Meet the Changemakers

My parents? Oh boy! They ask me practically every week what I do, and I tell them… You know moths? Well, I take them and put them on glass!

[SUPER] Douglas Cole
Student M.Sc Mechanical Engineering, École de technologie supérieure
(En partenariat avec Edgehog Advanced Technologies)

Biomimetics is the emulation of nature, taking what we see in nature and applying it to real life, in situations where we can take inspiration from certain animals and plants to solve complex human problems.

The project, overall, aims to try and take a surface – there’s a pattern, only visible on a nanometric scale, on the surface of a moth’s eye – and we try and recreate it on to solar panels.

I really wanted to get involved in a field that would allow me to have a positive impact in the future of our planet. I’m lucky enough to have a job that could change the world for the better. That’s enough to make me passionate about my field. I think that if we really want to have an impact, we have to go after jobs that are more specialized and at the cutting-edge of science.

When I was young, I did a lot of art, I loved to paint. I kind of lost that over the years, at school, but I found it in Engineering and advanced manufacturing. What we do is art.

Curiosity and hard work will take you far. It really is curiosity and ambition in your work, in your studies, that will help you find your passion.

Look at the technologies you use. Look at what is available to you at your fingertips and think to yourself how can this be better.

[SUPER] LINAMAR
[SUPER] Lina Qamar
[SUPER] LEAP
[SUPER] Linamar

I was born and raised in Jordan and I moved to Canada with my family when I was 13.

As a kid I was always a very curious person. I was one of those annoying children that constantly asked “Why?” and “How come?”.

I was never satisfied with a simple statement and I was never satisfied with simple answers.

Linamar is predominantly known for automotive manufacturing.

My dad studied automotive engineering himself. So, it’s really cool to be able to talk to him about the things that I’m making. That was something that I was always grateful to have being an engineer and having my dad also be an engineer who studied the automotive industry.

People generally don’t have a vision for when we say advanced manufacturing. They don’t have a clear vision of what is there to see. There’s a lot of people with experience and expertise that have really important lessons to teach. And there is also the younger generation that’s coming in with their natural, tech-savvy affinity and their ability to bring in this fresh perspective and new ideas.

There’s a lot of learning opportunities anywhere you go in life. Some of the most fundamental things come from your daily observations and your daily lives.

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I think ever since I was young, I liked to build things.
It’s a way to kind of flex your imagination.
You know, you can build anything you want. You can have any adventure you want.

[Text on screen] MYANT
[Text on screen] Hannah Fung, Marketing Director, Myant

At Myant, we create clothes that can sense and react to the human body.

There’s a number of really cool things about my job.
Today, I might be talking about advanced manufacturing.
Other days, you know I am a product tester.
For example, right now I am actually wearing the clothes that is sensing my heartbeat.

One of the really cool things about working at Myant is our sense of purpose.

[Text on screen] “Transforming human connectedness through textile computing.”

Our slogan is: transforming human connectedness through textile computing and it sounds like this really epic, society-changing thing.
And to be honest, that is the way we think about the work we are doing.

It’s not your mom and dad’s manufacturing.
You get the idea in your head where you see people standing in an assembly line and they’re putting things together.

And the reality of advanced manufacturing is not really like that at all.
You can go from an idea in your mind to actually creating something that you can hold really quickly.

If you are a young person who likes a challenge and being able to use your creativity, working in advanced manufacturing requires a lot of these disciplines.

There is a lot imagination that is included in my work but the thing that keeps me coming back every day is knowing that I am helping to build the future.
The things that we are doing we want everybody around the world to be participating in that and trying to build that future with us.
To dream up new things we haven’t even thought of yet.

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Every day, something new launches, new manufacturing processes. There’s currently a lot of research being done, which is why this field is expanding rapidly.

[SUPER] Rafael Brunet
Masters Student MaSc, École de technologie supérieure

I develop 3D printers that are capable of printing tiny pieces of metal. These pieces can be used, for example, to build watches or electronics.

What I love most about this field are the challenges. It’s the complexity of the job and being able to revolutionize the industry, changing how things are done. It’s also about contributing to a circular economy, eliminating waste.

We’re actually getting to a point where resources are limited. I believe that it’s important to educate ourselves and companies about sustainable resources and how they can conduct business in a more eco-conscious way.

That’s what interests me most about these technologies, they’re flexible, independent. We can repurpose engines, for example, and give them a second, third, fourth purpose. Repurposing materials is necessary to change how we manufacture in the future.

If you’re at all curious about advanced manufacturing, even if it seems a bit cliché, my advice would be to stay curious, keep educating yourself, start programming. Once you get the ball rolling, everything will fall into place. There are so many job opportunities!

I’m part of the engineering and research development team at The Canadian Shield, and I help bring some of our products to market, including the face mask.

[SUPER] The Canadian Shield

[SUPER] Octavian Ciubotariu
[SUPER] Technology and Automation Manager
[SUPER] The Canadian Shield

What’s important when you choose your career path is to find what you are truly passionate about.

I always loved programming and I started tinkering with robots, and all kinds of things. Which lead me into the manufacturing industry.

You know, you might be too young to figure out what your long-term career plan is, but just start experimenting and playing with different things. It helps you choose what you are passionate about, and then you are really happy about what you do.

The things that we make here and that you will potentially make in your future jobs affect more than just the product itself.

It has an impact on your communities. For example how does our product affect the environment? The number one thing we always look to reduce is waste. So that doesn’t necessarily need to be waste as in scrap material that’s left over after we manufacture products, it can be electricity. How do we improve our processes on our robots and machinery to use less energy?

What’s cool about advanced manufacturing is that you get to work on or work with the most innovative and up-to-date technology in any field.

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I studied English Literature. I got a degree in Arts. If you had asked me 10 years ago, you know, could you imagine that you would be running a robotics company, my straight up answer would be “No”.

[Text on Screen] A&K ROBOTICS
[Text on Screen] Jessica Yip, COO & Co-Founder A&K Robotics

We focus on self-driving technologies.
Our company has invented a system that can attach onto anything with wheels and make that thing self-driving.

In terms of what we physically make, a lot of it is in the A.I.
So, if you think of a self-driving car on the roadway, you’ve got vision sensors, you’ve got LIDARs, you’ve got SONARs.
All of these things need to be packaged nicely and neatly in a very smart way to help the robot see and understand its world.

And as a startup, you are constantly iterating and iterating and trying to make your system better and better every day.

It is incredibly surprising how fast technology can outpace itself within a year, within six months.
You know, everything is constantly getting better, faster, cheaper, smarter.

I don’t have a technical background.
Everything was quite new when I got into it because I didn’t know about engineering. I didn’t study it.

I did not grow up with exposure to technology.
And the more I learned about robots, and what they could do and the potential they had, I thought, “this is exactly what I want to be spending my time working on.”

The advice I give to young people is: think big!
This is an industry that is ripe for change. It is absolutely ready for fresh ideas, new ideas.
It needs an injection of energy to really get to that next level quickly.

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