Boost for automotive engineering in Ontario

Gerry Malloy

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Forty years ago, a Canadian student with an aspiration to become an automotive engineer had no choice but to go south of the border for an education in that field. I can vouch for that fact because I had to follow that path myself.

Even with the education, real product engineering jobs in Canada were few and far between in those days. But things are dramatically different now, on both fronts.

General Motors of Canada alone employs more than 400 engineers doing product design and development work at its Canadian Regional Engineering Centre in Oshawa. And Chrysler Canada has more in Windsor, primarily at the Automotive Research & Development Centre it operates in partnership with the University of Windsor.

Hundreds more are employed in Southern Ontario's vast network of automotive supplier companies, which automakers increasingly rely upon for design and development functions.

The education side of the equation got a big boost last week at a ceremony to initiate the GMCL Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa.

More than $120 million in contributions have been committed to the centre, from General Motors of Canada and the PACE partnership, and the governments of Ontario and Canada.

Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education, a consortium of companies comprising five industry giants (GM, EDS, HP, Siemens PLM Software and Sun Microsystems) and 10 other contributors, will provide an initial investment of more than $60 million.

That investment will go toward state-of-the-art computer-based hardware, engineering software and student and instructor training and academic support. And that support is expected to grow over time as it is integrated into new curricula.

The Ontario government is investing $58 million in the centre as part of its $235 million investment in GM's Beacon project.

GM and Canada, through an NSERC grant, will contribute $1 million each over a five-year period to co-fund a Chair in Innovative Design Engineering at UOIT.

When completed, the new centre will house state-of-the-science research and development tools in the areas of vehicle dynamics, noise and vibration, structural durability testing and the ability to accommodate future automotive fuels like hydrogen. One of its features will be a thermal climatic wind tunnel, able to handle a full-size vehicle.

"Our vision has been to create a new advanced automotive technology cluster centred at UOIT that links together our best Canadian companies, universities, students and engineers with companies in the Canadian automotive supply chain," said Arturo Elias, president of GM of Canada.

Other universities in that network include McMaster, Waterloo, Sherbrooke, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Université du Québec Institut national recherche scientifique, and University of British Columbia. GM has provided about $10 million in R&D and design support to these universities.

"We believe that building new innovation and commercialization linkages is critical for our industry's success in Canada, and Canadian suppliers' ability to use innovation as a core advantage for the future," he added.

Having technically advanced facilities and equipment that will be accessible to students and to suppliers' engineers are key to the centre's purpose and its ultimate success, explained David Paterson, GM of Canada's vice-president, corporate and environmental affairs.

Until a year ago, Canadian industry had an inherent competitive advantage in the low-valued dollar. Now that advantage is gone, and it is imperative to compete effectively at the level of innovation if we are to succeed, Paterson explained.

He added that much of the work currently conducted at GM's Regional Engineering Centre is focused on reducing vehicles' environmental impact and he sees that area as a huge opportunity for Ontario's suppliers as well.

From the students' perspective, Sam Ashtiani, a second-year UOIT student in automotive engineering, is ecstatic about the opportunities the ACE will provide, as well as the career opportunities it will help open up down the road.

Ashtiani, who was born in Iran and grew up in Toronto, was already trained in electrical engineering when he heard about UOIT's automotive engineering program. Having always had a passion for cars, he just had to enroll.

He can't wait to have access to equipment such as a four-post shaker rig, which should prove beneficial to development of the University's Formula SAE race car.

After graduation, he is planning to stay on at UOIT to earn a master's degree in automotive engineering. By which time he, and other grads and post grads like him, will be prime candidates for employment in Ontario's automotive industry.

More videos from Wheels.ca and our partners