NORTH FORGE
FORGING A BRIGHT FUTURE North Forge Technology Exchange giving startups a leg up BY GEOFF KIRBYSON
J ames Armstrong Richardson International Airport is on a flight path to using less manpower but still getting you where you need to go when you need to get there. And the best part is, not a single minute of overtime will be required. That’s because the WAA is taking a page out of The Jetsons’ operational manual and using robots to get things done more efficiently. It started out last winter using autonomous snowplows equipped with GPS and radar to clear snow from uncontrolled taxi ways and now it’s preparing to do the same in the airport’s de-icing area this winter. The technology comes from Winnipeg-based Northstar Robotics Inc. and CEO Shawn Schaerer is optimistic the machinery, which is built in conjunction with Airport Technologies Inc. at Southport, will be clearing the main runways a year from now. “Every airport has to deal with snow,” he says. The Winnipeg airport is the only one in Canada and perhaps the world to use this technology, according to Barry Rempel, president and CEO of the WAA. His team approached Northstar about 18 months ago while it was busy developing the same kind of autonomous technology to cut grass on golf course fairways. The WAA’s ultimate goal is to reduce the amount of time that planes are
unable to fly due to inclement weather while improving customer service. “We were talking about the future potential in an environment where we know traffic will continue to grow. How do we upskill the people we have in a way that allows us to do more without costing our community way more than it can afford?” he says. “Today, we have the conga line with three or four plows in a row. What we’ll be able to do in the future is instead of having every one manned, we’ll have one manned by a professional in charge of the entire force. That means we can do the airfield more quickly with the same number of people. We have to upskill our people. They’re going to be in control of the technology.” Northstar is one of a growing number of companies getting some much-needed advice and counsel from North Forge Technology Exchange, an innovation-based economic development agency operating out of the Smartpark Innovation Hub at the University of Manitoba. When the province’s economic development strategy recently identified seven partners to help propel the economy forward, North Forge was selected to drive innovation. President Teresa Dukes says she and her team are committed to helping local entrepreneurs get new ideas off the ground and grow them.
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WINTER 2019
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