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Virtualware: 3D Tech Across the Manufacturing Value Chain
Episode 5 • 28th February 2025 • Making it in Ontario • Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing
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Hannover Messe is a month away, and we’re counting down with a special series featuring Ontario manufacturers and technology companies that will be showcasing at the world's largest industrial technology trade fair.

We kick off the series with Michael Rosas, VP General Manager of Virtualware. The conversation explores the challenges of 3D technology adoption, and how Virtualware is reducing friction to help manufacturers use extended reality across their value chain, from design to remote training to sales. He also tells us about their brand new Battery Boost workforce initiative with Invest Windsor-Essex that will train workers for NextStar Energy’s battery plant before it’s built, and gives us a peek at what Virtualware will be showcasing at Hannover Messe.

  • 00:17 Introducing New Series and Canada’s Presence at Hannover Messe 2025
  • 04:21 Michael Rosas' Journey to Virtualware via Entertainment Industry
  • 13:01 Virtualware's Immersive 3D Technology and Adoption Challenges
  • 20:55 Manufacturing Use Case: Simumatik
  • 26:13 Battery Boost Workforce Development Initiative
  • 29:37 Virtualware at Hannover Messe
  • 35:42 Closing Remarks (feat. Justin Bieber) and Invitation to Connect

Find Out More About Virtualware and Michael Rosas

  • Virtualware website: virtualwareco.com
  • VIROO website: virtualwareco.com/viroo
  • Simumatik website: simumatik.com
  • VIROO Room at McMaster Video: youtube.com/watch?v=GZU71mCSSRg
  • VIROO App Simumatik: Virtual Commissioning Emulation Video youtube.com/watch?v=onOX39VpTH0
  • Invest Windsor Essex - Battery Boost workforce VR training program for NextStar Energy: investwindsoressex.com/windsor-essex-ontario-workers-to-receive-high-demand-advanced-simulation-skills-training-for-immediate-placement-in-ev-supply-chain
  • Contact Michael Rosas on LinkedIn to meet at Hannover Messe or at McMaster Innovation Park: linkedin.com/in/michael-rosas-1726a61a3

Find Out More About Trillium

About the Making it in Ontario Podcast

Making it in Ontario is your window into what's next in manufacturing. Ontario’s economy depends on manufacturing, but the latest research reveals concerning trends that could undermine the sector’s strength—if we don’t address them. Join us as we talk to CEOs and other leaders at the forefront of the sector about productivity, strategy, talent markets and career opportunities, and the role of manufacturing in a prosperous and sustainable future.

This podcast is an initiative of the Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing. It is produced by Storied Places Media.

Transcripts

Michelle Samson:

Welcome to Making it in Ontario, your window into what's next in

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Ontario's manufacturing sector from the

data driven researchers at the Trillium

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Network for Advanced Manufacturing.

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I'm Michelle Samson.

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Brendan Sweeney: And I'm Brendan Sweeney.

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Michelle Samson: Okay, Brendan.

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So we are starting a, uh, very special

new series for Making it in Ontario.

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Brendan Sweeney: Absolutely.

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March 2025 marks the start of Hannover

Messe And Canada is the host country.

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NGen, an important Trillium network

partner and Jay Meyers, their CEO

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has been on the podcast before,

will be leading the delegation,

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we are part of that delegation.

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And to get prepped, to get excited for

Hannover Messe, we are going to feature

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a number of companies based in Ontario

that are exhibiting at Hannover Messe.

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Michelle Samson: Yeah.

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And first up we have a very cool

company that is doing some very

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interesting things with 3D and with,

uh, playing on reality you might say.

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Brendan Sweeney: Mm-hmm.

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I think, uh, it could be

called virtual reality.

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I think the term extended reality is

often used by this company and others.

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And yeah, Michael Rosas is

joining us of Virtualware and

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their Simumatik technology.

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And yeah, really great conversation

and went to some places like Hannover,

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but some other places that we didn't

really expect and really exciting stuff.

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Michelle Samson: Yeah.

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And uh, you had an opportunity

to actually immerse yourself

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in their technology, right?

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Brendan Sweeney: Yeah, me and, uh, a

good friend and colleague, John Laughlin,

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also of NGen were in there a couple weeks

ago and we immersed ourselves in that

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technology and it was pretty immersive.

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When you're, you've got their goggles

on, you are either on the factory

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floor, you are in an aircraft hanger,

you're at the top of a windmill.

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It was really fascinating how quickly

your mind adapts to it and, and concludes

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that that is actually the reality.

