Manufacturing in Manitoba

2 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2017 Clockwise from top: Winkler Canvas, the Royal Canadian Mint, Motor Coach Industries and Altona's Friesens Corporation — which prints some of the most popular books on the planet — are just a few of Manitoba's manufacturing stars. MADE IN MANITOBA OUR MANUFACTURERS From honeybees to rocket scientists, Manitoba's skilled workers produce everything from low-tech natural foods to high-tech satellite components — and pretty much any product you can think of in between. That includes your breakfast bacon, the bus you ride to work, clothes you wear, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals in your medicine cabinet, furniture you lounge on, and books you read to your kids at bedtime. Last year, our province's manufacturers chalked up more than $17 billion in sales, according to Statistics Canada. That's a lot of green, and there's more to come. Thanks to a $400-million investment by French food giant Roquette, Portage la Prairie will soon be home to a new pea-protein production centre to meet increasing demand in global markets. Food production already accounts for the biggest slice of Manitoba's manufacturing pie, and the sector provides a smorgasbord of goods — hemp hearts, soybeans, cheese, ice cream and meat products, honey and sweet corn, grains, bread, noodles and preserves, just to name a few. Vehicle manufacturers put out fire trucks, heavy equipment and even some of the food trucks that serve up local goods at festivals and fairs. We're the tops in a surprising number of fields. New Flyer and Motor Coach Industries are North America's leading manufacturers of transit buses and motor coaches. Manitoba is home to Canada's largest manufacturer of steel building systems, Brandon-based Behlen Industries. And we excel on the softer side of manufacturing as well. Winkler Canvas produces everything from tarps to cattle barns to collapsible septic tanks and water hoses. Our more traditional building suppliers include some of the most prominent window and kitchen cabinetry manufacturers on the continent, and you can't knock our top- notch door manufacturers. One plant in Winnipeg literally makes money. As the saying goes at the Royal Canadian Mint, change is good, and the Crown corporation's local facility has the capacity to turn out 20 million coins per day, producing currency for Canada and countries around the world, as well as collector coins. Earlier this month, the Mint rolled out a 25-cent commemorative coin to mark 125 years since Lord Stanley of Preston donated a challenge cup that was initially awarded to the country's best amateur hockey team. A series of coins to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation include a glow-in-the-dark two-dollar coin in the My Canada, My Inspiration collector set. While it doesn't have a licence to print money, Manitoba's printing industry produces everything from lottery scratch tickets to brochures and some of the bestselling books on the planet. Altona's Friesens Corporation is a leader in North America, producing somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20 million books each year, including about one million copies of a perennial family favourite, Robert Munsch's Love You Forever. Employee owned, the company is also a leader in environmental stewardship. After Friesens printed J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on 100% post consumer waste paper in 2004, the rest of the books in the series followed suit and went green. Whether they work for a global giant or a small startup, more than 63,000 Manitobans are directly employed in manufacturing. It's the province's largest industry sector and one of its most innovative, ensuring it will continue to thrive for years to come. ❙ LAST YEAR, OUR PROVINCE'S MANUFACTURERS CHALKED UP MORE THAN $17 BILLION IN SALES

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