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canadian industry Online - NOVEMBER 2014
O
ne small step
for Canada,
one giant leap for manufactur-
ing.
That’s the best way to describe
CME’s inaugural Manufacturing
Month celebrations after more than 60
factory tours across Canada, a robust
social media campaign and recogni-
tion of nation’s largest business sector
by both federal and provincial govern-
ments.
“
Canadian Manufacturing Month
exceeded our expectations,” said Jeff
Brownlee, CME’s VP of public affairs
and business development and lead
organizer of the month-long event.
“
Being our first year, we weren’t sure
what to expect, but the nation defi-
nitely embraced the initiative and pro-
moted our industry.”
Using the tagline “Seeing is Be-
lieving”, the objective of the month
was to paint Canadians a true picture
of the high-tech industry today. From
3
D printing to agricultural machinery
manufacturing, CNC to the benefits of
LEAN, the month was a chance to rein-
force the message that manufacturing
matters and is an integral part of our
economy.
And as Brownlee explains, it’s not
an easy task. “There’s a real misper-
ception in Canada about what manu-
facturing is today,” he said. “Our chal-
lenge continues to be that we have to
show that manufacturing can be sexy;
manufacturing can be exciting and
most importantly, manufacturing can
be fun.”
That’s why CME mixed a little
old school with new technology. Fac-
tory tours were the backbone of the
month, encouraging politicians, stu-
dents and residents all over the coun-
try to witness manufacturing in the
flesh and in their own backyards.
But starting a grassroots cam-
paign in a nation as geographically
diverse as Canada relied on social me-
dia — namely Twitter — to spread the
message.
“
Industry Minister James Moore
announced his support for Manufac-
turing Month and his cross-Canada
tour on Twitter,” Brownlee said. “That
raised awareness and people adopted
our #mfgmonth hashtag immediately.”
And Manufacturing Month went
viral quickly. In total, the social me-
dia campaign resulted in more than
105,000
impressions during the month,
and more than 130 retweets of CME
information.
Student Video Contest
Engaging companies to open
their doors to show the world Cana-
dian homegrown innovation was only
one element of the month-long cel-
ebrations. A second was connecting
with the younger generation through
a video contest on “why manufactur-
ing is cool” to demystify the inaccurate
perception that manufacturing is dirty,
depressing, declining and dangerous.
The results were unexpected.
With more than 15 entries in the
secondary school competition, it was
hard to whittle the field down to a
shortlist of just three.
“
Absolutely amazing quality
videos that really capture the essence
of manufacturing today,” Brownlee
said, in reference to the submissions.
“
There’s an abundance of creativity
and innovation in the younger genera-
tion and some entries put a really cool
spin on what manufacturing is today.”
From one’s mind to another’s
hands, by Phoenix Vaithilingam Erin
District High School (ON) demon-
strates all facets of manufacturing from
concept and design to finished prod-
uct. It includes CNC in addition to 3D
printing.
CANADIAN MANUFACTURING MONTH
