Automotive - R&D
The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) knows that the industries it serves must be competitive. The manufacturing sector is of tremendous importance to the Canadian economy, and NRC has recently revitalized its manufacturing research programs to help manufacturing compete successfully at an international level.
In 1997 the NRC opened the Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Institute (IMTI) in London. The Institute's focus is on the integration of manufacturing technologies as they relate to discrete product manufacturing.
IMTI is a leader and catalyst for the research and development of manufacturing technologies to allow the Canadian manufacturing industry to be competitive. Specifically, IMTI activities are concentrated in two areas:
- Design - IMTI provides the tools so manufacturers can exchange design, manufacturing data and information in real time with others (customers, suppliers and others) anywhere in the world. IMTI's Virtual Environment Technologies Centre (VETC) is the most advanced centre of its kind in the world. The Centre offers manufacturers the chance to create a virtual reality model of a product to better view any design flaws so that changes can be made without the time and expense of creating a scale model. This technology drastically reduces the time between concept, design and manufacturing.
- Production - IMTI provides manufacturers with novel production processes to fabricate the products that their clients want. IMTI takes full advantage of material properties and produces shapes that are difficult or impossible to make with conventional processes. IMTI's new Precision and Freeform Technologies Centre (PFTC) provide industries with tools to develop new technologies that can lead to commercialization. It can organize and conduct joint development and application projects that integrate new or hybridized process technologies into machines and systems.
The integration of these two areas to create new machines or systems that users
can buy is crucial. To this end, IMTI seeks the collaboration of users and
system integrators (machine suppliers, equipment builders) to participate
in the R&D and the transfer of technology. For highly competitive companies,
these resources can make the difference between success and failure.
More Information on Automotive Sector Research & Development(PDFs)
Related Links
Faculty of Engineering,
The University of Western Ontario
Concurrent
Engineering and Agile Manufacturing Research Laboratory
Advanced
Fluid Mechanics Research Group
National Research Council
of Canada
Integrated
Manufacturing Technologies Institute
National Sciences and Engineering
Research Council
