CHAPTER 21
The Government Can Help
(This Is Not a Joke)
Vignette: Steel Plates
The university can cooperate with business.
“It is free,” he said, the most agreeable four-letter word for a start-up company.
I was discussing my research and development challenges with Lenox, who spent several years in Ottawa working for a major federal corporation. He was acting as a management consultant and would often assist young companies deal with government bureaucracy. This time we were exploring ways of getting some support to develop a new manufacturing process involving very high hydraulic pressure.
“Why don’t you talk to the University of Victoria?” he asked me. “They have an advanced engineering department with some excellent resources, including labs, researchers, and students who could take a look at your problem. Furthermore, you could probably obtain most of their assistance for free.”
We needed a heavy-duty press to manufacture silicon gaskets for a new customer. My engineers told me that the two steel pressing plates needed to be 3 in thick to ensure a uniform compression of 20,000 PSI over a 2 × 3 ft surface. I was wondering whether this would be enough. My company did not have the computing capacity required to measure the consequence of these levels of pressure requirements. The university did.
The National Research Council adviser at the university agreed to assist me in this project. He knew the dean of the engineering faculty and their laboratory capabilities. As a computer scientist himself, he also knew that the required software was available. My project would help vet its functionality.
Umar, the engineering student, was more than happy to participate in such a project.
I describe hereafter some of the challenges involved to illustrate the project complexity and its results.
My company was using a proprietary resin compound for its seals requiring a customized liquid-casting manufacturing process. Special two-piece molds were built on-site for each seal dimension and used in the casting workstations.
Once the resin compound had hardened (precured), the molds were separated, and the seals released from their cavities for further processing.
This casting process had a manual step involving the closing and opening of the molds. During that step, air bubbles tended to be trapped in between the male and female cavities, thus rendering the end product (seal) unusable up to 30 percent of the time.
To avoid this air entrapment, a new process had to be invented to improve both closing and opening mechanisms as well as the workstation’s operating performance, which was considered unreliable.
Several experimental challenges included the following:
• The optimal speed of the closing mechanism (taking into account seal diameter size, height, and O-ring inclusion)
• The use of releasing agents (which one would improve the performance and minimize air entrapment best?)
• The closing force of the mold (what had to be done so as not to outstrip the mold while ensuring proper closing?)
• The opening force of the mold (same considerations as earlier)
Boundary conditions varied with each plate configuration.i
Systematic experimentation of different plate configurations had to be done within a set of parameters, such as
• Mold release chemistry
• Surface tension
• Metal structure (anodized, hardened, standard, Teflon coated, and so on)
Other mitigating factors included the following:
• Humidity levels
• Process constraints
• Resin compound composition
• Operating temperatures
Of course, ease of use and capability of developing a user-friendly and reproducible processes were necessary operating factors.
To prove the concept, a manual breadboardii was built with the assistance of the university. Indeed, by using this preliminary unit, it was shown that a uniformly slow closing mechanism would significantly reduce the air entrapment. Furthermore, a power-enhanced opening mechanism would improve the demolding process and increase the casting workstation productivity.
We proceeded from the breadboard level to the operating prototype level, followed by full production.
This R&D project was a success.
This was the fruit of the government’s Industrial Research Assistance Program.
Vignette: The Female Workforce
“The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is the government body you want to talk to.”iii
Donald knew what he was talking about. He had spent several years working with CIDA on different continents. His main objective was to assist companies with the use of CIDA’s assistance to create new jobs, mostly for women, in developing countries.
Having just secured a joint venture with a Chinese partner in Malaysia, I was planning to build a new manufacturing plant near Kuala Lumpur. This should establish my company’s presence on the Asian continent with direct access to the Indian and Chinese markets.
Two-thirds of the workers could be women.
I had little experience in the required training and support effort this would take.
At the time, CIDA had a set of programs that were targeting female workers in various Commonwealth countries under development.
Donald was convinced that my project would qualify for some financial and consulting assistance in the case of Malaysia. He was right.
Donald helped me develop and submit a proposal to CIDA describing how the Malaysian female workforce would benefit from the location of a manufacturing plant near Kuala Lumpur. This proposal included the following:
• A social impact report of the joint venture in Malaysia (this meant how many women would be hired for the job). More women meant a higher subsidy.
• An environmental impact report of the joint venture (here it meant what location had been chosen and whether there would be an impact on transportation, water, and solid waste).
CIDA approved the project a few weeks later. CIDA’s financial assistance helped my company substantially reduce the initial investment in training and support required to launch the new Malaysian venture.
Canadian Federal Assistance Programs for Small Business are real.
Lessons Learned: Working with the Government Can Be Beneficial
Federal and provincial agencies in Canada and federal and state agencies in the United States have a wide range of programs to assist small businesses.
Although the process might seem cumbersome and bureaucratic, often, using the assistance of sources familiar with those programs can simplify the application process and secure the help applied for.
Canadian and U.S. government programs online sources—a quick reference.
• Some useful online sources:
In the United States: https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs
In Canada: http://www.canadiangrantsbusinesscenter.com
Not for profit: https://www.leadershipgrants.ca
Every Canadian province and U.S. state has its own programs targeting small business.
iNote: A plate configuration involved several multiple cavity molds having different cavity geometries, thus different closing and opening requirements.
iiA breadboard (or proto-board) is a construction base for prototyping of electronics.
iiiThe Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was a federal Canadian organization that administered foreign aid programs in developing countries. The agency was merged into the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2013 by the federal government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_International_Development_Agency.)