 2005 (more than double 1990 revenues). Globally, the sector holds an enviable fourth-place position after the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
According to Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC), these firms are global market leaders in regional aircraft, business jets, commercial helicopters, flight simulation, small gas turbine engines, landing gear, and space applications. AIAC reports that 84 percent of sector products are exported, a statistic that ranks aerospace as Canada’s primary “advanced technology” exporter. Its annual trade surplus is $3.5 billion.
Pratt & Whitney Canada, for example, employs 900 engineers to make engines for helicopters and regional/business aircraft in addition to high-tech industrial motors. The company is the nation’s biggest aerospace R&D investor and the second-largest in the private sector. In 2005, it announced a $250 million investment for developing new engines. Other top players include L-3 Communications Canada, Lockheed Martin Canada, Boeing Aerospace, Bell Helicopter, Bombardier Aerospace (world’s third-largest civilian aircraft maker), General Electric (jet engines), Rolls-Royce (engine repair/overhaul), and Messier-Dowty (high-tech landing gear).
Fifty-five percent of Canada’s aerospace activity is in Québec, and Montréal’s aerospace technology cluster is responsible for 95 percent of that province’s output. In fact, Montréal ranks second among the world’s aerospace capitals, shipping more than $10 billion in product annually. The city has attracted numerous multinational giants, as well as legions of secondary service and supply firms which support the sector.
Most notably, on Prince Edward Island (PEI), aerospace is the province’s third-largest industry. This exploding business sector posts gross annual sales of more than $275 million, and represents 25 percent of PEI’s exports. Almost 800 people work for seven companies currently experiencing major growth: Atlantic Turbines International, MDS-PRAD Technologies, Testori Americas, TronosJet Maintenance, Tube-Fab, Wiebel and Honeywell.

Medical Devices
Canada’s healthy medical-device industry employs nearly 35,000 people in approximately 1,500 corporate facilities across the land, according to Medical Devices Canada (MEDEC), the trade association representing that sector’s companies. Not including medical imaging and assistive devices, the industry is mostly made up of small and mid-sized firms, with larger organizations (100 employees or more) employing 43 percent of industry workers.
The innovative products manufactured here benefit healthcare systems and people throughout the world. They range from general medical devices such operating room devices and hospital equipment to medical specialty devices used for cardiovascular, orthopedic, ophthalmic, diabetes, and in-vitro diagnostics healthcare.
Geographically, more than 80 percent of the industry is in Ontario and Québec, with about 20 percent in the West and 4 percent in the Atlantic region. Annual industry sales total about $5 billion in national sales, reports MEDEC, with $2.5 billion of those sales from Ontario and $1.25 billion from Québec.
Medical-device manufacturing involves the application of diverse biomedical and engineering disciplines. Fortunately, the industry can draw upon the strengths of associated Canadian industries such as advanced materials, biotechnology, microelectronics, telecommunications, and software and informatics. Companies have ample opportunities to tap into — and collaborate with — world-class R&D conducted at numerous Canadian universities, research institutes, and hospitals, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Networks of Centres of Excellence, and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Not surprisingly, almost 10 percent of Canadian medical device firms are spinoffs of universities, labs, or other firms. In addition to MEDEC, provincial industry associations exist in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, and Manitoba.
The nation’s regulatory process for medical devices keeps up with international trends, and emphasizes harmonization and reciprocity. For example, federal law allows Canadian manufacturers to export product in accordance with the receiving country’s laws (irrespective of domestic approval status). A number of foreign-owned firms have decided to set up export manufacturing on Canadian soil due in part to this advantageous export provision.

