interactive web design and development georgian college

interactive web design and development georgian college

okay everyone, we are going to get started. thank you for finding your seats so elegantly. everybody is looking terrific. it is great to be here at the 9th annual hma awards. can you believe it? nine years we have been doing this. and they've asked me back again, and it is a privilege to be here. first things, first. carol leeming has lost her phone, so i am just going to - siri, call carol leeming. yes, i confirm that.

we'll just see if we can hear it. have you found your phone yet, carol? long distance will apply. there it is, the front table. just to the side, there we are. there's your phone, carol. first things, first. now, i can text her questions during the night. okay, speaking of phones, tweeting is encouraged tonight.

you can use the hashtag #hma2014. my cousins was telling me about somebody who was - she was just trying to teach a whole conference full of women how to hashtag. and so as she was speaking, one woman was overheard saying, "yeah, hashtag that or hashbrown that," hashbrown, she said. hashbrown. hashtagging. so just a number sign hma2014. many of you have been smelling coffee, been drinking some great coffee. ben gingerich is everywhere. if you know him, if you know about his coffee, you know what... you don't to listen to me talk about it, you want to hear ben talk about it.

we're going to talk to you about what we have tonight, so please welcome ben gingerich, first off. good evening, i just want to say welcome, and you may have noticed that it smells a lot like fresh roasted coffee. i'm seeing of this, the squeezing and the smelling going on. this is fresh roasted coffee for you to take home on your tables. it is a medium roasted custom blend of some of our direct trade coffees from our friends with farms, as we like to call it. there is a whole story about our company, so check it out sometime online, or just back there. our little tasting booth back here when the desserts roll out, feel free to come, we'll be brewing and ready for you to grab some more fresh roasted coastal coffee.

cheers. soon - coming soon. we have our roastery located in zurich, ontario. a 1400 square foot micro roastery, and we are just in the process of opening the front door. people come all the time to see what we are up to, and so it will officially be open in the next few weeks, as soon as we get our health inspection done. so cheers, enjoy. thanks, ben, right off the top. bring the coffee man on, before the mps, the mpps, i'm sure i broke many rules there. so, we're excited about having ben and ben's coffee here.

unfortunately, the place is not licensed, so this is another reason why we went this way. that is unfortunate for me because i become a better mc after a few bottles of wine and some beers. so, i'm going to have to work hard tonight. gold sponsors tonight, the gold sponsor, i should say is libro credit union. and our silver sponsors are: county of huron, municipality of bluewater, huron business development corporation, municipality of huron east,

huron small business enterprise centre. and our bronze sponsors: the municipality of central huron, town of goderich, municipality of morris-turnberry. and, with that, i'd like to turn things officially over to our mp, ben lobb, to say a few words. thank you very much. i don't know what you guys are doing, but i was here tuesday night and there was plenty of beer here for the legion's remembrance day ceremony. anyways, it's a pleasure to be here tonight and the huron manufacturing association

really and truly have done a great job the last nine years. really, what i think their original idea, the genesis of the association was to put people like-minded, same goals, that want to make things work and be successful in huron county, i think they have done that, and i hope they continue to push forward. just to give you an idea, of course lisa and i and the warden and many others, travel a lot of countryside in a month and in a year, and just today, for example, i was at a grand opening for a - it wasn't truly a dairy production facility, but it was a large heifer barn, east of kincardine on highway 9.

and the manufacturer of that structure was out of wingham, with olympia structure, and that is the third barn like that they've done this year in ontario, and it was 100 wide by 160 long. so, that is the kind of work that is taking place in the county, and ben and rob started that right from scratch, about three or four years ago. certainly, have something to be proud of. and just to show what else gets coupled in with that and how the true partnerships work, the hensall co-op was there as well today. so you can see how collaboration works, and how this is taking place. you folks here today know many other stories like that, so thank you for what all you do.

and i would also say that ben's got one heck of a hair-do, doesn't he. anyways, have a great evening. alright, next, with even a better hair-do is mpp, lisa thompson. thanks so much. it's just more hair, right ben. anyways, ladies and gentlemen, it is great to be here this evening and celebrate all that is good about huron county. i have to tell you, i follow hma on twitter, and there was a tweet sent out yesterday that really stuck with me and it was about branding. if some of you haven't seen it, i'll share it with you. it kind of went like this: branding isn't about a tagline, or an advertisement, branding is about the story that gets embedded in the market place.

and, i believe hma is actually walking their own talk, because collectively, the support that you offer all of our entrepreneurs is second to none. and they are succeeding in so many ways, and for that, i say thank you and congratulations. and tonight, is an exact example of the spirit that is embodied in this county when we recognize all the award winners. in saying that, i just want to share something with you. not only do you recognize and encourage and inspire manufacturing and innovation and entrepreneurial spirits throughout this county, you also inspire youth. i remember a few short years ago, maybe three years ago, we will in exeter, and the junior manufacturer award went to a guy from my home town, brent mccague, also known as chief. he won the junior manufacturer award, and just this year,

he moved - he bought - r&r machining and moved it, and is expanding it and growing based on the inspiration of ron and company. and that's what you are doing as well. so, thank you for inspiring. thank you for embracing our youth, and showing that there is a wonderful future in manufacturing in huron county. and i wish you a great evening, and better success next year. thank you. thank you very much, lisa. next, we have past warden george robertson. thank you for doing this for us, george.

it is always nice to be surprised, and i'll get a hold of joe later. actually, joe is in the building, i will introduce the warden, joe steffler. that's what you called me for, right? anyways, congratulations on the nine. he's just late. i think we all do. thank you, george. george says i owe him. put it on my bill, george.

anyway, sorry for being late. it is what it is when you get old and cold. on behalf of huron county council and staff, i certainly would like to welcome everyone here tonight. and certainly congratulate all of the nominees, and really congratulate the winners. i don't know who they are, however, huron county takes economic development very serious. this past year we've, i think we've gone the extra mile. we've taken it out of the political hands, and putting it into the business people. so, whether you are a business man, store owner, or whatever the case may be, what ever kind of business you are in in the industry, we've formed a committee.

right now, the committee, there are five members on it. three more to be appointed. these are business people. after the inaugural () in the county council, there will be the warden and two members of council. this will comprise the county economic development committee. and they are going to look at everything from what we have land available, what we are doing wrong, and what we are doing right. so, i think it is the way to go, rather than have nine little silos fighting against each other for the same dollar. i think it is wise to have the county take on economic development as a county. because, what happens in goderich or what happens in howick township, it is all one tax payer in huron county.

so, please give us a chance. when i made my speech to become warden, december the 4th, 2013. that was one of my things that i said i wanted to get done this year, and i am proud to say we've reached the point that we are there. i think that next year by this time, you'll see a big difference in huron county. so again, please - we can't do it all by the end of january, that's not going to happen - but please give this committee a chance. it's going to be a great committee. again, congratulations to everyone who was nominated for an award tonight, and especially to the winners. thank you, and i apologize for being late.

thank you joe, not bad for someone cold and old. thank you very much for standing behind your promises and doing what you do on our behalf - all of you that have been up so far. and again, another last minute change, and you guys are just so agreeable, i want to welcome bluewater councillor, kay wise to bring greetings. and yes, this is a surprise. i just want to let you know that when this comes to council, and the hma is mentioned, there is no dispute, it is done, we love it, and we think you are doing a wonderful job, thank you.

i love how they look at me when they mention the hma, and the love just pours out of them. i am merely your mc tonight. i get to do this as a privilege. once a year, i get to work with carol and the committee, but thank you, i appreciate that, i'll keep standing over there, and i give it all back over to carol and hma. next, i would like to call hma chairman up to speak. frank palen is going to come and recognize the board. if he can, if he has his glasses on. you'll see a lot of frank here, he'll be up here handing out some important awards later tonight.

first of all, thanks everybody for coming, it is nice to see nominees, winners, and also . hma is something that i have been involved in for a number of years, but it is not me, there is a lot of people out there, and i am going to recognize a few tonight. however, they didn't let me know who the winners were until last thing tonight. maybe they figure i'm a blabbermouth or something like that. congratulations to all the ones that have won, but like i've said, it's not me, or our other member there, wes. we've got some fantastic people on the board. we've got some new ones this year.

