Shell Canada and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology have teamed up on a new manufacturing centre in a bid to develop new technologies and help Alberta overcome future labour shortages.

The company has contributed $3 million to the NAIT Shell Manufacturing Centre on the Edmonton college campus.

The facility, which officially opened Nov. 29, contains labs that provide leading-edge research and manufacturing solutions in advanced hyd-raulics and pneumatics, computer-assisted design, laser cutting, robotic welding, rapid prototyping and radio frequency identification devices (RFID).

"Overall, it's enhancing our ability to be competitive and compete globally," says Shell spokeswoman Cherine Badwi. "NAIT targets the manufacturing trades and technical skills that Shell needs for its current and future operation."

Photo courtesy of NAIT
NAIT Shell Centre manufacturing solutions co-ordinator J.P. Tetreau checks out robotic equipment at the Edmonton facility.

Shell says the average age of a skilled worker in Canada is over 50 and 40 per cent of the company's workforce is expected to retire within 10 years.

The centre will offer instruction to 400 students annually in manufacturing, computer systems, applied information systems, engineering, technology management and enterprise management.

Shell and other companies will also be able to participate in applied research and product development programs in conjunction with the Duncan McNeill Centre for Innovation and National Research Council.

Students in other faculties around the campus will also have access to the facility.

Working professionals can also receive ongoing training in project management, leadership, conflict management, skill certification and other areas.

The $3-million investment is the largest of its kind in Shell's history. The company has committed $2.5 million for the facility's construction and an additional $500,000 that will fund 400 scholarships and bursaries over the next 10 years.

The total $3 million will be dispensed over the first three years of a decade-long agreement.

Along with Shell, the federal Western Economic Diversification Ministry has provided $3.1 million while the Alberta government has kicked in $1.5 million.

The remaining funds for the $14.6-million facility are being provided through a NAIT capital-fundraising program.

"Our investment was really focused on the people and access-to-labour (component)," says Badwi. "We see the centre as helping Shell meet its short-and long-term people needs. In the short term, the apprenticeship training at the centre will build the future workforce for our construction needs."

Badwi says Shell's Athabasca oilsands project will require 6,000-7,000 employees and the company is targeting 20 per cent to be apprentices.

Shell also expects the centre to help it develop new technologies and personnel in other unconventional oil and gas operations, such as shale gas and tight-gas drilling which industry insiders say will become increasingly important as reserves in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin decline.

"Increasingly, technology and innovation are critical to industry - the oil and gas industry in particular - to developing some of these unconventional resources," she says.

"We know where the oil is in the oilsands, in the bitumen deposits, but it's going to rely increasingly on more sophisticated technology to get that resource out of the ground cost effectively in a competitive manner."

Badwi says the contribution fits within Shell's campus enhancement program, which funds 16 colleges and universities across Canada.

J.P. Tetreau, the centre's manufacturing solutions co-ordinator, says it will help companies decide whether to adopt new technologies designed to help them become more productive.

Between 1994 and 2004, Alberta ranked last among provinces in annual growth and labour productivity and also placed last in capital productivity in 2004 alone.

"Industries who are currently using older technology, and especially labour-intensive technology in Alberta, can gain an awareness and a familiarity with some newer capabilities that will allow them to increase their efficiency - not shrink jobs, but address the fact that there is a labour shortage," he says.

"If, on a walk-through, they could take a look at an RFID system that we have in-house, speak with us about how to implement it, and be able to more efficiently track their processes to their inventory, they can cut their bottom-line costs and not have to hire the very scarce and generally more expensive Alberta labour."

Tetreau says the centre has started working with about eight companies to help them determine the feasibility of their projects, and several rapid prototypes have already been produced.

In addition to Shell, companies already accessing the centre include Alberta Blue Cross and L-3 Spar Aerospace Ltd. Tetreau says biomedical firms have also shown considerable interest.

The facility combines productivity enhancement services with manufacturing services. Tetreau says the combination will help top-level management evaluate their return on investment, while other employees will be able to develop their technical skills.

"On both sides, people training is probably the biggest issue," he says.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)