Southern Manitoba Manufacturers’ Summit

As any southern Manitoba manufacturer will tell you, the farther away from an urban centre, the harder it is to find workers; especially welders and others in the skilled trades. Recent and planned legislative changes are working to manufacturers’ advantage. USMCA, the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, the provincial nominee program and the Federal Skilled Worker program are changing to strengthen your labour pool and solve this dilemma. Attendees at this session will learn:

• What’s changing with the ratification of USMCA (and to a lesser extent TPP and China) and anticipate opportunities and threats (tariffs, when the dust settles what can we expect and what should we do to be ready)
• About changes to federal and provincial programs and what do manufacturers need to do to take advantage
• How to apply techniques, recommendations and regional best practices to take advantage of labour market trends to attract skilled talent

Speaker:

REIS PAGTAKHAN, PARTNER, MLT AIKINS LLP
Reis is a Canadian corporate immigration lawyer with more than 20 years of experience advising businesses and individuals on immigration matters? He has presented position papers before the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, co-authored Manitoba Bar Association and CPHR Manitoba (formerly HRMAM) responses to proposed immigration changes, and has appeared before both the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration and the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology on immigration legislation. He has written more than 100 articles and papers on immigration law that have appeared in human resource, professional services, construction, legal and ethnic publications. He has written a freelance column on immigration issues for the Winnipeg Free Press, and is currently a senior writer for the CBC where he writes opinion columns on immigration.

SteelTech is a southern Manitoba success story. Through a focus on online marketing, marketing automation and data analytics, the company has seen exponential growth into the US wood furnace market. Supported by local agencies, Proven Results and The Film Collective, the SteelTech story demonstrates the power of the digital platform. Attend this session and learn more about how growing businesses outside the capital region are making big inroads with regional digital marketing and sales expertise. After attending, participants will:

• Understand / know the changes the digital era made to the customer journey/buyer process
• Apply old and new practices within a digital space; what ads work and how to use them.
• Create a robust sales funnel that identifies key areas of potential improvement/ customer drop off

Speaker:

DREW FRIESEN, MARKETING MANAGER, STEELTECH
Raised in Winkler, Drew studied leadership abroad for three years in Australia while apprenticing as a TV producer, eventually running two shows with an international network there. Now a Winnipeg-based marketer, Drew builds holistic marketing approaches with cutting edge technology and ground up scalability. He has a passion for telling good stories, building strong brands and distilling complicated problems down to practical first steps.

With cyber-attack rates on the double-digit increase, many manufacturers are now acknowledging that it’s not a matter of if, but when. In 2018, Winkler manufacturer Triple E was faced with their very own cyber-attack and survived to tell the story. Learn from Triple E’s experience to protect yourself today! Winkler-based Solutions IT will co-present. After attending, participants will:

• Identify whether their business is risk ready
• Know what to do when they’re under attack, from establishing a command centre, developing messages in advance and who to turn to in a crisis
• Cover the risks with practical solutions for recovery and reputation management
• Apply the ideas to prevent attacks and defend yourself

Speakers:

CURT  DUECK, MANAGER OF TECHNICAL SERVICES, SOLUTIONSIT

Curt leads the SolutionsIT technical team with over 20 years of experience.  SolutionsIT’s specialty is helping clients thrive with technology.   Their clients range from local small business to national enterprises.  For some of SolutionsIT’s larger clients, Curt provides consultation, technology mapping, high level support, and project management. Curt also oversees the project, planning and support teams across all three of SolutionsIT’s locations, and 43 staff.

RYAN ELIAS, VP AND GENERAL MANAGER, TRIPLE E
Ryan is the vice president of Triple E Recreational Vehicles, a manufacturer of high quality RVs. Based in Winkler, Manitoba, Triple E and its divisions employs more than 800 people in southern Manitoba.

Elmer’s manufacturing’s ownership had a vision and a mission. But somewhere along the way, growing pains meant something was getting lost in translation between the c-suite and the shop floor. Realizing front-line leaders hold the keys to a company’s success and a necessary step to take the company to the next level, Elmer’s invested heavily in Leadership Development Training with impressive results. After attending this session, participants will:

• Understand the critical impact front-line leaders have on strategic initiatives
• Describe the most important tools in a front-line leaders’ toolbox and compare against the skill set inventory of leaders in their own organization
• Apply a mentor model within their own company for success

Speakers:

RANDY DYCK, HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER, ELMER’S MANUFACTURING
Randy is a CPHR with 16 years of experience in human resources management, safety, and quality assurance systems in a manufacturing setting with a passion for people and sharing “aha!” moments.

MIKE FRIESEN, CEO, ELMER’S MANUFACTURING
Mike is a P. Eng and the CEO of Elmer’s Manufacturing. His passion for agriculture and ag equipment started at a young age and hasn’t stopped.

Shortly after graduating with a Mechanical Engineering degree, Mike joined John Deere Canada, then returned to Manitoba to take on his current role in the family business. Mike designed many of the new products that have transformed the company into its current state, and helped grow the leaders who continue to drive the company forward.

Factory of the future, the digital economy, whatever name you call it, Industry 4.0 promises to revolutionize the world economy. But despite its enormous potential, manufacturers know that there are significant hurdles on the road ahead. This session provides manufacturers with the opportunity to:

• Understand what 4.0 means
• See what’s happening in Canada (and Manitoba) with practical, concrete, real-world local examples
• Access resources and navigate supports on their own implantation journey
• See what’s next on the horizon and apply opportunities to their own workplaces

Speakers:

KURT BUEHLER, VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS,  MACDON INDUSTRIES
Kurt has a broad background in the aerospace, consulting and manufacturing industries. He matches technical and process knowledge with a strong cultural awareness to drive improvement and business excellence through strategic alignment. Kurt joined the agricultural manufacturing industry in 2008, building a world-class manufacturing operation to produce industry leading agricultural equipment that helps feed the world’s growing population.

KATHRYN ATAMANCHUK, P.ENG., MBA, PMP, FEC
Kathryn Atamanchuk is an Engineer-in-Residence and the Industry Partnerships Facilitator for the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba.  In these roles, Kathryn develops and delivers industry related courses (focused on Applied Instrumentation, Advanced Digital Manufacturing, and Project Management) and acts as a facilitator to help strengthen collaborations between the University and industry partners.  Prior to joining the University, Kathryn worked at StandardAero for 13 years in various project engineering and technical leadership roles.

KEVIN LUSK, CME
Kevin Lusk serves as CME’s manufacturing and Senior Leadership Executive. In this capacity Kevin mentors and advises CME member corporate ownership (CO’s) and Chief Executive officers (CEO’s) on the business of manufacturing, technology application and adoption, product development and advanced manufacturing transition. Having owned manufacturing enterprises, served in others in the capacity of CEO, VP of Operations and Director of Engineering and also spent a significant amount of his career turning manufacturing companies around; Kevin is well equipped to provide confidential insight and guidance into our member’s most sensitive challenges, opportunities and problematic business issues.