jeff hearn, who is with epps products, he is our vice-chair. i guess, i can't see him, they have to stand up, please. okay, andrew masse works for wind trans systems and also ram design in seaforth. i got to take my glasses off to read. stephen oud is with vanastra packaging, unfortunately he is, i believe on a plane somewhere, going somewhere. john kaiser, libro credit union, is also a director. he is not here tonight, unfortunately. we've got joan wood, she is a director from envira-north. and, we have ray greidanus, who is tech in central huron secondary school, he is also our treasurer.

those are the people who do it, we've also got several committees of people that volunteer and help. it is just great that everyone comes and supports us, because we are here for you. next year, when this happens, we would like more people to be nominated, even if it is your own company. we've got an awful lot of nice people here, and good business people, in huron county. be proud and nominate them. let everyone else know. anyways, thank you. thank you, frank. and lastly, let's hear from our gold sponsor, libro credit union. representing libro is carl bolton. good evening everyone, and welcome.

as the last fellow before your dinner, and keep in mind, i'm not very big so you can run me right over if you have to. i'd just like to take this opportunity to thank the organizers, if you would join me in thanking them. they've done a terrific job, as always, and let's show our appreciation. libro is proud to be a sponsor, and we've been a sponsor for a number of years. formerly as united communities credit union. as of january 1st, 2014, united communities and libro financial group joined together to form libro credit union. one of the things that we wanted to keep in mind as we came together, and i'm quoting jim linn, our former ceo, that we're "big enough to serve you, small enough to know you." and we want to keep that legacy going.

we had a great opportunity to come up with a new vision, and mission statement, and we came up with something different. it was a how, why, and what. i wanted to concentrate on the why, and it was helping to grow prosperity in southwestern ontario. you people are the ones that are growing prosperity here in huron couny. i think that is great. everyone in this room is contributing to prosperity right here in huron county, and i thank you on behalf of everyone. you're doing a great job. thank you very much. so, with that, enjoy the evening. and it is a great event. thank you very much.

thank you very much, carl. our buffet dinner which starts, i guess around 6, i think we are pretty close. it is featuring local food by bon vivant and chef devon tabor. i'm sure many of you know him, and we are in for a good night there. music is being provided by sarah hoi. and she'll be playing, she played off the top. she'll be playing through dinner as well. also wanted to make mention that we have sarah caldwell here, and she is taking a picture of me as i am talking about her right now. she is our photographer extraordinaire, and she will be taking picture throughout the night.

you can see her pictures from tonight online. you can get notified by email when the gallery is ready for viewing. so, if you want to email her, sarahcaldwellphotography@gmail.com with the subject, 'add me hma 2014'. you can certainly do that. and she has these cards with all that information, just back by the rpm - there's a shameless plug for my friend, ron. but, just to the left of that, that is where sarah is all hanging out there, and editing pictures as we are going, tonight. so, without further ado, let's have a blessing.

let's bring jeff hearn to bring a blessing to us. i got to work with jeff's son, ben, on charlotte's web this past october. and it was a delight. ben always brought his a-game to rehearsals. we started rehearsing in august, and ben was always on top of everything. and i don't know where he gets that from. i don't think he gets it form me. must be his mother. we'll just say a short grace before dinner. lord, thank you for the food we are about to receive.

thank you for the opportunity to live and work in huron county. where we prosper, very welcome here to many other parts of the world, amen. okay, everyone, enjoy your meal, enjoy each other. okay, everyone, we're going to get started here. with our keynote address. we're just talking to ben there, and he is brewing and brewing and brewing coffee, and he is having a great time, aren't you ben? everybody is digging this coffee, so thank you ben for coming in. i stopped into bartliff's this morning, just for a quick coffee, and surprisingly, ben, your coffee is there.

it was a good cup of coffee. so, you are everywhere my friend, so thank you. and thank you to sarah hoi, her sultry sounds tonight. it was just terrific. thank you sarah. sarah is on her way, so thank you very much, sarah, safe travels to you. and next we are going to have our keynote speaker. our keynote speaker is no stranger to most of us. gemma mendez-smith. gemma has been with the planning board for thirteen years, and currently she is in the position of executive director.

she has spearheaded several major research projects which provided the community with material for evidence-based planning. gemma's expertise in community collaboration has created a clear direction for the board to grow its community, influence, and labour market planning activities. the planning board had delivered numerous initiatives that address the issue of ease of workplace engagement. would you please welcome gemma mendez-smith. thank you, wes. so solving the skills gaps.

about a year ago, we - actually it was two years - we decided to figure out what was happening in our four counties of grey, bruce, huron, and perth. and so we took on the challenge as a lead organization, as the four county labour market planning board to talk to employers, to talk to youth, and to talk to residents about how they felt about things were going in the four counties. and so, this is the follow-up to what we do, and launched back in march of 2014. a lot of activity has been happening with that research. that makes my heart really sing. because, although we are in the business of research, it's not just about the research.

it's about what we do with what we find out, once the research is completed. so, i'll tell you, though, a little bit about we, as local boards, do. we are funded by the ministry of training, colleges and universities. beth and darryl and looking at me like, 'what?'. and there are 26 local board areas across ontario. so, all across ontario, this type of work is being done. and it is delivered very uniquely to those communities. and that is why we have twenty six across the province.

we belong to that network, and what we do, is we are the purveyors of that local labour market information. we collect and gather the information that belongs to our four county region, and then we help work with that information, as to how we need to improve our services, are there gaps, and what do we need to do to improve those gaps. and then we collaborate. things that we do to deliver services in our community is what helps us be successful. we're not successful without you. if we don't have collaborations in our community, there is no success for us, so we thank you, first of all, for that ability to collaborate.

so what we do we for the province, first of all? we are funded to deliver a local labour market plan, and that is delivered annually in october. we are also funded to delivery four activities, based on the evidence of that plan. so, all of the work that we do is driven by evidence, that we hear from you as employers. so, what did we first need to know? through the skills gap study, we wanted to know, is there actually a skills gap? so, we felt we needed to talk to the employers. what are you finding in the workforce, in your current workforce and maybe in your future workforce. are you able to find the people that you need?

and what are the students thinking about what their future might be? and thirdly, how do our residents feel about living and working here? and, what i am going to share with you tonight is more around, i think that future labour market. what do our youth think, and know about our community here in huron county? so, we observe that our students are still thinking that they have to leave for opportunity. that is something that we, as a community, need to change. we have the ability to change that perspective, for our youth. and so, they are still saying that, you know, females are saying that, 56% are saying 'no, i have to leave to have success,' and we are saying 'no, you don't. we can create that success locally,'

and let's work together to do that. males, 52%. and most of them expect to go off to post-secondary. the interesting thing about going off to post-secondary, however, is that sometimes our youth don't do that right away. they wait, maybe a year, maybe two, maybe even longer, before they get engaged in post-secondary. so, the ability for them to become engaged in the labour market needs to happen directly out of high school.

it cannot depend on any type of post-secondary education, immediately, because sometimes they don't have the opportunity to do that, so offering our youth the skills that get them engaged immediately, as well as the ability to move forward into those post-secondary training opportunities will really give our youth the chance to succeed. so, we asked our youth, what do you expect to be doing in the future, and so they are saying that construction is their first choice, professional scientific and technical services, and agriculture. our females, they are celebrating their future by saying,

healthcare and social assistance, professional, scientific and technical services, business building, and other support services. i always ask the question, how did you arrive at that decision? and i'm not sure that they actually know how. they may have made a decision just because it is something that they heard about. and i would like to see the decisions made more closely connected to what is happening in your economy. i believe that it doesn't matter where you want to work,

it could be here in huron county, it could be toronto, timbuktu, you still need to understand what the economy has to offer you for employment. and that is the only way that a youth can be successful, in my mind. knowing, how they can engage. and so when they make these decisions right out of high school, maybe a couple of years after high school, we need to ensure that we are giving them, providing them the details they need to make sure that they are successful. so this is some of the work that we are involved in, as we move forward in our partnerships.

so, am i thinking is there a skills gap or rather, is there a skills mismatch? and, i'm coming to the understanding in some of the work that we are doing, is i think that there might be more of a skills mismatch. we have people with skills, we have employers who need employees, but for some reason, we are not aways making that connection. i believe it is the mismatch that we are having. we can see that, because previously some of the decisions they are making to study isn't always connecting with our labour market. so here is the huron county economy based on the national household survey. these are the employment numbers in huron county.

