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www.daretocompete.ca 18 • Manitoba Manufacturing Week 2013 COMPANY PROFILE Powering F or decades now, Red River College has enjoyed a longstanding reputation for providing highly trained, job-ready graduates to Manitoba's workforce. But in recent years, the College has also taken a lead role in powering innovation and productivity throughout the province — and throughout Canada and North America — by working directly with industry in the areas of applied research, technical services, and technology outreach and training. The province's largest institute of applied learning, RRC remains committed to helping manufacturers hone their competitive edge by providing access to their facilities, expertise, and capability. And the College continues to broaden the scope of its technological mandate in a number of ways such as: partnering on applied research projects for new products or technology validation purposes; meeting new industry requirements for laser welding; delivering technical services such as rapid prototypes, Aerospace and Manufacturing Sectors at Red River College machining, and non-destructive testing; and providing industry training across the board in machining, CNC, composites, robotics, and automation. Last November, the College received a grant from NSERC (through NSERC's Community and College Innovation Program) to help establish the Technology Access Centre (TAC), an initiative that enables the College to focus its considerable arsenal of facilities, technologies and expertise to benefit small and medium-sized manufacturers. " The Technology Access Centre will build on the partnerships RRC has formed with industry to enhance innovation and productivity in both manufacturing and aerospace, says Stephanie Forsyth, President " of RRC. "Ultimately, the ability to enable applied research and essential training made possible through this initiative will help to create new jobs and other economic opportunities right here in Manitoba. " The TAC initiative focuses efforts in advanced materials and bonding, imaging and automation, and machine vision and simulation. The College's campuses and satellite sites are now home to five facilities with capabilities in these areas that can be leveraged directly by industry: the Model Factory, the Composite Model Factory, the Centre for Aerospace Technology and Training (CATT), the Centre for NonDestructive Inspection (CNDI), and the Manufacturing Automation & Robotics Labs.The TAC initiative aims to bring these facilities under one umbrella, making it easier for industry partners to leverage a broader network, access equipment, resources, and College researchers and technical expertise. Ultimately, the initiative will result in an availability of more highly qualified personnel, comprehensive solutions to industry problems, rapid transfer of technology and knowledge, and new and improved products and processes. The new Technology Access Centre (TAC) opens up a world of new opportunities for manufacturing enterprises, working together with Red River College on: Applied Research — access to RRC facilities, technologies, resources, and expertise for YOUR research projects Technical Services — including rapid prototypes, NDT, machining and CMM Knowledge Transfer — seminars, workshops, and special events around new emerging technologies and productivity Industry Training — in CNC, composites, robotics and automation, welding, project management and more! For more information, see rrc.ca/TAC or email tdyer@rrc.ca