In Canada, the effects of a dwindling labour market and decline in trade workers are being felt by manufacturing shop owners. This is true for urban fabricators, but it hits harder in rural areas where skilled labour shortages are a prominent issue. The answer to the skilled labour shortage lies in automation, but we need to make it smart.
Canada's Welding Workforce Is Aging Faster Than It Can Be Replaced
According to CWB’s Canadian Welding Industry Employment & Salary Report from 2024, a lack of qualified workers impacts 47% of welding businesses. Paired with an aging workforce, in the upcoming years, Canadian fabricators might not have many applicants to choose from when they're in dire need of hiring.
Our economy relies greatly on fabrication, from industrial construction to pipeline production. We need Canadian welding to keep up with demand, but unfortunately, that isn’t the case. From 2016 to 2021, the number of tradespeople aged 65+ increased by 11.8%, while the number of young adults (25-34) declined by 3.8% (Statistics Canada, 2024).
In the next decade, our skilled tradespeople workforce may be slim pickings. Keeping up with demand and increasing production throughput may not be possible unless manufacturers pivot now.
Reshoring Canadian Fabrication… But How?
As our government pushes for the reshoring of manufacturing, manufacturers are left wondering, “Well, how do I produce more?”
Automation is a scary trigger word for many Canadian fabricators, but it needs to be addressed. Automating your shop floor is the best response to consistently producing fabricated components without the high cost of hiring, training, and retaining from a diminishing talent pool.
If we want to keep manufacturing strong in Canada, we need to do three things:
Invest in robotic equipment
Train our existing workforce on automated processes
Realize flexible solutions that enhance automation
By investing in hardware and smart software solutions, manufacturers can take on various part geometries without slowing down their production due to traditional robotic programming.
How Element X Is Solving Canada's $25 Billion Skilled Labour Shortage With Intelligent Industrial Automation
The path to increasing Canadian fabrication output in the face of a persistent skilled labour shortage isn't just about buying robots; it's about making those robots smart. Element X is leading this revolution by pairing adaptive robotic programming software with advanced 3D scanning vision. This combination directly tackles the core issue of automation: complexity.
Traditional robotic welding requires highly skilled technicians to spend hours manually programming every path for every unique part, a bottleneck that cancels out the benefits of automation. Element X eliminates this barrier. The 3D scanning vision system instantly maps the exact geometry of a component, and the adaptive software autonomously generates the optimal welding paths.
This smart automation solution achieves two crucial goals:
Empowering the Existing Workforce
- It turns entry-level operators into high-value contributors, allowing experienced, skilled trade workers to focus on complex, high-value tasks rather than repetitive programming.
Driving Throughput
- By reducing setup and programming time from hours to minutes, manufacturers can dramatically increase manufacturing throughput and take on higher-mix, lower-volume jobs that were previously uneconomical to automate.
Element X ensures that Canadian manufacturers can meet growing demand and successfully participate in reshoring efforts, not by replacing people, but by augmenting their capability and making robotic welding accessible to everyone.
Get In Touch With Elementiam for Smart Automation
Our team at Elementiam is happy to chat about smart automation solutions and how they can empower Canadian fabricators. Find a meeting time that works for you, and a member of our team will discuss your business objectives and future ⚙️
Sources
Statistics Canada (September 26, 2024). Changes in the population of tradespeople between 2016 and 2021. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/81-595-m/81-595-m2024002-eng.htm
CWB Group (2024). Canadian Welding Industry Employment & Salary Report 2024. https://www.cwbgroup.org/resources/reports/canadian-welding-industry-employment-salary-report-2024