so your top employment sector is agriculture, that is not a surprise to us. but these numbers are based on jobs that are housed here in huron county. so, we do import some of our workforce, so these are the jobs that are held here, it is the place of work data. our second highest is healthcare, and then we go into retail trade, manufacturing, and food and accommodations. so, when we start talking about those top five sectors, what do people need to know? what do you, as employers, in these sectors, particularly in manufacturing, what can you share with our workforce, that they need to know, so they can make those right training decisions.

because, it is all about making sure that my skills match the needs that you have in your workforce. so, here is what our students are actually studying. we also purchased the fields of study data. here is what our females are studying, health and related fields. that's a good thing. healthcare is one of our top employment sectors. then we see business management, and public administration and education. there aren't very many jobs in those top fields of study. so, what we need to start talking about is how many - we do need business administration -

but how many do we need? we might not need thousands, we might need fifty. so, we need to start getting that message out, if that is where you plan to work, how will you go to study, how are you going to get engaged in that labour market. this is what we want the students in high school to start thinking about. how do my skills, and what i love to do, match with what i'm going to study past high school. our males are studying architecture/engineering and related, agriculture - that's good - one of our top employment sectors, and then we go back to business. so, we do have a skills mismatch. we have people studying for things that there may not be jobs for in our region.

we need to move, shift that around a little bit, and talk about, what do you need to study to be connected? we need you as businesses to share that information with us. employers were very vocal in the things that were missing in their current and future workforce, that they couldn't find, and that is teamwork, verbal and written communication, critical thinking, and that social/interpersonal. those are the soft skills. those are the pieces that we learn as we get involved in the workforce, and we start doing things.

because, when we are in our own little world, these things seems like we can do them all - i've done teamwork. but how do we work when we aren't a team person? i like to work on my own. you still need to learn how to communicate with the rest of the team. even, if you are a software developer working in a room all by yourself. you still need to know what the person wants developed. and you need to have good communication skills. critical thinking came up in some of our discussions about, how do you test for that?

we had an employer in huron county that said if someone can use excel, i know that they can problem solve, and think critically through a problem. because, excel is not easy, you need to know how to use it, even the basic functions, you need to know how to use it. it's a great tool, but you need to have the skills to be able to do that. and what can't they find? that whole artistic and creative skills. we've got a lot of artists and artistic things happening here in huron county. they cannot find that critical thinking/problem solving. it's a problem.

leadership. it's not about leaderships, as the executive director of the four county labour market planning board. it is about leadership in what you do. taking ownership of the job that you have, and being a leader. coming up with those solutions within that position. it's not always about take charge at the front, or the lead, it's always about taking charge of what you need to deliver in your own capacity. and then there was some specific skills around autocad, health, construction, and education. and the education piece was really around, there is some music, there is some physical-ed, it is not broadly in the education system.

so, here is some of the recommendations. we had about twenty, over twenty recommendations in this skills gap study. if you haven't seen the skills gap study, you can go to our website, planningboard.ca. there is a fact sheet for huron county and also a 160-page report of amazing reading. trust me, you are going to enjoy it. employers engage in providing workplace opportunities (co-op, apprenticeships, and job shadows). that is the one i would like to more focus on tonight. so, collaboration, it is what we do. so how can we do that, and help our community move forward?

first of all, in huron county, council took the leadership role of using the information in the skills gap study. they've created the skills gap working committee, and that committee has been functioning amazingly over the last few months. we've been getting together on a monthly basis, this is led by bernie mcclellan, and he really does a great job of keeping us on track and discussing what is on task. we are talking about, how do we use those recommendations in the skills gap study, to really build a strategic planner on what needs to happen in huron county. i love that leadership, because we are able to test against those objectives and be able to measure how we are succeeding.

the next thing we have been talking about, and i really love this model, i love this model for several reasons. the healthkick model. and some of you may know about healthkick. and if you want detailed information, i will direct your attention over to laura. but for now, when we are thinking about how do we engage, and i am thinking about this type of model for manufacturing. so, the model of healthkick is that we get youth engaged in the industry, by, you know, laura has camps that she runs, to get youth involved in that health sector.

to get knowledgeable about what the jobs are, and what you need to do there. the second piece is about getting our students involved in, so they get engaged in healthcare before they go off to post-secondary. then they go off to get involved in post-secondary, and that second piece is that internship piece. that is where you as employers get involved. you can offer that internship. offer that value-added workplace piece, so they know as a workforce what they are getting into. how can they make it in this world of work.

have you ever been involved in an area where you thought you knew what you were getting into, and then when you did it, it just didn't work out? yep? my daughter did that. she decided that she wanted to be a physiotherapist. and i said, okay, do a co-op. i love co-ops by the way. she did the co-op, and one week in that co-op, and she said 'mom, i can't do this,' and i though, perfect. see, a co-op can be successful in either determining if it is something that you love to do or something you hate to do. both are very successful outcomes, because you can

learn before you even pay thousands of dollars in education fees, that you do not like that career, or you absolutely love that career. and i really think that is what we need to be giving our youth more opportunities in. now, our third option for collaboration is the specialized high skills major. i know that ray had been talking to the planning board and i know that the huron manufacturing association about a specialized high skills major in manufacturing. phenomenal idea. i believe that every student should go through a co-op or a hands-on experience. every single student that goes through our school system.

when i was fourteen, i went to an all girls school. part of our learning was every girl in that school had to go work in a grocery store. we did everything there was. we cut meat, we packaged, packed the shelves, did everything. and then the second year, we had to learn a skilled trade. every single girl. so we all jumped on a bus went down to the army barracks . each learned a trade, and i did auto body repair. so i did all the welding, the fillering, the sanding, painting from beginning to end. of course, i'm not a skilled trades person, but what did that do for me?

it offered me the opportunity to know that i could try and do many things in my life. and i don't say no to opportunity for learning. that's what co-op, specialized high skills major, all of these interactive pieces with the economy and the businesses in huron county can give our youth. it can give them a drive to keep learning. until you get engaged in that workforce, you really aren't sure as a young person, what to expect to see in that workforce. so, i encourage you to get involved in that specialized high skills major, because part of that is co-op, job shadows, and that

hands-on learning experience. the fourth thing that we are working on, and carol and i have been talking about this, is the speakers bureau. what we are hoping to be able to deliver in the next twelve months or so, carol, is developing a list of speakers that are willing to go into our youth, the classrooms, and talk to our youth about what really happens in the workforce. until they hear it from you, i can talk to them until i am blue in the face. they don't believe me, because i am in an office somewhere doing research. that's not fun for them. but when you come in as an employer, you can say to them,

'this is what we expect of you. we expect you to show up on time, we expect you to put your phone away when you are on the plant floor, we expect you to show up for your shift and complete the whole shift,' you know, all of these things, but you are saying it to them. they listen. it's not the same message when it comes from me or a teacher. it needs to be coming from you. so, we are hoping that all of you businesses will send a staff or you will come for yourself to talk to those students over the next few months.

i had a student say to me in grade 10 careers. they didn't even know what excel was. they had no clue what excel was. it is something that most businesses, if not every business now uses. how can a student not know what excel is. we need to imparting that knowledge so that they know what you are expecting of them. so, those are the collaborations that we are hoping to be able to move forward, and really grow our labour force from within. we need our students to understand all and every opportunity that we have to offer them here in huron county.

and that starts with you. the one other thing that i will beg you and ask you kindly to do is, in january, we will be executing a survey, and we are promising you that we are going to do this once a year as a four county labour market planning board and we are not going to ask you for another thing for the next year. but this survey in january is going to form the basis for all of our planning, for what we are going to be delivering to you over the next twelve months. so, the ministry has asked us, this is something that stats can was doing about two or three years ago. they decided to cancel it, and the ministry has asked us as local planning boards to take charge

in doing this. so, i am asking you, as an employer, if you can tell us, even if you have no employees right now, but you think you are going to grow to have employees, tell us what you are going to need. so when we take that message out to our workforce, we can say to them: this is what you need to be equipped in, this is how you will be employed, these are the skills that our employers need. when we do that, we are able to work with our partners, conestoga college, centres for employment and learning, and all of our local partners, school boards, colleges, to get those programs in place to be able to offer that local training.

i really think that as we work together, for the same outcome, which is a very vibrant and successful economy here in huron county, we will start to see that success driven from the inside out. i spoke quickly because i know we are out of time. would you take some questions? any questions at all for gemma? yes. no, construction would be a sector on its own, and it probably, just for the numbers sake, it is on there, but not in the top five sectors. always a lot of information, great information from gemma.

