ManuFacts January 2012

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Manufacts

Goderich Electric did the electrical work for the new clock.

Meanwhile, the clock's debut was welcome by most, but needed a bit of a volume adjustment, said Huron County Courthouse Maintenance Manager, John King.

"Just teething problems," he said. "When it was too loud, it was upsetting people living close.

Without the trees being there, it seems louder."

The clock, as downtown Goderich residents already heard, is also capable of playing tunes though it's 150-Watt solid-state amplifier. While that particular feature has been disabled for the time being and is up to County Council to decide whether to add them or stick with the familiar quarter and half hour chimes.

Harkes noted Harkes Industries - a machine shop in Gorrie - works on about 3-4 clocks a year, many of them for Canada Post in old clock towers Hearing the clock chime again has brightened the spirits of the people of Goderich. It’ is one step closer to our “Prettiest Town in Canada” being rebuilt following the tornado on August 21, 2011.

Spirit of Success Awards

The Huron Chamber of Commerce is set to hold its Annual Spirit of Success Awards Dinner Gala on Friday Jan 27, 2011 at 5:30pm Royal Canadian Legion.

These awards celebrate a wide range of successful businesses from across Huron County, including manufacturing businesses. To reserve tickets call the Chamber Office at 519-440-0176 or email: office@goderichchamber.ca

January, 2012

Sustainable Manufacturing Toolkit Launched

A made in Huron Sustainable Business toolkit (booklet) was launched at the Manufacturing Excellence Awards on November 18th. The booklet, is equipped with the tools and tips that will aid a business in identifying and increasing efficiencies, reducing their environmental impact and contributing to the local community all while striving to reduce overall costs!

ManuFacts

#1

2012

A Newsletter for Manufacturers in Huron County

E. D. Smith Named Manufacturer of the Year

After a general call for interested participants was announced in the spring, two Huron manufacturers were selected to participate in the development of the toolkit. For their input into the development of the toolkit they have received professional guidance on integrating cost-effective sustainability solutions such as identifying eco and energy efficiencies in their business. Local consulting firm, Kuzuka partnered with The Tavares Group in London to develop and deliver the toolkit with assistance from Huron Business Development Centre and Huron County Planning and Development Department staff.

The toolkit will be available for all Huron County manufacturers on the HMA website and copies will be distributed in the New Year to those who did not receive a copy at the awards. For those who have already taken a look we'd like to hear your feedback, please E-mail hma@huroncounty.ca with your stories of your successes and challenges with implementing the advice in the toolkit in your own plant.

HMA Member Fees Due in January

HMA members are reminded that membership fees are due in January for the 2012 membership year.

All Members and Associate Members with membership fees paid in full are entitled to the full range of membership benefits. For example, Full Members and Associate Members are encouraged to submit articles and news items that can be featured in the HMA newsletter and on the HMA website free of charge. The cost of Full Membership has increased from $100 to $125 and the cost of an Associate Membership has gone down to $125 from $150.

Inquiries can be directed to the Huron Manufacturing Association, 57 Napier St., Goderich ON N7A 1W2. Phone 519-524-8394 ext 3/ Fax 519-524-5677

Manufacturing Excellence Awards Called “Best Yet” By Attendees

The HMA celebrated its 6th annual Manufacturing Excellence Awards on Friday November 18. The tradeshow sponsored by Kenpal Farm Products Inc. and co-sponsored by Four County Labour Marketing Planning Board featured a wide variety of businesses and organizations from the region.

Hosted by the Huron Manufacturing Association and Gold Sponsor, United Communities Credit Union, approximately 300 people were in attendance representing Manufacturing, Municipalities and local businesses. Guests were welcomed by Master of Ceremonies John Weese.

Alison Lobb, Manager of the Small Business Enter-

prise Centre recognized summer company participants to kick off the evening.

Following the recognition of youth entrepreneurship was a dinner catered by Jeff & Cathy Cardiff of Cardiff Catering. After the scrumptious meal, guests listened to the speakers of the evening; Bryan Law, General Manager of Andex Metal Products Inc. and recipient of last year’s Manufacturer of the Year Award, and Ross Lamont who spoke about “Generations in the Workplace.”

The first award of the evening was the Junior Employee of the Year Award, given to an individual under 30 who has made a significant contribution to his or her manufacturing workplace. Brent McKague from R & R Machine & Tool Inc. was the recipient.

Carrying on with the youth theme, the next award was presented to a company recog- Contd on page 2

Inquiries can be directed to the Huron Manufacturing Association, 57 Napier St., Goderich ON N7A 1W2. Phone 519-524-8394 ext 3/ Fax 519-524-5677

Huron Manufacturing Association

ManuFacts

nized for Integration of youth into their workforce.

Jim Dawe from Murals in Metal, located in Seaforth, Ontario picked up the award on behalf of his company accompanied by his employees Cory Dawe and Jordan Skinner. Due to the high calibre of the nominees in this category, the selection committee saw fit to present a second award in this category. The award for Youth Integration-Large Company went to Goderich Aircraft in Huron Park, Ontario.

Next , the Tech Department of South Huron District High School was presented with the award for Outstanding Tech Department. HMA Co-ordinator, Monica Walker-Bolton stated “this award recognizes the contribution that our secondary schools make towards training the next generation of workers and entrepreneurs. This year, the HMA received new design ideas for a locally made awards statuette.

