November 24^th, 2009 saw the official launch of EMC in Windsor! Being born and raised in Windsor I am very happy it has finally happened. Windsor-Essex was one of the last areas in Ontario that EMC did not have formal Consortium in….and know it does!

Presently the Consortium consists of 7 EMC Member Companies. By the end of January, middle of February I would like to see that number up to 15 to 20 companies than by March we will start having Strategic Interest Group (SIG's) sessions in Windsor. Uptake from the Windsor Manufacturing Community has been very good; I am pleased to present you with a current roster of EMC Member Companies in the area;

-         Reko International

-         Southwestern Manufacturing

-         Centerline Ltd

-         Bondulle Foods

-         Anchor Lamina

-         Canadian Linen Products

-         Dee Tag Ltd

As I mentioned there are a number of other companies very interested in getting involved with EMC in the region. I have no doubt that the membership grow given the time. I have been in many amazing facilities in the area and have been very impressed with some of the initiatives they are implementing. Lots and lots of best practices to be shared!

I would also like to thank the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Commission for all the great support that have provided. I work across many communities with many different Economic Development people and the staff in Windsor is fully committed to helping out manufacturing any way they can!

With that I would like to wish everyone in Windsor a happy holidays and I look forward to continuing to develop Windsor into one of the most engaged Consortiums in all of Ontario!

Jason Bates EMC Windsor

519-281-1176

jbates@emccanada.org