i was around, i used to travel in circles - well not really travel, i used to be at a committee meeting that gemma was at when we had ministry funding and there was always lots to talk about. great information. great research. i know that the skills gap study, when it did come out, caused a lot of buzz. i know it caused a lot of buzz because i am out of those circles, and i still hear the buzz. so, thanks so much for explaining that. so, now we get to the awards ceremony,

which is a very, very special part of the evening, obviously. we get to start with a very special part, and that is the scholarship part. first of all, i just want to let you know that sarah caldwell will be taking pictures. she will be over here, i believe that she is going to be taking pictures to my left, to your right, and so once you receive your award, you can go over here and sarah will take your picture.

if you don't receive an award, maybe someone can take your picture over here. no, but it's the coffee. it's the coffee, okay. thank you, ben, i don't know what you put in that decaf. it is making me say things that i think i'm going to regret tonight. the awards, by the way, were built and constructed by the tech department as south huron district high school, led by tom walsh, and on the bottom, we've finally labeled the bottom to say where they are from, so we want to thank them for constructing these great awards that these folks will be receiving tonight.

like i said, youth awards, a very special part of the night. hma and libro credit union apprenticeship scholarships. the libro credit union and huron manufacturing association apprentice scholarships are award to four apprentices in huron county. this thousand dollar scholarship is jointly sponsored by the huron manufacturing association and libro credit union. the apprenticeship scholarships will be awarded by libro credit union rep, tom sebert and frank palen, chair of the hma.

now, a little about this scholarship: anyone working as an apprentice in a skilled trade in huron county or pursuing apprenticeship studies with the intent to work in huron county is eligible to apply. oyap students and high skill major students training in skilled trades are also eligible to apply. the purpose of this scholarship is to encourage and support huron county careers in the trades, such as machinists, carpenters, electrician, plumbers, welders, and other apprenticeship trades. there were six applications this year, for the four scholarships.

the scholarship committee reviewed all the applications received and selected four recipients to the 2014 hma and libro credit union apprenticeship scholarships, based on skill factors, initiative, and knowledge of their trade. we just want to mention to those who are not successful recipients, we hope that you did truly enjoy this evening, and that you were able to network with some employers. we strongly encourage you to apply again next year, for sure. apprenticeship scholarships. the nominees in alphabetical order are:

wade collins. wade is an electrical apprentice with rob collins electric and lives in goderich. he studies at fanshawe college. a place where he recently demonstrated hands-on skills in his trade was at habour hills in goderich. at this retirement home, he helped rough-in, wire circuits and put on devices such as receptacles, switches and lights in the dwelling units of the 64 room, three storey building. along with installing runs of conduit, installing cat5e and rg6 cable, and wiring one of the electrical panels. he chose this career, as it is first, in demand, it is an adaptable career, it offers many different types of work, and many places to work worldwide. second nominee is murray dale.

murray is an electrical apprentice with jd electrical and controls. he lives in clinton and studies at georgian college. jerry, the owner of jd eelctrical, where murray is co-oping stated that murray is learning practical, on-the-job skills while supervised by qualified electrician. some of the work includes stringing wire through conduits, use of wire cutters, ladders, saws, and electrical testing devices. our next nominee, mitchell dietrich.

mitchell is a oyap plumbing apprentice attending south huron district high school and working with shoreline plumbing, and he lives in zurich. his experience as a high school co-op gave him the opportunity to experience plumbing and get to know the trade and learn much more about it. the more he worked at it, the more he realized how much he enjoyed working with his hands.

he worked with his employer on a house, start to finish, and experienced underground plumbing: rough-in, and setting and finishing the fixtures and installing sinks. he has hooked up valves, drains, and taps - with no leaks. his employer notes that mitch demonstrates a strong understanding of workplace health and safety and demonstrated maturity and reliability

as well as understanding the importance of building positive relationships with customers, contractors, suppliers, and inspectors. in short, mitch demonstrates all the desirable characteristics that gemma was referring to of an employee, which encouraged shoreline plumbing to offer mitch a full-time position with the company. next nominee, samuel groot. samuel is studying to be a millwright at cambrian college. he has co-op experience working at the sifto evaporator plant

and he also is from zurich. as a co-op student, sam worked at epps products as an assembler of cold-water pressure washers, a shipper, and performed metal cutting, grinding, and welding. he assisted in modifying and upgrading storage racking and learned to paint. i'm assuming it wasn't finger paint. i'm sure it was something he wasn't doing on his break. he learned to paint. actually, spray paint. he chose to work towards being a millwright, because he enjoys

working with his hands. sam is on the dean's honour roll at cambrian college in sudbury. good nominees. adam henderson, our next nominee. adam is a carpentry apprentice, working with kevin stirling. he lives in brucefield and studies at fanshawe college. his co-op teacher, shane taylor, was adam's co-op teacher in 2013 and noted that

adam completed whmis training and the passport to safety. he has also been working on many in-class projects at fanshawe college. our last nominee, mac smith. mac is enrolled in the oyap program at st. anne's as a brick and stone mason. he is working for courtney custom masonry and he lives in clinton.

he has been involved in bricking seven houses and three outdoor fire places. he has tiled a shore and helped build two concrete block retaining walls. first time he demonstrated brick laying skills was when his boss put mac in charge of laying brick around pillars of an outdoor patio. he had to cut the stones and place them in an eye-appealing manner.

he wasn't happy with the way one of the pillars looked when he finished, so he took it apart and started all over again. he takes pride in the work he does. and the recipients are: mitchell dietrich. samuel groot. mac smith. and wade collins.

that is no reflection on the other two, but the choice was made. and just for those people that think they don't know anything, we're also going to give them a nice hma tape measure. the other two are not here, but this is important. these are children, i call them children because anyone anymore is a child to me. but, these are people who are going out in the workforce, and people that we, as manufacturers, need in our industry. we don't need in waterloo. we don't need them in toronto. we need them here in huron county,

and these are the ones that are showing that they want to stay. they are to be congratulated. we have got one other picture to do. that's great. congratulations, guys. thank you to all the nominees. and now, we come to the actual award ceremony. and again, this is the 9th year we've been doing this. i've had the privilege of doing this three or four times, and it is one of my most favourite events.

in fact, it is the only event that people ask me to emcee, so i appreciate that. i just happen to enjoy it as well. so, let's get things started, unless carol has another word for me. i think we can get things started. the junior manufacturer of the year award. this will be awarded to an individual over thirty years in age, who is working. is it over? that little mark, under? i've never known that. see, i was never good at math. i have that mark, that triangle mark...

does that mean 30? less than 30. boy, i'm sure glad i didn't say that out loud in front of a bunch of people. junior manufacturer of the year award will be awarded to an individual less than thirty years of age, who is working in a huron county manufacturing business and has made a significant contribution to his or her workplace. and the nominees are; brett and brian landsborough of maelstrom winery. brett and brian have helped their parents launch maelstrom winery

and since 2009 have been growing grapes for the purpose of producing the highest quality wines, such as riesling, baco noir, cabernet franc, geisenheim, chardonnay, marã©chal foch - did i get that close? frontenac blanc, vidal and marquette. the vineyard now covers over eight acres and has over nine thousand vines. brian is a winemaker in training, and is assistant general manager, while brett helps with research and marketing.

brett has been identifying ontario market segments, and is looking at options for vine nutrition management, soil and tannin related innovations to enhance flavours in the developing wine region of huron county. brian has demonstrated innovation and creativity in the areas of plant management, designing planting equipment, frost protection equipment, and wine production methods.

our second nominee is joost van dorp of blyth farm cheese. he is an administrator helping to keep the business run smoothly in all aspects - website maintenance, product documentation and researching new business opportunities. joost has implemented a system which assigns a bar code to every cheese wheel which leaves the building. he has also been working on making the entire

operation paperless. their main cheese is gouda, made from goat's milk. it is sold is over 100 locations across ontario. research and testing is being done to create new cheeses. joost has been involved in developing the variety of gouda they produce. as they add different ingredients to the cheese to make it spicy, such as jalapeno, garlic, and cool mint. their cheese has recently won canada's best gouda,

at the inaugural canadian cheese awards in toronto. their cheeses have also won awards at the royal agricultural winter fair. and the recipient of the junior manufacturer of the year award is... this year was a little bit more difficult. that's like ... more better. it was so close between the two in some of the other areas,

that we actually chose them both. it was really hard to choose, so we took the easy way out. so, i would like to get up here brett, brian, and joost. and i should state that all recipients are free to state a couple words, if they'd like. brett, brian, you look like you'd like to speak in front of people. paul is here on behalf of joost. paul van dorp is here - you want to say a few words on his behalf? on behalf of joost, i appreciate this very, very much. i see it as recognition for what we did in the last couple of years.

