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Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls the latest attempt by the United States to implement Buy American restrictions a “regrettable development” that will weigh down economic growth in North America. A new job-creation package from President Barack Obama would resurrect protectionist measures that would require work on public infrastructure to be done with U.S.-made materials. Harper said he likes the president's broader plan, but not the Buy American element. “We're obviously very concerned that once again they're looking at stimulus spending that has protectionist elements,” Harper said last week at a news conference in Saskatoon. “And, as the minister of trade…

PTM Industries has announced it is now the Canadian sales representative for Rossi Gearmotors. Based in Suwannee, Ga., Rossi offers a complete line of gearmotors, gear reducers and motion control products to distributors and original equipment manufacturers across North America. Regarding this new partnership, PTM president Dan Cotton said, “Rossi is recognized in Canada and around the world as a superior brand. PTM is proud that Rossi has chosen us as their national sales and marketing partner.” Rossi president George Rizza stated, “PTM has a long and successful history of being Canada’s premier sales agency. This is a perfect fit…

Most businesses typically put their energy, resources and investment into things like product design, sales and marketing, production efficiency, process control, IT and supply-chain management. With so many important priorities vying for attention, managing a company’s MRO supply chain has typically been neglected. Capital equipment downtime costs huge dollar losses per day, especially in asset-intensive industries like mining and oil & gas companies. One of the challenges this sector faces is the complexity and diverse configurations of the equipment. Often, the technical information needed to complete a repair of equipment (especially unscheduled services) is spread across multiple manuals and databases,…

Acklands-Grainger Inc., Canada's largest distributor of industrial, safety and fastener supplies, has acquired the assets of Baie-Comeau industrial distributor Fercomat Inc., effective Sept. 191. Acklands-Grainger expects an incremental sales contribution of approximately $3 million from this acquisition over the next 12 months. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. "Fercomat has a strong track record of service and by working together, we will leverage our combined expertise to offer local customers — such as mining, hydroelectricity and aluminum industries — access to the broad array of products and services they need to help keep their facilities running and their employees…

After a few years in the doldrums, the Canadian economy is in the initial stages of a wide scale recovery and heightened optimism is returning to the industrial and natural resources sectors. The demand for skilled workers has returned with a vengeance and competition to fill those skills gaps is accelerating. Talent management has never been more important.   As we move out of the early recovery into a much more dynamic workplace, we will return to a marketplace driven by employees. The resurgence in the industrial and natural resources sector is here as demand for products, led by the…

PEM is providing maintenance and facility managers the opportunity to tell their success stories. Don't be intimidated: we accept applications from facilities large and small! So get started! Please tell us a little about your maintenance team by completing our online submission form: Fill out the online form Now is your chance to step into the industry spotlight. As a winner, your team gets a plaque and is featured on the cover of the February 2012 issue of PEM. Now is your chance to step into the industry spotlight. The PEM Maintenance Awards were first introduced in 1999 and through…