Stephan Matusch, P.Eng, MBA is President & CEO – Ionic Engineering Group of Companies.
There has been some recent discussion in the local media that Sudbury, Sudbury companies, and the local mining industry in particular are not very open to innovation. As a mechanical/electrical engineer who has built my entire career, and a number of successful businesses entirely on the strength of our innovation – innovation that came out of Sudbury and Northern Ontario, and innovation that was completed with the assistance and cooperation of the local mining industry–I think I am well qualified to object to this.
In the course of building my businesses, I have had the unique opportunity to travel to pretty much every corner of the world. I and our companies have worked for mining companies across the world. But we have also worked in many other industries associated with innovation, such as electronics, new energy, automotive and consumer goods. I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of a lot of innovative projects in a lot of companies and industries and so I very well understand what innovation is.
I would like to state, unequivocally, that Sudbury, and the businesses in Sudbury are highly innovative. But…. it’s important to understand what “innovation” means. Innovation runs across a spectrum. On one end, you have “bleeding edge” innovation. This includes self-driving cars, fusion reactors, vasimir plasma rockets, robo-surgeons and fully autonomous mining. This is “sexy” innovation. It’s very risky, expensive, and leads to great photo-ops with executives and politicians standing beside some very complex equipment that will likely never see light of day. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the day-to-day “incremental” innovation that takes place in all successful businesses. This is the innovation that lets you do each of a thousand little operations 10% faster, 10% cheaper, and more safely, and it’s what keeps a business competitive. It’s also a rather “unsexy” form of innovation. It doesn’t provide for great press releases or photo-ops. Between the two is the “leading edge” innovation that progressive companies employ in reasonable measure to achieve some longer term goal.
The Sudbury mining industry, I fully admit, does not employ a lot of bleeding edge innovation. But why would they? For mature businesses, bleeding edge makes absolutely no sense. What Sudbury business employ, exceedingly well, is the incremental and, to a lesser degree, the leading edge innovation. This type of innovation comes in the form of equipment that allows one person to do today, what three or four did 20 years ago. It’s about putting a machine in place that takes operators out of hazardous locations. It’s about process improvements that allow a company to extract 10% more metals from the ore than they did a decade ago.
Bleeding edge innovation is for startup companies, universities and government funded ventures. Bleeding edge is vitally important to developing the long-term game changing innovations that will lead to something completely new in 20 years. But it’s not something that a mature, successful commercial business should be taking on in large measure. Businesses are responsible to their shareholders, their employees and their communities to make decisions that ensure the long term viability of the business. Bleeding edge innovation can only be a very very small part of that equation. Conversely, leading edge and incremental innovation draws a lot from existing and proven technologies, implementing them in new ways. It’s cost effective, lower risk, and benefits the business and the people who depend upon it.
One clear example of this is in the field of industrial robotics. Ionic Engineering is a world leader in bringing true industrial robotics into the mining sector. This technology was developed primarily in the auto sector in the 1970s and 1980s. In that industry, robotics provided a very clear and rapid financial payback and it was actually a relatively simple extension of the electrical and hydraulic automatic machines that did much of the work on assembly lines prior to that. The mining industry is different. It’s not as manual-labour-intensive as an assembly line. And equipment is engineered to be in operation for 30-40 years. In mining, systems have to be larger, heavier and more robust. In the early days, robotics made no sense in mining, smelting and refining operations. The systems were too small, too fragile, and unproven in “heavy and dirty” applications that dominate this industry.
But, since 2004, our company has been a world leader in providing robotic systems to the mining industry, including Vale and Glencore/Xstrata. The technology has matured to the point where it’s no longer bleeding edge. All of the systems that we’ve provided make operations safer and more cost effective – letting people do more interesting and complex jobs. We take well-proven, rugged industrial robots and apply them in new and innovative ways to provide a clear benefit to our customers. It’s leading edge for sure, but not bleeding edge. That’s the right way to do innovation in this industry. You don’t take enormous leaps. You take a continuing set of small steps, each of which makes sense on its own. It’s not as sexy or dramatic as the giant leap but you arrive at the destination all the same and you’ve done it while being responsible to your shareholders and employees.
On a very personal basis, I object to the characterization of Sudbury as being weak on innovation. I personally, am very proud to have been part of a lot of innovations in the Sudbury – innovations that are practical, make financial sense and benefit the employees of the companies that operate here. The goal is not photo-ops and dramatic reveals but rather steady innovation and improvements in the long run. I believe we succeed in that admirably.
Steve Matusch, P.Eng, MBA
President
T: 705-692-0101 x221 C: 705-507-7200 E: stevem@ionic-eng.com
95 Mumford Drive, Lively ON P3Y 1L1