and what we are going to do in the future. thank you very much. that's terrific. brett and brian, they're just shaking hands, they're not coming over. okay, looking good. text it to me. yes, yes applause. they are the future, so that's terrific. next we have innovative product award. this will be awarded to a huron county manufacturer who successfully met the challenge of transforming a good idea into a product into the market since 2009.

the winning product will be chosen based on innovation, creativity, acceptance in the marketplace, delivery of value to customers, competitive advantages, and business success. the nominees are: iceculture. iceculture innovative product was a collaboration with canadian tire on the driveable ice pick-up truck. a project that will end up in the guinness book of world records, which is waiting confirmation.

iceculture is a manufacturer of crystal clear ice blocks for ice sculpture, and also has divisions dedicated to offering ice carving services, which takes the company's personnel all over the world. it has a department which designs, develops and builds specialized equipment for the hospitality ice industry. ice carving is a niche industry and iceculture is recognized as one of the biggest players in the business, worldwide. canadian tire wanted a unique advertising approach

to marketing a new vehicle battery line, which can operate at temperatures of minus forty degrees. a number of ideas were considered, and finally iceculture was given the task of designing and building and driveable ice truck to promote the batteries. the complete project had to be completed in less than a month. a suitable truck chassis found in texas (where else) had to be located and then modified to be able to carry 11,000 pounds of ice.

trials had to be under taken to see whether or not the ice truck has a reasonable chance of succeeding. a driveable vehicle made of ice was a concept that had never been accomplished anywhere in the world, and the product called for three trucks. one for corporate approval, and second unit for the commercial, and a third to participate for a drive along highway 83, as part of an attempt to make the guinness book of world records.

which, again, is waiting confirmation. the truck chassis and ice components were delivered to the location for shooting the commercial east of toronto, and the truck was assembled on site, then taken apart after the shoot and brought back to hensall. the television commercial was aired in january at the outdoor hockey commercial between the toronto maple leafs and detroit red wings and the truck was melted down and filmed in time lapsed photography.

our second nominee is natural mother productions. natural mother productions has offered customized baby carriers since 2009, which are not made of ice. the focus on niche, custom products has allowed michelle to create superior shape and comfort offering adjustable headrest and soft floating waist. advantageous features over competitors products, for sure. the carriers can be worn on the front or back.

owner michelle dunn saw a need for product development to fill a gap in the marketplace for ready-made comfortable baby carrier to support the baby sufficiently and be comfortable to wear. michelle's motto is "carry your baby the natural way, while allowing mom to tend to other activities or children,". the carrier can be adjusted as your children grows from 2-24 months. a build-your-own-custom option allows customers to choose sizes and options they want.

natural mother productions is a micro-manufacturer and has created a simple ordering system to reduce production time, and has been able to triple weekly production. the recipient of the innovative product award is... as you probably noticed, i'm not very good at this. innovative product... iceculture. on behalf of iceculture, and in particular, the team that actually did the work, and there were a lot of people,

i'd like to thank the hma for this award, and for the recognition it gave. this was an exciting concept. it was a challenge. it was unique, and above all, it was highly successful. this award puts a cap on it all. thank you very much. okay, next up. how we doing? good. i love these awards, you're inspiring everybody. i love this things. you guys are the gears. i like hanging out with the gears. you're the ones who are making it all happen in the county.

next is the corporate citizenship award. this will be awarded to a manufacturing company in huron that has made outstanding contributions to their community and the hma. the nominees are: easy building products. easy building products manufactures a wide range of metal roofing products. they have over forty years experience of high quality roll formed steel and siding products

with a commitment to quality and customer service. john beemer and easy building products have generously donated to many local charitable projects, such as the abca macnaughton trail gazebo, the exeter optimist splash pad pavilion, as well as many projects far, far away. in 2011, through a non-profit group, he provided steel to help build a school for kids in africa. he regularly donates funds and steel to groups

for northern ontario youth groups. he also donates steel to a school in mexico through his church, and helps with worldvision. recently, he donated to a local camp near goderich by supplying over $8000 worth of free steel for new roofs for cabins and out buildings for the camp. he also shipped $6000 worth of roof product to dryden, ontario for a school. his nominator notes that "whether it is in his community or around the world, john is making a difference

in so many people's lives. he is helping people make their communities a better place to live and raise their families. a humble man, john puts his heart and soul into his business, and is paying it forward by helping so many others. he quietly helps people, not for the recognition and fan fare, he just helps his community because it is the right thing to do. he started with nothing except a vision to succeed, and a great work ethic. he has done well in business,

and now he feels it is his turn to give back any way he can." our second nominee is libro credit union. libro is ontario's second largest credit union, and for the past 70 years is committed to improving the quality of life within southwestern ontario serving 21 communities through 27 branches, and a network of over 2400 atms across canada. libro is made up of 95,000 owners and is leading corporate citizenship in southwestern ontario.

community initiatives are supported for the common good. community builder grants and student award programs, along with sponsorships and donations are some of the ways libro credit union is working to make our communities better for work and play. libro encourages local youth through sponsorship of the hma and libro apprenticeship scholarships, which we saw tonight, and libro has been a major sponsor of the hma awards for many, many years. their fifty-to-give makes 50 donations on behalf of new donors to the youth group or charity of their choice.

and... the foundation for education is a great charity, sorry back to this. since spring 2013, over $350,000 has been donated. since 2005, libro has invested in excess of $7 million into its communities. our third nominee, tasty nu bakery and cheese house. tasty nu bakery has been in business since 1929. they make fine quality bakery products, baked on premises, fresh daily including home made pies, squares, tarts, cakes, donuts, cookies, breads, hot dog buns - oh ryan erb and i were just talking about the fact that we've given up bread for the last couple of months

and it is killing us... this is hurting. and kaiser bread. they are well known for their zurich bismarks. for over 5 years tasty nu has partnered with the huron county food bank. donating day-old bread for individuals and families in need. they have a good relationship with their local community, and look forward to expanding their business locations and to future opportunities to support the community. their nominator believes that tasty nu bakery and cheese house will help inspire new entrepreneurs

to make huron home, and welcome other newcomers to huron county. and our fourth nominee, vanastra packaging. vanastra packaging is a customer-oriented commodity handler that specializes in custom packaging for hard to flow, and nuisance products. their main focus is packaging and de-packaging materials that need to be reprocessed and warehoused. the products handled are distributed within the agri- and industrial markets across north america. the three oud brothers, stephen, andrew, and jason, who i had the privilege to sit with last year,

go out of their way to enhance their community by getting involved. helping with community clean up days, vanastra br+e, and the hma, they get involved and encourage others to do the same. they have set the bar for many businesses in vanastra to look for ways to keep a clean industrial space in regards to their properties. they are active participants in encouraging the community to be involved, and are not afraid to get their hands dirty in the clean up efforts. they even supply gloves to community clean up days. their nominator says that vanastra packaging is a business that has truly made our community a better place,

which we call home. they are truly a role model for any business that wants to be involved in its community. and the recipient of the corporate citizenship award is easy building products. john, we hear that you are humble, but would you like to say any words? any word at all? a couple? i don't know if that was the word, or? just going to wait for photos... thank you sarah. i'm humbled at this, and i want to thank the nomination people, and also the hma. most of all, i've got to thank our crew, most of them are here.

as far away as gore bay manitoulin, and the local people that work for us. so, thanks very much, appreciate it, and we've been well blessed. you're going to be on the side of buses, john. that wasn't funny. but i think you sensed the fact that john was very touched by this award, and that is why i love these awards, because people are very, very touched. they work every day to the grind, and they get to be recognized, and that is what i love about tonight. so, let's go to the green leader award.

