Hello and welcome to the Alberta Division of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters.
As divisional Vice President, I am proud to represent Alberta manufacturers and exporters in their quest to be World Class and become strong participants in our challenging global economy.
Alberta is an exciting place to manufacture all types of value added products. Ranking number three in Canada in output we have over 10,000 value added manufacturers in Alberta that provide products that range from nano devises for the bio med sector, plastics, food products, forestry products, recognized world class manufacturing equipment for most sectors, and huge steel fabrication and pressure vessel manufactures.
There are currently over 141,600 Albertans employed in manufacturing. Manufacturing shipments were up by 11 percent since 2005, to 67.0 billion. Alberta exports of goods and services in 2007 were just over 80 billion dollars, an increase of 3.7 % over 2006.
We currently have over 146 billion dollars of projects under development or proposed in the area of new capital investment supported by strong oilsands extraction and upgrade investment. The total number of employed in Alberta in February 2008 was over 2.0 million, an increase of 200,000 since 2005. Alberta’s total population as of October 2007 was 3,482,000, a 2.3 percentage point growth over the same month in 2006.
The Alberta division has been very involved with the development and delivery of the 8th annual Buyer-Seller Forum. In March of 2008 we delivered the second National Buyer Seller Forum to over 900 delegates. This Forum has become the event to attend because of the opportunities presented by the amount of capital investment in Alberta and the need for manufacturing resources not available in Alberta. Look for NBSF 2009 on our Web Site www.nationalbuyersellerforum.ca. Alberta is also proud to be a major part of the development of the CME icosmo Web Site – where Buyers and Sellers meet electronically and develop the first critical parts of long term relationships.
We now sit on the Deputy Minister’s Advisory Council for the Alberta Employment & Immigration – Building and Educating Tomorrows Workforce. This important initiative will bring attention and solutions to the 85,000 person gap in the number of workers available versus the number of workers required over the next decade in Alberta.
In our continued work with the Manufacturers’ Health and Safety Association we are providing education and support to Alberta companies in their quest to provide safe and healthy workplaces for Albertans. New programs have been developed for foreign workers to understand the high health and safety standards we are proud of maintaining in Alberta. There is still a challenge in reducing the number of incidents that take place in Alberta. This will lead to continued reduction in premiums that all Alberta manufacturers are currently enjoying.
There are four Alberta Manufacturing Consortiums of CME members in Alberta. This will increase as we add CME resources and more companies see the value of best practice adoption as a significant method of remaining competitive in a global marketplace. The consortiums have developed program for the members based upon lean training, continuous improvement, and technology adoption. The members of the Consortium have all had significant results in manufacturing cost reduction, increases in working capital, and productivity increases of their employees. These consortia allow CME to deliver value in regard to the skills initiative identified as one of the highest issues of concern in CME’s Management Issues Survey. We also are now delivering on line programs in partnership with Arizona State University.
We are pleased to announce that June 2009 will see CME Alberta partner with the Association of Manufacturing Excellence – Canadian Chapter to provide a strong regional Conference in Calgary. This Conference will follow the AME International Conference in October of 2008 in Toronto.
Alberta exports over 45 % of the value added goods manufactured in the Province and the export of services is increasing dramatically. CME Alberta has strong connections with Trade Team Alberta, Industry Canada, Export Development Canada, Canadian Commercial Corporation, Business Development Bank of Canada, and the Alberta Ministry of International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal relations. We have strong representation of exporters on our CME Alberta Board of Directors. This allows us to assist our members on their journey through the export process. Our National office has very strong expertise in solving many of the challenges faced by exporters as they seek new markets for their products and services.
Be assured that CME will be on the leading edge of the export issue with strong work in areas such as the Pacific Gateway strategy, the development of a workable China strategy, or celebrating Alberta’s export achievements and developments. Stay tuned for the Alberta Export Awards in spring of 2009.
All of us in the Alberta office look forward to your comments and inquiries. We are at the service of our members and prospective members.
Brian McCready
