4-minute read
Post Contributed by Clint Unrau, Owner, Sandler Training MB
Leadership Winnipeg Class of 2024-2025
Leadership Winnipeg had another incredible day exploring what makes our city so great. This month we got to tour the factory of the largest coach manufacturer in the world and then contrast that with the opportunity to see how small ideas can be brought to life at the innovation labs of North Forge, before we closed our day off at the Seven Oaks hospital.
Our tour guide, Danny, walked us through the McGillivray Industrial Park location of Motor Coach Industries and gave us a first-hand look at how custom coaches are manufactured. As we walked into the plant, we saw a prison bus that was in the final stages of construction. The prison buses use a slightly shortened chassis as they need to be able to fit inside the two security gates, max 45 feet, at any U.S. prison. The other modifications are made to provide some bulletproof metal at various parts of the bus so that if there was ever a gunfight, the wardens could take shelter in specific safe zones. The exterior of the bus has a reduced number of windows or bars over the windows, and the interior is fitted with individual cells for that cozy prison ride after your sentencing.
The curious part of this tour was the visible lack of robotics as the production line was filled with individual workers focused on their various tasks. When Paul Soubry addressed our group, he made a point to share that while this seemed like an old-school approach to manufacturing, the reality is that each of these busses is custom built to very specific specifications of their clients, different use cases. Even when the same use cases exist, the finishing and manufacturing use a vast number of unique parts to create the ideal bus for each client. Some need a stainless-steel finish to carry prisoners while other buses off that same line are outfitted with luxurious leather seats and carbon fibre that is suited for the most important cargo there is (depending who you ask!)…. enter the Jets Touring Bus. Today’s robotics simply aren’t able to do custom work at the level that NFI delivers for their clients.
As Paul shared more about the innovation at NFI (which includes MCI), we learned of their strategy called ZEvolution to sustainable coaches and transportation. NFI is at the leading edge of using hydrogen propulsion systems along with electric drive units for many of their units. Back in 2023, NFI released a news article that shared:
NFI is a leader in zero-emission mobility, with electric vehicles operating (or on order) in more than 150 cities in six countries. NFI offers the widest range of zero-emission battery and fuel cell-electric buses and coaches, and its vehicles have completed over 140 million EV service miles.
NFI supports growing North American cities with scalable, clean, and sustainable mobility solutions through its mobility solution ecosystem, which includes buses and coaches; infrastructure; parts and service; technology; workforce development and training; and vehicle financing. NFI also operates the Vehicle Innovation Center (“VIC”), the first and only innovation lab of its kind dedicated to advancing bus and coach technology and providing workforce development. Since opening in late 2017, the VIC has hosted over 350 interactive events, welcoming 7,000 industry professionals for EV and infrastructure training.
Their strategy is working. The company has over $14B in unfulfilled orders with an annual revenue averaging around $6B. They have the largest market share in North America, huge share in Europe and they have more buses in China on the road than any other single manufacturer. We are truly blessed to have a highly driven and innovative company located right here in Winnipeg that provides all types of mass transportation solutions.
On to the next part of the day, we headed over to the North Forge Innovation Labs. This was an interesting contrast to NFI as North Forge was founded to support the smallest entrepreneurs, creators, and independent business owners. North Forge is a all-in-one shop for new business owners and creators to access manufacturing equipment typically only available at large innovation labs owned by large manufacturers. Andy gave us a tour that let us get hands-on with some highly detailed successful business startups in Winnipeg.
We saw how Win-Shield had access to a vacuum forming machine that allowed them to start a business with an idea and sell a couple million units during the pandemic. Now they are into creating specialized masks for use by military, police and other high risk roles with special considerations for users of masks who, for personal reasons, may need something that is custom as it must work with a beard, turban, or other special cases.
Whether you are a home creator or an aspiring business owner with an idea, North Forge has the tools, guidance, support and connections to help you build a business. They have everything from a industrial sewing machine to highly complex machines that might use a water jet to cut metal, a couple of C&C machines to create up to 5 dimensional designs in wood or styrofoam or create something unique on a 3D printer. If you can think it up, the team at North Forge can help it come to life and help you make a business out of it.