are you ready, frank? let's do this thing. he was born ready. the green leader award will be awarded to a huron county manufacturer who has demonstrated leadership in development of environmentally sustainable processes, policies, and products. ondrejicka elevators ltd., is a commercial grain elevator located southwest of exeter. they handle corn, soybeans, and wheat. the soybeans are shipped around the world to japan, southeast asia, europe, and the usa.

they are one of the largest elevators in ontario, with 3.5 million bushel capacity. they make every effort to minimize the amount of energy consumed, using leading edge technologies to be efficient. they have the most efficient dryer available for drying crops, and have also designed and built a natural gas powered co-generation system, which provides electricity as well as heat for the drying process. they have 100kw solar photo-voltaic rooftop. we're going to edit this... they have - this is big stuff, because i can't even - they have a 100 watt kilowatt, no.

they have amazing things. they have things. we'll text it to you. 100 kilowatt solar photo-voltaic rooftop panels, which generate electricity. applause i have this one marked. anyways, it's amazing stuff. in the soybean processing plant, light is provided by a combination of natural light and led fixtures, and result in reduced energy consumption. future solar panels will be installed in 2015.

when they dry again, they generate their own electricity with a natural gas power generator, all internal combustion engines are 33% efficient. the other two-thirds of energy is exhausted as heat. the waste heat is captured and utilized to preheat the air entering the dryer. this results in a reduction of 10% in drying cost. less gas burned means a small carbon footprint. the second nominee is switch energy corp. switch energy corp is located near clinton and in the past 4 years have grown from a project initiative into an operating business.

switch energy collects agricultural and horticultural waste plastic film, cleaning it thoroughly and recycling this waste into plastic pellets for resale. the used film is collected for a growing list of over 1200 farms on routes that are optimized to reduce the carbon footprint. previously, farmers who used hay bail wrap would have disposed of the plastic the waste plastic by either burning it or taking it to the land fill sites. working through other associations, such as the ontario dairy association, and municipality waste management divisions, this plastic is not being diverted. switch energy is also working with the biomass producers co-op on long term plans to combine recycled plastic with farm-grown biomass,

such as switch grass to manufacturing biocomposite consumer goods. this crop also have many benefits of sequestering carbon into the soil for decades due to its massive root system. as an immediate benefit, switch energy will be saving two million pounds of used plastic bail wrap, horticultural field and green house film, from arriving at land fill sites each year. and the recipient of the green leader award is... switch enemy... enemy? i've got his disease. switch energy corp.

again, feel free to say some words. you look good compared to me lately. this was a great evening until they told me i had to talk. i'd like to thank the hma for recognition. i'll keep this real short. i'd like to thank mother nature, for creating what i think is one of the world's most environmentally friendly crops and that is switchgrass. i started growing switch grass nine years ago, and i've been farming for 48 years and i've never found a crop yet that is as environmentally friendly and good for the soil and good for the water and good for the air. i'd also like to thank the 1200 plus farmers who supported our recycling program,

where we collect bail wrap, greenhouse film, silo covers, and turn it back into usable products like garbage bags and products that you can plant switch grass with to plant bins and roof shingles, and many other products. so thank you very much. okay next is employer of the year award. employer of the year award will be awarded to a huron county manufacturer who has strived to retain their current employees through innovative ideas and professional development. and the nominees are:

design concrete systems limited. design concrete makes concrete slated floors for dairy and hog barns, and also make bulk silo and pen walls. this business began in 1932 and their growing product line with the addition of sound barriers and retaining walls has allowed them to add 6 permanent full-time positions within the last 2 years for a total of 27 full time employees. they are a csa certified facility with numerous products approved for use by the ministry of transportation of ontario.

being a family owned business, they treat their employees in the same manner, and enable them to have a life aside from work. hard work and dedication is rewarded and internal promotions have always been the first option as opposed to hiring qualified people from the outside. a team atmosphere is very important. employee with creative ideas and innovations are rewarded in a wide variety of ways, examples are trips and nhl hockey tickets and that sort of thing. flexible hours, loans, team sponsorship, et cetera, are some of the ways design concrete has implemented to build the work for design concrete rather than

just work at design concrete. they are actively involved with the cope program with the local high schools, and encourage their staff to complete their secondary education. the policy of a working interview instead of a traditional interview is beneficial for both the employer and the potential employee. since the inception of the working interview, design concrete has experienced a significant drop in turn over rate. our second nominee is hensall district co-op. hensall district co-op is a farmer owned business with 22 locations including warehouses,

feed mills, and elevators. they employ approximately 525 employees in full time, part-time, and seasonal positions. hdc works with youth, taking on co-op students from high skills and internships at the university and college levels. they have implemented many company events such as barbecues, golf tournaments, and christmas dances and gift card programs. they have regular employee meetings with staff, to ensure communication. all jobs are posted internally for five days and if no response, they are then sent externally. through business acquisitions, they have been busy onboarding many new employees

into the hdc family. a new staff position of health and safety and environmental manager has recently been created to focus on providing expertise and guidance to all staff, and a new human resources assistant has also been created. and the recipient of the employer of the year award is... hensall district co-op. actually, it is a real honour to be representing hensall district co-op, as well as libro credit union. it's been a lot of fun. i actually have only been a relatively new employee there, about 8 and a half years ago, and it was my first job, actually.

but, the funny part is that we've got 540 employees that are going to come from the front door there in about 2 minutes, so we wanted to be apart of the family, because we are a part of the family. we have a lot of fun at work, great team all the way through, and that's the only way we've been growing. we'd like to invite you to come in to hensall co-op to have a tour around, because it is an interesting business, and it is a lot of fun to work at. and we've been growing quite steadily, and we plan on keeping on growing. so, again, thanks very much. alright, thank you.

next up is the health and safety award. this award will be awarded to a huron county manufacturer who has achieved excellent results in health and safety, reducing occupational hazards and disease, and/or developing innovative health and safety policy. dupoint pioneer wingham seed plant. this is an agricultural seed production facility. parent canola and soy bean products are grown in local fields. at harvest, seed is trucked to the plant, where it can be cleaned, treated, packaged, shopped, or stored in the warehouse. seed is sent to many locations across canada and the us for further seed multiplication,

or field testing. they have mandatory safety train with 43 safety programs divided amongst employees, encouraging ownership and engagement. they have company-wide sharing of all safety incidents and near-misses to help identify best practices. they have an auditing program to help identify any safety concerns with employee and pre-season safety training. they follow a site safety improvement plan that is reviewed annually. all employees are provided with safety glasses, vests, gloves, and hard hats.

safety talks at daily morning meetings and monthly safety committee meetings are held. they were one of eight canadian locations to receive the dupont board of directors' safety award for 2013. they have developed a driver training obstacle course for employees to participate in yearly. our second nominee is miedema country meats. miedema country meats is located east of exeter and is a family run business with a wide range of fresh and cured meat products. they employ 3 full time staff and two part time staff, with an additional 6 employees at the

stratford farmers market. custom butchering is their specialty. the health and safety of the staff and of the food products are a vital component of their business every day life. protocols are in place for personal hygiene and health training. standards are set for work area cleanliness and clothing, footwear, protective clothing, and personal hygiene. requirements are reviewed monthly and improvements are made. the recipient of the health and safety award is: dupont pioneer. it is a real honour to be recognized for this award.

i'd like to thank hma for a wonderful banquet. really, i'm just accepting this on behalf of our employees, they put the work and effort into creating the programs, administering them, following the policies and procedures. really, it's a testament to all their hard work, and really want to thank them. our 7th award. the exporting award. the exporting award will be awarded to a huron county manufacturer who has achieved exporting success with improved sales figures outside of canada, accessing new markets and/or taking more market share. industrial drive service incorporated.

industrial drive business focuses on automation projects. these projects involve multiple motors which operate a machine for producing a product. this coordination is done using variable speed drives and programmable logic controllers. they are located in hensall, with primary markets in toronto, 705 area code, and the southern united states. the installation of their drive systems for hoists use in mining industries can be found in northern ontario, western united states, and peru. shipping product into the us is not difficult, so they say. the procedure for getting their staff into the us is very difficult. nafta allows them to service what they sell.

for this reason, they limit their service to us customers to those who have purchased the product. a new customer will need to purchase an item for industrial drive services to validate their entry into the us. mexico, they say is no problem to ship into. and staff have no problem getting there, especially when the sun is shining. peruvian customs, they say, is the most challenging to deal with. the product needs to be shipped in wood crates with approved wood that is guaranteed to have no insects and living organisms. custom paperwork must be perfectly completed. any discrepancies require much additional work. great care must be taken. as you can guess, they actively maintain relationships with both export and import custom brokers.