SHDHS was chosen with their design of a figure made from railway spikes. As Tom Walsh explains, “We purposely designed it to symbolize a couple of meaningful terms.

Longevity, both these recycled railway spikes and Huron County Manufacturing have been around for many, many years.

Connectivity, again, the railway has been and continues to be a viable factor in the means of transportation of manufactured raw materials and finished products. Lastly, the portrait, we wanted it to represent “reaching to a higher level” or simply “excellence”.

The Green Leader Award is presented to a company whose products and/or practices are helping to reduce our ecological footprint. This year’s winner was Envira-North from Seaforth, Ontario. They manufacture the Altra-Fan with Whale Power Technology ranging in size from 8 to 24 ft. in diameter. This quiet ceiling fan is ideal for manufacturing facilities, distribution and warehousing facilities, airport han-

gars, recreation facilities and dairy barns, really any facility with a high ceiling.

The event moved along seamlessly. Videos created by the Huron County Planning & Development department with the help of Co-op students from Goderich District Collegiate institute and Central Huron Secondary School highlighted each of the award winners.

The Outstanding Associate Member Award was presented to the United Communities Credit Union. The UUCU supports many charitable causes through their Community Fund. Farms to Food Banks is one such program. The Credit Union has invested $235 000 working with farm members purchasing food to distribute to local food banks within Huron, Perth and Essex Counties.

The Innovative Manufacturing Award is presented to companies who invest in process improvement, productivity enhancements or expanded manufacturing capacity. Syfilco was the winner of this award.

Marianne Benson of EXI-PLAST presented this award to Marg Knip of Syfilco in memory of Marianne’s late partner Frank Zawalsky.

The Innovative Product award for 2011 was presented to Dale Donaldson from smartgrain in Seaforth. This award is presented to a company that has turned a good idea into a successful product in the marketplace. The selection committee saw it fit to single out another company in this category. Josh Knip accepted the award on behalf of Syfilco. The Exporting Award also went to Syfilco.

Ensuring that those who give back to their communities were recognized, the award for Corporate Citizenship went to Howson & Howson from Blyth. The awards selection committee was particularly impressed with Howson & Howson’s development of pasta made from Ontario grown wheat, which they donate to legions, food banks and other charitable groups.

Employer of the Year Award went to E. D. Smith Foods Ltd. from Seaforth. Accepting the award is Tom Michalek. E.D. Smith was also the winner of the Health & Safety award. E.D. Smith is currently cele-

brating 3 years of no lost time accidents.

The United Communities Credit Union and the HMA sponsored scholarship awards of $1,000 given to apprentices working in Huron County. Five scholarships were given out to the 2011 winners. Mike Mann, Lee Brintnell, Benjamin Case, Tyara Payne and Jaden Shrier were presented with a cheque by Jim DeBlock, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United Communities Credit Union. HMA Chair, Frank Palen thanked the United Communities Credit Union for their sponsorship of the scholarship and awards evening.

of Jean Crawford-McVittie, who is working with the HMA on a 6 month contract. Jean helped with the organization of the event and was the key architect of the decoration scheme.

By all accounts the event was a huge success. HMA board member Andrew Masse said, “It will be hard for us to top it next year”.

QUICK NEWS Harkes Industries Helps Courthouse Clock Chime Once Again

Article adapted from the original written by Gerard Creces and published in the Goderich Signal Star

Goderich's signature time piece is once again chiming out the hours from atop the Huron County Courthouse after more than two years of silence.

Jim DeBlock of the United Communities Credit Union with Scholarship Winners

HMA Co-ordinator, Monica Walker-Bolton, thanked all the sponsors for the evening including Bronze Sponsors: BM Ross, Prosafe, Huron Small Business Enterprise Centre, Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, Huron Solutions, Pinder, Taylor, McNeilly & Godkin and Deloitte; Silver Sponsors: Municipality of South Huron, Huron Business Development Corporation, Municipality of Huron East, Town of Goderich, Municipality of Bluewater, Township of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, Municipality of Morris-Turnberry. The County of Huron was also a major sponsor of this event. Finally, thanks was given to the Gold Sponsor: United Communities Credit Union.

This year, the HMA had the benefit of the assistance

While the original face is still intact, the insides of the clock have been upgraded and updated - and digital tones now ring instead of the tubeamplified chimes that were removed.

"It's exactly the same, just different guts," said Doug Harkes of Harkes Industries - the company that did the repair work. "It has quite an elaborate chime system in it."

The old clock, built with IBM equipment, was installed in 1954 and the chimes rang through six loudspeakers atop the courthouse. The new chimes, Harkes said, are entirely digital and the clock's controller is capable of 35 different tones.

"It's basically a little computer that controls the chimes," Harkes explained.

All the cams in the clock have been restored and resealed as well. Getting the clock face out, he said, was a collaborative effort, getting some help from restoration workers from Belfour.

"They had a lift there and we used their lift - I was on the outside and they were on the inside," he said. "We just unsecured the clocks and shoved them out."

For the Latest News and Event Information from YOUR Manufacturing Association. Visit www.huronmanufacturing.ca.