The manufacturing sector in Manitoba and Canada continue to harness
the technological drivers of Industry 4.0 to adapt to the changing
industry landscape. Mechatronics is an emerging area of employment in
this area. Specific labour market data for Mechatronics is not readily
available currently. Investigation into the labour market associated
with this program was conducted using related job categories that
currently do have data. The investigation in Lightcast of those jobs
showed 705 jobs and that Manitoba is currently behind other provinces in
this area. The Manitoba Labour Market Outlook for 2021-2025 shows an
increasing need for employment in the related jobs that were examined
but as with Lightcast the specific area of Mechatronics is not indicated
as the data is not available for this emerging field.
To
develop the labour market analysis and program, several other sources
were used. Interviews with six students were conducted. Interviews were
pursued with Manitoba’s top 22 fastest-growing manufacturing companies,
and 12 companies accepted the invitation and participated in interviews,
including:
- AGI
- Boeing Canada Operations
- Carfair Composites
- Custom Castings
- Décor Cabinets
- Dynamic Machine
- Melet Plastics
- Motorcoach
- Monarch Industries
- Precision ADM
- PTI Transformers
- Standard Aero
Further
significant conversation occurred with Price Industries, NFI Group (New
Flyer), Roquette and others. Focus groups have also been conducted. In
all cases the participants indicated the need to hire trained people
and/or upskill current employees in the area of Mechatronics.