our second nominee is seaforth rain gear successables incorporated. successables manufactures waterproof golf accessories, and their gear is popular internationally. the seaforth rain hood is the number one rain cover on all major professional gold tours worldwide, as well as with elite amateurs and collegiate teams. they attend international trade shows and meet with golf distributors from around the world. they have international barcode systems on all products that have been analyzed for international tariff assessment. they continue to work with shipping companies to maximize ease of cross-border shipping and receiving. they utilize local area carriers to save money and time. drop shipping is always an option for distributors and they use canada post and usps for

website and email orders. third nominee. syfilco. loving that coffee. i'm blaming the coffee. no, it's just me. syfilco limited. syfilco limited industrial knit products is celebrating 35 years in business. they supply tubular knit fabrics, netting, open width netting, and shade fabrics to the north american market. they are expanding existing export markets through working with customers, and have added new custom design machinery to meet the needs of their customers who are steadily looking for ways to offering innovatives ways for improvements.

they have experienced over 160% growth in the export market in the last 5 years. they work steadily with their brokers and customers to coordinate with the trucking firms to expedite products through the border crossing. they have just rewritten their internal software for producing all the customs and shipping documentation and tied this directly to their product database, which results in the streamlining of all raw material to inventory to shipping and customs documentation. they have implemented a procedure to utilize tariff preference levels on all non-nafta products being exported to nafta countries. this is another way they remain competitive in the exporting market.

and the recipient of the exporting award is: industrial drive services. you look like you want to say something, i just know you do. i'd like to say thank you. on behalf of industrial drive services, we would like to thank both our nominator and of course, the hma, and in particular i would like to thank those people who do the service work for us. as we said, we not only manufacture, but we service as well. so, for instance, tonight, we have 2 guys in peru in the andes mountains at a mine

at some kind of incredible footage where they are currently suffering headaches and nausea and for them, that's life. these are huron county people doing what huron county people do, and that's getting 'er done. thank you. that's good stuff, i'm glad we bullied you into talking. that was terrific, thank you. we would not have heard that. okay, next we have the tech teacher award. tech teacher award is selected from among huron county tech teachers. ray greidanus. he is a tech department head, transportation tech teacher at central huron secondary school.

ray's nominator knows that ray has a gift with youth and his co-workers. he is often taking his high school classes out to local manufacturers to show them hands on techniques. he has overhauled the tech shop classes at f.e. madill, g.d.c.i., and is now working on the tech shop at chss. his desire to make positive change and spread opportunity for a career in the trades is evident. he creates an interest to pursue a career in manufacturing through the creative content he has brought back to the tech program. this effort will generate entry level employees for our future and they will be able to read a tape measure with confidence. his classes participate in the industry bus tours puts on by the hma every spring

and the students have an opportunity to visit local manufacturers to see first hand what is going on in the manufacturing sector, which is a lot. ray also participates as a board member on the huron manufacturing association, and has taken on the role of treasurer. our second nominee, martin overholt. husband to the great laura overholt, at healthkick rural healthcare. he is a technology teacher and department head at st. anne's catholic secondary school. he has taught manufacturing in the past, along with transportation and design and is currently a construction teacher.

he helps students realize the value of skilled trades in our communities by exposing them to community projects, such as installing foundation walls for the habitat for humanity, or creating muskoka chairs for fundraising groups. he became a tech teacher because he saw that employees in the trades were growing older, and few younger people were choosing the trades as a career path. therefore he had been encouraging students to consider a career in the trades and he has had his students working on the site for the habitat for humanity building which has given the students a positive experience to work on a real construction site.

he also coaches students to compete in skills canada competitions, this is where you take a team of carpenters and cabinet maker students to compete at the rim centre in waterloo. in 2013, the st. anne's team won bronze medals. students are also encouraged to pursue co-op and ontario youth apprenticeship program. and the recipient of the tech teacher award is: ray greidanus. i'd like to thank the hma. i serve as a director on the board, and i love it.

i recommend it to anybody if you get a chance. i'd like to thank my wife, because she supports me in all my ventures. whether it is going to an hma meeting or doing something with the school, it is important to have that support from home, and i get that. i'd like to thank the employers out there. we are very much about making partnerships with the community and education, and i think it is important to make those partnerships with local industries. so if you have that chance, talk to one of your local schools and see what you can do. thank you ray, and thank you martin, that is very important the work you are doing, and we appreciate that so much. how are you going to tweet that? ray was just telling me he was in the twittersphere now.

do a selfie. we want to see a selfie. no we don't want... hashbrown that. okay, next up we have the outstanding associate member award. this will be awarded to an associate member of the huron manufacturing association who has shown substantial involvement with the hma and has assisted in promoting the goals of the hma for a strong manufacturing sector in huron county. four county labour market planing board. four county is a non-profit organization operating out of walkerton, and serves the four county area of huron, bruce, grey, and perth counties.

they have produced several labour market driven documents that highlight what is happening in the local economy. their staff of five are involved in initiatives that address priority issues affecting the workforce and the economy. they take on leadership roles where appropriate and that support their mission of planning and promoting labour market strategies to meet the challenges of our changing times. they have supported the hma through the workforce radio program, and interviewed hma chair frank palen, which must have been a treat, and director stephen oud about the challenges of the industries in huron county, as well as the needs of the workplace. podcasts are available on their website. they engage with the hma members in the skills gap study released in 2014,

and are focusing on creating workable solutions to address the gaps and challenges to the economy. our second nominee is the municipality of huron east village of vanastra revival project. the village of vanastra is a former canadian forces base and located in huron east. it was in operation from 1941 to 1971 and has now become a community to over 600 residents and approximately 30 manufacturing, retail, and service businesses. since the closing in 1971, and the properties being slowly sold, many of the old structures were falling into disrepair. following a successful business and retention expansion initiative in 2013, a revitalization committee was formed by the community to encourage a positive change of spirit amongst the community leaders, building owners, and existing entrepreneurs.

the vanastra revival team is bringing a new awareness to the village of vanastra and its manufacturing sector through community newsletters, social media, visual displays, and networking events. an increase in economic development and property values is inherent in renewing pride of place in this community. the committee is working on implementing many key recommendations, including rebranding vanastra as a good place to work and live. many of the local businesses contribute the time to support the hma board. they have profiled many long term manufacturing businesses within the community, including d&d glass, which is 37 years old, oesch woodworking, which is 38 years old, and cap products, 28 years old. the local business also participates in the hma high school industry tours to show students local employment opportunities.

they have also involved the university of guelph students to encourage future business and manufacturing growth within vanastra. the team is working hard to put vanastra on the map, honouring the past shaping the future. the recipient of the outstanding associate member award is: the municipality of huron east. i would like to thank the hma for giving us the recognition. i would also like to thank jan for the hard work that she has put in. it was true, this committee, that vanastra was finally being a part of huron east. we have always been in the background, but through the work the last two years,

we have finally started to build up our community. we now have a new name, which is the village of vanastra, but is has also imposed pride and recognition in our community. the residents there now take a lot of pride in it. our industries are growing, and they are growing faster and faster. but we would never be able to do it without the support of this committee, and it is great to say we live and belong in vanastra. thank you. now we come to the second last. and i get to do this one, they gave it to me.

the manufacturer of the year. this award is selected from all the 2014 nominees. this year the recipient of this award is blyth farm cheese. at blyth farm cheese, they take pride in producing high quality cheese. for generations, the van dorps have worked in agriculture. in 2000, paul, helene, and their family moved to canada and started a successful sheep operation. in 2008, development of the cheese plant was started. paul became a certified milk grader and a certified milk receiver, and in 2011 received the permits from omafra to operate the cheese plant.

since that time, they have increased production and flavour variety. blyth farm cheese is a small, on-farm family business close to lake huron, southeast of blyth. they believe in the goodness of their cheese, made in small batches, handcrafted with passion, bringing out rich flavours. they do not use colouring or any other additive. their cheese is made from 100% goats milk, fresh from the farm. their cheese can be found at participating stores and restaurants or by visiting their farm. the main cheese is gouda. in 2013 at the royal agricultural winter fair, the blyth garlic cheese won second place in the flavoured cheese division.

