Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The automotive and paper industries are two of the largest in Canada.  In recent years they have sometimes contributed to more than half of Canada's balance of trade, and a lot of sub-activities (e.g. suppliers) depend on them.  Because of their spread, they are also industries in which global turbulence in international markets have a profound influence.  Factories at different sites over the globe, including Canada, are the "products" that managers work with, so their decisions (close or expand a plant) have large social impacts.  What actually happens is that global markets and their sometimes inherent turbulent behaviours have changed the way profitability targets and shareholders' goals are met.  As a result, in addition to the traditional cost, quality, productivity, safety, environment and sustainability performance measures, new important metrics such as Flexibility, Agility and Evolution (FAE) now have to be considered.  The long term objective of this research program is to study these metrics, formalize them, and synthesize them into prediction simulation models enabling their assessment in an integrated manner.  In light of new and acknowledged research evidence that FAE is indeed a key to profitability and survival, it is believed that the research in this proposal will help managers and engineers, at all levels of production, to stay focussed on what really needs to be done, such that Canadian plants, mills and processes maintain or even increase their profitability in the global market.