ATS Collaborates With Conestoga to Advance Digitization Capabilities

February 20, 2020

ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. was pleased to recently announce a collaboration agreement with Conestoga College to advance ATS’s digitization capabilities. The collaboration builds on the long-standing research and development relationship between ATS and Conestoga’s SMART (Smart Manufacturing and Advanced Recycling Technologies) Centre.

This latest project will combine the nuclear refurbishment expertise of ATS with SMART Centre’s Augmented (AR), Virtual (VR) and Mixed Realities and will build on ATS’s new Illuminate Smart Coach (https://illuminatemi.com/smartcoach/) digital training service.

“Collaborating with Conestoga strengthens ATS’s commitment to remaining a leading-edge automation solutions provider,” said Udo Panenka, ATS President Mobility, Nuclear and Specialty Automation. “We continuously look for innovative and transformative ways to provide our customers with the highest level of service. Advancing the possibilities of automation control through simulation and visualization within our products, tooling solutions and processes is crucial to helping our customers achieve the highest level of performance.”

The partners will focus initially on adopting AR/VR enhancements to improve human performance and worker efficiency during the training, maintenance and support of ATS tooling used in the Bruce Power Major Component Replacement (MCR) program.

Bruce Power’s MCR program involves the refurbishment of six nuclear reactors and will enable the nuclear power plant to deliver clean and reliable energy for Ontario for the next four decades. ATS plays a key role in supporting the program by designing and supplying all of the automation equipment required to remove the irradiated reactor components including the fuel channels, calandria tubes and calandria tube inserts. Reactor component removal tooling has been designed to maximize safety during the removal process while optimizing operational resources.

“Conestoga and ATS Automation are developing newer, smarter ways to use technology and train employees,” says Rob Hoare, Construction Director at Bruce Power. “We’re excited to leverage these innovations to enhance the training of our workers which will have a direct impact on the safety and quality of our 13-year MCR Project. We’re proud to work with local, innovative partners like Conestoga and ATS. By embracing new technology, we’re able to get work done safer and to the highest level of quality.”

Testing of the technology will leverage the MCR Integration Facility, which is a state-of-the-art automation testing site at ATS Cambridge, purposely built for the Bruce Power MCR program.

“Applied research with industry partners is a cornerstone of polytechnic education,” said Conestoga President John Tibbits. “Conestoga’s long-standing collaboration with ATS continues to yield tremendous benefits, advancing innovation to address business needs while providing valuable learning and development opportunities for students and faculty alike.”

The collaboration is funded by Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), through its College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) program.

For more information, visit www.atsautomation.com.