the blyth jalapeno won first place in the flavoured cheese division, and the blyth cumin won third place in the flavoured cheese division. on march 12, 2014, blyth farm cheese won the award "best gouda cheese" in canada for their golden blyth. let's hear from paul, let's give it up. i would like to add one more thing. last friday, november 7th, we won the first prize for our smoked cheese at the canadian royal winter fair in toronto. beside of that, i would like to thank the hma very much for this award. it was - we didn't know about it. it is a huge surprise, and i thank you very much, all of you. i love surprises. i'm not sure whether paul does. and this is where i bid adieu because this is where frank palen really takes over.

i know he's been trying to take over. he is going to do the chairman's award. thanks wes. first of all, you know, it has been my pleasure for four years or so, to be allowed the pleasure of picking one person that we feel have done a lot for their community, their county, and just general all-around people that know what they are doing. so this year, i got to choose one. another one, and it is great. because it is my pleasure to present this year's chairman's award for leadership to a very disturbing - jeepers. well, when i say his name you'll know he is very disturbing. to a very deserving person. actually, a pair of them.

one who is in the forefront and the main one, who was there supporting him all the way, all the time. these people have been strong supporters of the hma since its inception. he has been a member of the hma board until time restraints forced him to back out and concentrate on his business. even with all these time restraints, they were still involved in their community. they have also been strong supporters of the apprenticeship program, hiring many of them over the year. in fact, one of them, one of their apprentices, jeremy creden has been at r&r machine for over 16 years. another apprentice, mr. brent mckague actually bought the business at the beginning of 2014, and allowed these two people to retire. that is succession planning, let me tell you. let me give you a little history about these people.

ron and ruth schefter. i made it a certain point that they did not know about this, and i hope that they are surprised and nobody spilled the beans. they are farm people, especially ron. way back before the days of r&r, ron grew his crops and raised his pigs. in his spare time, he drove truck for wescast while back then it was called western foundry. he then started doing repairs on the trailers for wescast in the shop on his farm. he then added welding and eventually evolved the business into machinery. i think the start of r&r was around 1984 and then r&r machine and tool was born in the last 90s or early 2000s. this company now offers a full line of design and manufacturing assembly repair and prototyping services.

just check out their website and see what they can do. it is www.rrmachinetool.com they offer many services and their experience includes work in many industries, including food, healthcare, laboratory, agricultural, and manufacturing. they are also dedicated to recycling all the products that they produce. therefore generating little or no waste. over the years, they have been a strong supporter of their local community. they have provided donations and support to many programs and clubs... minor hockey, minor baseball, ms and cancer societies are a few of the areas they have supported. they have also been involved in their business community by providing apprenticeship programs, providing high school co-op program for over 20 years, and high school tech tours.

you can always see them at various meetings, including things like br+e in morris turnberry and i told ron the other night, i bet you didn't know i was keeping track of them. their achievements over the years include winning awards such as junior employer of the year, employer of the year, corporate citizen, junior manufacturer of the year, youth integration, and training awards. and also, the wingham chamber of commerce gave them the industry of the year award. they have two children, melissa who farms with her husband in the brussels area, and jeremy who works in cochran and works in the computer software area. they have also been blessed, and i thought it was 2 but apparently it is 3 grandchildren. so, for anybody that really knows ron, you know he is kind of picky.

and he is pretty fussy. he has 30 year old tractors that he still uses, but he told me that he has tractors over 60 years old and they still run like the top. so, tonight, we would like to honour ron and ruth schefter, retired, for the chairman's award for leadership, and thank them for their many years of service to huron county community. thank you ron and ruth. can you please come up to the front. what an honour. i think the biggest thing is not retirement, it is just another curve in the life. we are not going to be retiring, we'll be doing other things in the shop

since everybody has moved out this week, handed back the keys. and just enjoy life in a different way. life definitely does have a lot of turns into it. thank you very much. much appreciated. i'm out of text, i don't have anything to say. where's carol? there's carol. this is who we really want to see. not frank, not wes, carol leeming. motorcycle mama, carol leeming is up here, and she is going to do some door prizes. awesome. great job wes, i like the ad-libbing, you did not follow my script word for word.

but that is okay. we have a couple of door prizes to give away. one of which is offered is - and shane taylor is bringing up a box of anyone who put a business card in it to win their backpack of items related to the co-op and oyap programming. we will have someone draw the winner out of that. our mp ben lobb can make the selection. and the winner is sarah caldwell. congratulations sarah. we also have a door prize from rpm. and sorry, i didn't do a draw for this item, so i'm going to do it a bit different,

because i didn't think everyone was going to be able to visit the booth before dinner. so before you leave, you file by this aisle, and you visit all the booths before you leave. out of curiosity, any one in the room who does not own a cell phone? this might be, if you win it, you might want to regift it. i'm giving away a wireless bluetooth speaker with some awesome sound on it. so since i didn't do a draw ticket, i went onto a random website generator thing, and by a show of hands, who was born in april? anybody born on april 14th? who is close to the 14th?

14th? 19th? 12th? two 12ths? what time of day were you born? who said the 12th? who is the other one? okay, it wasnt supposed to be this hard. she picked a number between one and ten. three. four. have you ever seen the price is right where they bid one dollar? the number was 8, congratulations.

our final, to top it off, i guess you are a maple leafs fan ron, so good game last night. final item we have is a gift certificate kindly donated by chris lee, regarding the edge of walton challenge course. it will entitle the holder to a full day of activities for up to 25 participants at the edge of walton challenge course. you can book that, so for those who are not aware what that is, it is an awesome way for your team of employees or the folks at your business to develop leadership skills. and the edge of walton challenge course and outdoor education facility offers school groups as well as youth and corporate executives an opportunity to experience adventure programs to learn, enhance, and teach leadership skills, teamwork, and communication, critical thinking, and much more. so, it is not your typical day in school, it is a birthday party of get out of the office.

and the way we were going to distribute this is who had a birthday today? who had a birthday yesterday or tomorrow? who has the closest birthday to today? who has a birthday in november? today is the 13th, who had a birthday within one day? two days? three days of today? alright, okay. pick a number from 1 to 10. heather, what number do you have?

it was 5. okay, try again. between one and ten again. so, in closing, we have a few remarks to finalize things off. i would like to say a special thank you to a few folks. one of which is our infamous mc wes. i would also like to thank gemma for her talk tonight on the skills gap study, again, i think that is a very important topic that we should all be thinking about in our businesses and in what we do, how we can meet those skills that she talked about in order to close that gap. i'd like to thank sarah hoi for our entertainment that we had earlier this evening from her musical talents. i had a chance to talk to her before she left tonight. she did grow up in the wingham area.

she is in stratford pursuing a career in music, and hopes to apply to college or university next year and pursue that career. so we hope to welcome her back to huron county at some point to continue with that career in the near future. sarah caldwell, photography, thank you again for capturing our moments tonight. we look forward to seeing those on your website. huron ridge acres for providing the colour and the flowers at the door and at the stage today. and also the municipality of bluewater for hosting us so graciously tonight. we thank you for that as well. i hope you all did enjoy the coffee blended in front of you this evening. take that home, try it out. it is a unique blend,

you may not ever - it is once in a lifetime blend for hma 2014 excellence awards blend. so i do hope you get a chance to enjoy that, as well as the different taste that ben and crew offered us this evening. those were most of my remarks, and if there are any others. that just about wraps up this evening. again, i want to thank everyone that came. i want to thank not only the winners, but those who were nominated. and remember that next year on our 10th, we need everybody, if you know of somebody that is deserving, get their name in, and don't be ashamed even if it is yourself, if you are proud of your company or your employees, let us know about them. also, there will be recent editions of the hma directory. you can get one on your way out that shows all the people in all businesses and associate businesses in huron county

that we know of. if there is somebody that you know of that is not in there, please let us know. we will make sure they are in the next one. our sponsors, i don't know what to say. libro has been a sponsor of ours for a number of years, and to be honest, without them, this would not be the event that it is. we've got a lot of our municipalities as silver sponsors, the county of huron, a great supporter of the hma. the municipality of bluewater, huron business developement corporation (hbdc), municipality of huron east, and the huron small business enterprise centre, all valued partners with hma. and our bronze sponsors, again, municipality of central huron, town of goderich, and the municipality of huron east.

and municipality of morris-turnberry. anyways, that is it. enjoy your coffee. thank you for coming, and thank you for making it to this evening, for everyone that came.

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