‘Building Tomorrow, Today’: Manufacturers discuss tariffs, uncertainty at annual forum

Some of Simcoe County’s biggest manufacturers came together at the annual Manufacturer’s Forum at the Nottawasaga Inn.

Some of Simcoe County’s biggest manufacturers gathered at the annual Manufacturer’s Forum at the Nottawasaga Inn Thursday morning, hammering out ways to stay strong amid tariffs and global uncertainty.

Although the theme was ‘Building Tomorrow, Today’ the uncertainty caused by tariffs continues to leave many unsure of what tomorrow will look like.

“When you’re trying to play a game, and you don’t know the rules of the game or the rules are changing very quickly, that’s very hard to do, especially as a small business,” said Scott Morrison CEO of LaunchPad Co-pack in Collingwood.

New Tecumseth Mayor Richard Norcross attended the earlier portion of the sessions. He chairs the Simcoe Auto Mayors association.

“The current state is uncertainty. And the current state is everyone saying it’s deeply affecting them,” said Mayor Norcross.

Strategies that were discussed included artificial intelligence (AI), digitization, and building resilience in the manufacturing supply chain.

AI was widely discussed as a potential solution and opportunity.

“Can the local community of Simcoe or others across Ontario or Canada get more involved? Absolutely,” said Kurt de Vries, Trade Commissioner for Global Affairs Canada. “We are really sitting in a very rich fertile area of coders, engineers and talent.”

Justin Moreau, president of Kumi Canada Corp. in Bradford, which supplies plastic parts and light assemblies for the Honda Civic and CR-V models that are produced at the nearby Alliston plant.

He says AI can take over repetitive taskwork, allowing human workers to focus on maximizing sales and output.

“(AI) could help with predictive and preventative maintenance, allowing our scheduling and enterprise resources to adjust in real time,” explained Moreau.

Nick Marando, vice-president of operations at Hörmann in Oro-Medonte, emphasized the importance of maintaining a diverse mix of products and keeping operations as close to home as possible.

“We’re working closely with some vendors within the Oro-Medonte area so we could keep things close,” said Marando. “It keeps us agile so that when we do need to make changes, we’ve got a good tight network.”

In terms of resiliency, manufacturers were urged to not make fear-based decisions in the face of economic uncertainty, and to remain focused on the competitive advantages that got them to where they are today.