On Wednesday December 2^nd London and Area EMC Members had an opportunity to listen and learn from a great guest speaker Veronica Kenny of the Law Firm Hicks Morley. Hicks Morley is Canada's pre-eminent law firm acting exclusively in the areas of Labour, Employment, Education, Pension and Benefits and Health and Safety law on behalf of management. The firm is committed to providing the highest level of service and expertise to its clients. Veronica discussed the below topics as well as presenting what manufacturers need to be aware of as Management staff of a Manufacturing facility, including;

·         Terminating Employees: Statutory Considerations & the Common Law

·         WSIB claims management

·         Employment Standards Update

·         Health & Safety Update

·         Human Rights Update

·         Labour Relations Update

·         Attendance Management

·         Violence and Harassment in the Workplace…policies and procedures.

Lots and lots of questions resulted for this overview which was incredibly well attended with over 50 people representing about 35 local manufacturers. One of the topics that really got the conversation going was the need to have a violence and harassment in the workplace policy in place for 2010. Members exchanged ideas, concerns and expectations on these types of policies and a few members even offered to share their policies.

On the London/Oxford home page I have posted the Violence and Harassment Policy used at Diamond Aircraft, who were kind enough to share it with the group. Also, the PowerPoint presented by Hicks Morley is also posted.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the EMC members in London and Oxford. We had an incredible year of learning and growth. Many best practices were shared between members and I want to especially thank those member who opened there doors up to others looking to "share and steal" with pride. Numerous members connected with other members not just at the SIG sessions but individually with visits to other facilities. The monthly SIG sessions were an overwhelming success this year in both London and Oxford with an average attendance of about 35 people. Some sessions even got close to 100 people which is a huge improvement from 3 years ago when we struggled to get 6 people out! I have no doubt this trend will continue in 2010.

Our first session of 2010 will be at Keiper Automotive Canada in London on Wednesday January 27^th from 8am to about 11am. This session will be a great way to kick off the New Year. It will be a "Lean Concepts & Tools" overview provided by one of the foremost authorities on "Lean" in the area, Bob Cook Plant Manager at Keiper. Bob has some new twists and ideas and it will also be a great review for everyone. Start the year off right with a session that will get you "pumped up" about your continuous improvement programs! This session will be good for anyone at your facility involved with Continuous Improvement (which should be everyone)! We will also have a plant tour which will highlight some of the great things Keiper has implemented….also we will do the Continuous Improvement Exercise and map out some ideas for the SIG sessions for the rest of the year.

Lastly I would like to welcome a few new members in the area which have recently joined EMC;

-          Armo Tool

-          Qualtech Seating

-          London Automotive and Manufacturing Ltd

-          Jacobs Manufacturing

-          Solis Mexican Foods

-          Bach-Simpson

-          C&M Assemblies

Happy Holidays! I look forward to continuing to work with you all in 2010 and the continued growth of the London/Oxford Consortium.

Thanks!

Jason Bates

jbates@emccanada.org

519-281-1176