Deloitte Opens New Smart Factory in Montreal

Deloitte Canada has opened a new smart factory in Montreal, a 9,000-square-foot facility showcasing a range of Industry 4.0 solutions for automating manufacturing and warehousing.

The factory will leverage a range of technologies including AI, sensors, robotics, IoT, big data and cloud to run production lines, store and move inventory, and track shipments. These solutions are provided by companies such as Siemens, Cisco and SAP.

“As Canada’s largest professional services firm, we care about the future of the country,” said Anthony Viel, Deloitte Canada CEO. “We believe that projects like this will fundamentally transform our economy – and society – and set Canada on a better path.”

The factory joins Deloitte’s network of smart factories, with additional facilities in Wichita, Kansas Dusseldorf, Germany and Kyoto, Japan.

The company hopes to meet ongoing shortages in labor productivity and technology uptake in Canadian industries through the use of automation technologies, providing something of an example other companies can learn from.

“Canadian businesses tend to be sized for the Canadian market but are often competing against multinationals that have extensive resources and sophisticated systems,” said Alan Taliaferro, Deloitte partner. “This space provides an opportunity to support Canadian businesses by enabling them to learn about, and experiment with, an array of live smart technologies in a fully automated factory and warehouse.”