From 1905 to Today: Celebrating 120 Years of Canadian Metalworking 

The world operated very differently when the first issue of Canadian Machinery and Manufacturing News dropped in January 1905.  

Then again, some things haven’t changed at all. 

On one hand, the first cover of what would become Canadian Metalworking featured an illustration of two Civil War-era sailing vessels docked next to a warehouse in the shadow of a flaming outdoor blast furnace. On the other hand, an article on technical education in that first issue sounds eerily familiar to today: 

“A manufacturer who is worthy of the name, who endeavours to market his product over any large area, soon learns that competition is universal—he has often to withstand the rivalry of German and Swiss as well as English and United States manufacturers.” Substitute “English” and “Swiss” with “Chinese” and “Japanese,” and that article could have run yesterday. 

Having published since before World War I, Canadian Metalworking (CM) has observed huge changes in manufacturing, Editor Joe Thompson observed. 

“In the very first issue, and at a time when electricity had yet to become mainstream in industry, a column advised readers to take precautions when they were electrifying their shops,” Thompson wrote in CM’s January issue. “After more than a century of observing the metalworking industry, Canadian Metalworking has been witness to many trends, such as the creation of PLCs and CNCs, lean strategies, the rise of automation, offshoring, and, thankfully, reshoring. Increasingly complex equipment is the norm on the shop floors of today.”  

Staying on top of trends is no small task these days, especially with the increased pace of technological change. On top of Thompson’s list is automation, which has come a long way from when he started covering the industry 20 years ago. While many machine manufacturers made the mistake of building robots that were dedicated to only one part, there has since been an evolution in the function and design of those robots. 

“Now we’re into the second coming of that, and there are companies that are starting to get it right, whether it’s a cobot you can work closely with because of the sensors in it, or it’s more dedicated specifically for opening the machine door, grabbing a part, and putting a blank back in there,” Thompson said. “There are companies that are starting to get that right, but it’s taken two decades to get to where we are. It’s still not perfect, but it’s so much better [now].” 

On the machining side, in response to the sharply rising cost of tungsten and Chinese efforts to control supplies of key materials, many companies are devising new tool coatings that maintain strength under the harshest demands. 

“It’s an area again that has undergone kind of a fundamental shift over the past few years,” Thompson said. “It’s fascinating because you’re tackling some of the most challenging materials to machine, such as the nickel alloys—the quote-unquote super alloys—as well as very tough titanium grades that are very common in the high-value work that I think job shops are looking for.” 

Whatever new technologies rise in the next 100 years to displace the current state of the art, CM will be there to cover them—and more important, report how they affect metal fabricators and manufacturers in Canada and beyond.