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So, I'm glad that Michael kinda really

pushed us to come in and check it out.

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And it, uh, it was awesome.

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And if that's what we're gonna see at

Hannover, people are gonna be impressed.

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Michelle Samson: Not to, uh, get

too far ahead of ourselves, but what

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is really unique with, Virtualware,

what no one else is doing is that

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you're not just alone in this, you

know, immersive, extended reality.

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You can actually be in there with

like five of your colleagues.

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Brendan Sweeney: When you're part of this

little ecosystem that we've got here.

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NGen, Virtualware, Trillium Network.

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You're never alone.

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Michelle Samson: Well, the technology

is fascinating, but our guest, Michael

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Rosas, is also quite fascinating.

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Brendan Sweeney: Yeah.

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And we had a really interesting

conversation that I, I think we're

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going to keep pushing forward,

uh, about his career in film and

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television before Virtualware.

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in An industry that you know, some

20 years ago, largely went from

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not digital to completely digital.

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And so I think there's some really

good lessons that we will tease out

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over time about how an industry

goes digital and that manufacturers

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might want to listen up to.

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Michelle Samson: And, you know, we,

had to ask since he spent some time

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in the entertainment industry, if

he came across anybody famous in

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his work and, he's got a big one.

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Brendan Sweeney: Yeah.

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Stratford's finest, Justin Bieber.

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We did not expect that this episode

of this podcast, Making it in Ontario

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would feature Justin Bieber and we

know that NGen is gonna have like

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this big musical guest at one of their

receptions at Hannover Messe, and,

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you know, in the spirit is starting

unfounded, completely unfounded rumors.

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I wonder if it's Justin Bieber.

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I mean, I'm going, it could be

Scorpions who are from Hannover.

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It could be Justin Bieber.

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But I mean, until somebody confirms

or denies, uh, I'm gonna, I'm

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gonna keep these rumors going.

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Michelle Samson: Well stay tuned

and, maybe we can, uh, circle

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back on that on the podcast.

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Brendan Sweeney: Absolutely.

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We are one month, one week, and two

days away from the start of Hannover

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Messe and the start of Canada's

hosting Hannover Messe, led by NGen,

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full of exciting, innovative Canadian

technology and manufacturing companies.

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And with us today, my friend, could

you please introduce yourself.

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Let us know who we're talking to and

what we're going to hear about today.

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Michael Rosas: Well, first of

all, thank you for having me.

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This is a pleasure to be here.

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My name is Michael Rosas.

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I'm a VP General Manager of VirtualWare.

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Essentially, we're a 3D technology

company for the enterprise.

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I run the Canadian side of the business.

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So I'm in charge of everything from

partnerships, business development,

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as well as working with our end

clients and managing the team here.

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So yeah, so in regards to, let's just say,

that role with Virtualware essentially

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what I do is I help companies adopt and

scale 3D real time technology in the

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enterprise to solve real world problems.

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Okay, so one of the reasons why

we're even talking is because of

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that, particularly, let's just

say, in the manufacturing industry.

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However, we do work in different

verticals as well, too.

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So manufacturing being one of

the strong ones, but we also

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work in the energy sector.

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We also work in in defense.

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We also work in health care.

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We also do a lot of stuff with

universities and colleges because we see

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a great opportunity there for the scaling

of a future workforce that's going to be

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working in let's just say a industry 5.0.

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You know, the future of

how our industry is moving.

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And so we're a critical part of,

of the, at least the software side

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of being able to deliver that to

education institutions as well too.

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So, let's just say a wide gamut of things.

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But in particular today we'll be

talking about what we're doing

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in manufacturing, 'cause we got a

lot of exciting things going on.

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Brendan Sweeney: Great.

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So tell us a bit about yourself, Michael.

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One day you were doing this with

VirtualWare, but there was, you know,

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a day before that where you weren't

and probably a while before that.

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What's your story?

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How did you come from

somewhere to VirtualWare?

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Michael Rosas: Yeah, yeah.

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I didn't just appear

out of nowhere, right?

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I usually call it my previous life.

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For many years, I was based out of

Toronto working in the entertainment

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industry, film and television.

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I helped build the company along

with the owners who still are best

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friends of mine, I'd like to say.

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When I finished there, I was

executive producing and creative

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director of the company.

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One of the things there and I literally

started just from kind of one of

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those scenarios where, you start off

as an entry position kind of thing.