Information& Communications Technology
Almost 32,000 companies belong to Canada’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector, made up of mostly firms focused on software and computer services, followed by wholesaling, rental and leasing, and manufacturing.
The ICT manufacturing industries account for 19 percent of the value-added, and 15 percent of employment in this sector. They include firms producing commercial/service machinery; computers/peripheral equipment; telephone, broadcast and wireless communications equipment; and semiconductor and other electronics equipment.
For 2005, ICT produced $135.6 billion in revenues, $5.7 billion in R&D (2006 intentions), $30.6 billion in exports (70 percent go to the United States), and $48.7 billion in imports. An interesting note about this sector’s future is that some firms are now exploring ways to grow and thrive by collaborating with emerging life sciences and converging next-generation technology clusters in Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal, and Ottawa.
One particular subsector, electronics, is ranked 10th in the global electronics market, according to Electronics.ca Publications. Many of Canada’s electronics firms are located in Montréal, Ottawa, and Toronto, as well as Vancouver. Some well-known players include CMC Electronics (GPS products), EMS Technologies (advanced satellite communications), BCE (Canada’s largest communications company), and Mitel (IP communications).
Focusing on Québec, 110 businesses in the province designed or manufactured electronic or photonic circuits, components or systems, or manufactured software (design, testing, etc.) in 2003, according to the Québec government, which notes that 10 businesses singlehandedly “generated nearly two-thirds of the industry’s roughly 13,000 jobs.”

Energy
Energy plays an important role in federal and provincial economies, and is central to the Canadian economy. The nation’s diverse energy resources include oil, natural gas, coal, thermal, and hydroelectric power, as well nuclear, solar, wind, and other sources. According to the Canadian Centre for Energy Information, in 2004 this multifaceted industry represented approximately $70.8 billion to the total national GDP, and accounted for more than $66 billion of exports and 20 percent of all business investments.
In particular, Canada is recognized as the third-largest producer of natural gas and the eighth-largest producer of crude oil in the world, and the producer of 25 percent of North America’s crude oil and natural gas. Much of this success is due to the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, a 580,000-square-mile region extending across parts of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and portions of the Northwest and Yukon Territories.
Alberta produces 68 percent of the nation’s crude oil and 78 percent of its natural gas. Of special interest are the province’s oil sands, which Time magazine once called “Canada’s greatest buried energy treasure.” Multibillions of dollars have been poured into their development in recent years. According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, industry investment in the oil sands in 2005 alone totaled $10 billion, with much of that money paying for the advanced technology and infrastructure required to develop this non-conventional resource. That same year, the oil fields were responsible for about 39 percent of all crude oil produced in Canada. It’s estimated that this production could reach 3 million barrels per day by 2020 and possibly even 5 million barrels per day by 2030.
Although the oil and gas industry exists but is not as strong in the Atlantic, Northern and Central Canadian provinces, recent technological advances along with market conditions are behind renewed efforts to further develop energy resources in these regions. Energy production is especially significant in Newfoundland & Labrador. In 2004 alone, this sector’s contribution to the economy there, when seen as a percentage of total real GDP, is said to have exceeded all other Canadian provinces. Specifically, by 2004, the energy sector contributed over $2.6 billion to real GDP, mostly due to offshore crude oil production.

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
In an increasingly competitive worldwide market, the strategies and resources pharma and biotech companies use to maximize performance and productivity are constantly changing. Certainly, Canadian firms in this industry employ AMT to improve their bottom line while ensuring the high quality of products. At the very least, AMT has its fingerprints on such processes as improving the performance of packaging, timed-release efficacy of medicines, and overall high-tech manufacturing processes of drugs and bioproducts.
Rx&D is the national association representing more than 22,000 professionals working for more than 50 research-based Canadian pharmaceutical companies. Over half of member companies are located in Ontario, a major national center for pharmaceutical R&D employing where 9,000 workers are employed. In 2003 alone, it infused $1.8 million into the provincial economy. Rx&D members here include AstraZeneca Canada, GSK, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, Merck Frosst Canada Ltd., Pfizer, and Eli Lilly Canada.
More than half of Canada’s pharmaceutical companies call Toronto home, as do 80 percent of generic drug manufacturers. The Canadian headquarters of Aventis Pasteur, Bayer, Eli Lilly, and Janssen-Ortho are all in Toronto. The province’s biotech cluster is the largest in Canada, fourth-largest in North America, and among the largest 10 in the world, and is famous for cutting-edge R&D in proteomics, genomics and bioinformatics.