PLAN AHEAD
Sudbury-based Collège Boréal has announced a partnership with mining equipment manufacturer, Epiroc Canada, to offer students a Battery Electric Vehicle Maintenance program. The 40-hour online course kicked off on February 9 and is to be followed by hands-on training provided in classroom and workshop settings.
SELLING THE TRADES
Ontario’s minister of labour, training and skills development has a bold new strategy for re-energizing the province’s economy, and the first step is bringing skilled trades recruitment right into Ontario high schools. Barring potential COVID-19 disruptions, “I’m sending dozens of recruiters into high schools across Ontario to compete against universities to get kids to go into the trades,” said Minister Monte McNaughton. At the moment, one in three skilled tradespeople is over the age of 55.
“I want kids to know there are 144 different trades to choose from, and you can make six figures and earn a pension and get benefits, and in many cases, you can be your own boss,” said Ontario minister of labour, training and skills development Monte McNaughton.
HONDA HOW-TO
Honda’s US branch has issued its latest body repair information guide covering the 2022 Acura MDX for body shops in North America. The new MDX body construction features; next-generation Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure; high-strength steel and advanced high-strength steel used for body construction; the MDX has an aluminum hood panel, front fender, front damper housing, and front and rear bumper beams for weight reduction and improved fuel efficiency. Lastly, the car body is equipped with 1,500 MPa inner and outer door stiffeners. You can find the service information and body repair manual (BRM) online at techinfo.honda.com, as well as a summary of the new body and vehicle technologies that may affect collision and other body repair shops shortly.
POSITIVELY RIVETING
Ford has announced an update to its I-CAR procedure for replacing the outer box side of F-150 trucks, announced in mid-December. This latest update from Canada’s most popular OEM announced that the replacement of F-150 outer box sides may now “now include the use of self-piercing rivets (SPRs) in specified locations.” This update only affects F-150 models including and newer than the 2015 model. Super Duty trucks will not be able to use SPRs for the repair procedure. Ford said that they made the update to account for a newly sourced SPR that allows the specialized rivets to be used in outer box side replacements.
STUCK IN THE CLOUDS
During the December 17 IBISTV Global Summit broadcast, Dave Flockhart, COO of BETAG Innovation; Chris Humphries, president of WorldSkills; Mario Dimovski, owner of TradieBot and Guillaume Grucy, senior EMEA business development manager for PPG Europe discussed the implications of skilled training in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The three panellists all agreed that remote learning has a series of benefits, including more accessible, more flexible and results in lower student travel costs. However, when technical skills need brushing-up, the industry needs to get creative to keep users engaged. “I think we need to excite technicians about our industry. At the end of the day, it’s a craft that needs to be practiced and honed. Virtual training absolutely has its place, but face-to-face training is a must-have in an industry like this,” said Flockhart. Grucy of PPG said that, when it comes to painting training, there’s no question that in-person sessions are the preferred choice. “Online training provides technical elements,” said Grucy. “For practical paint training, you need to be in-person.”
TRULY MAGNANIMOUS
Sheridan College has a big boost coming in the form to a $2 million donation from Magna International. The donation from the Aurora, Ontario-based automotive technology supplier is earmarked for updates to equipment in the Skilled Trades Centre at Sheridan’s Davis Campus in Brampton, Ontario. As well, part of the money will be used to create scholarships and additional training resources. As a result, Sheridan has renamed their facility to the Magna Skilled Trades Centre, in honour of the gesture.