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So it was a really, it was a really

great opportunity for me to showcase

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my passion for new technology.

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And I think that that

was a key differentiator.

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My approach was always, What is the

latest technology that's out there?

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How can we start to adopt it?

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And then, and then not just

because it's cool, but what

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is the return on investment?

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how is this actually going to

benefit the company, cut down

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times in regards to processes?

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A lot of things that is necessary in order

to be competitive, back then, the market

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back then, but also today's market too.

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I'm old enough to be able to

say that there was a time when

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everything was done in film, right?

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And then there was that digitization

that happened, in the early:

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where really things started to change.

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And that was a huge, kind of like in

any of these kind of scenarios, where

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if you adopt it early, you were going

to be sort of first mover advantage,

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and you would be able to reap the

benefits from it, because you were

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offering something that no one else was.

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And and then eventually everybody sort of

catches up, but you're already positioned.

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So, I'm not gonna say I'm the

only person who did this, but

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I was part of that movement.

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That was my thing.

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And basically what happened was

the company they decided to sell.

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To exit, which is something that

I knew was sort of happening and

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they sold to a Hollywood studio

and I was just like, you know what?

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I'm best friends with the owners.

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I don't know these people.

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You know what I mean?

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And I kind of like, I kind of

did what I wanted to do there.

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I executive produced shows.

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I was a creative director.

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There was a lot of things that I led there

that I was really proud of, and I really

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felt that it was necessary for me to do

something new, do something different.

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And at that time was when the Oculus

headset came out, which is the virtual

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reality headset that now is the most

popular headset that exists out there.

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And what it did is it shone a light

on this type of technology, and I

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really felt, even though it was still

very early stages of it, I really

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felt some gravitation towards it.

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I felt that this was something

that was really going to change

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the way that we, and at the time,

for me, it was storytelling, right?

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And so, I really gravitated towards

it, and I started experimenting

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again, adopting the technology,

looking if this is something that

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could be another business model.

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It was still early stages,

so it was quite difficult.

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I was successful in doing more on

sort of like the branded side, like

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we did some stuff for Lincoln and

different experiences where you

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could like go inside the car and

experience being inside the car first.

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And this is, you know, nowadays it seems

a little bit more, hey, we could do that,

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but back then this was a new thing, right?

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So, that kind of happened.

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And then when the company sold, I

was just like, you know, it's good.

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I'm good.

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I don't necessarily need to find

a job right away kind of thing.

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Like, maybe what I'm going to do now

is just going to work a little bit

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more on the consulting side, work on

the things that I'm truly passionate

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about and start helping other people

in regards to adopting this technology.

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And so that's where things started to

shift, and of course, like anything,

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it's always difficult in the beginning.

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You're like, why did I do this?

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I had a nice, you know?

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I rose the ladder.

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I was at the top of my game.

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But I've always challenged myself

that way, where, nothing good

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ever comes in the beginning.

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It's, at least that's my experience.

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I'm not going to say that's for everybody.

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So yes, so there was you know,

there was the challenges and more

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so it's on the adoption and a

lot of just misunderstanding of

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people with the technology and

it's not anybody else's fault.

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You don't know what you don't know,

but to me it was just definitely one of

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those things where I realized I needed

to be sort of, an evangelist about it.

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You know what I mean?

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Like I had to really study it.

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So, it's really important for us to

be out there and speaking about it

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and really sort of being in regards to

thought leadership to be able to help

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people start to really give it a shot and

understand sort of where that's going.

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And so that's what happened.

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I was actually called to go to, I was

invited, sorry, excuse me, to go to

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Mexico to do a speaking engagement.

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It was through the government of

Mexico and they were looking at

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sort of an exchange between Canada and

Mexico and some of the technology of

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what's happening there and things that

we can sort of exchange and learn.

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And so I did a speaking

engagement in Mexico City.

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And the person who invited me his

name is Joss Monson, amazing person.

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He says, yeah, I really think you

should come in and speak at this.

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But what happened there was sort of we

started a relationship, and he ended

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up actually working at VirtualWare.

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He met them before I did.

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And that's when these projects

sort of happened, things happened.

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And then he said, Hey, look, the CEO of

Virtualware is coming to town because

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the Virtualware is actually a Spanish

company who's invested to come in here.

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They've seen what exists here in Canada.

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And I think it's really

working out for us.

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But at the time he was just like, I

really want to open up business in Canada.

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I think there's a tremendous opportunity.

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We have technology that you guys

don't have right now, or at least

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we don't see anybody who has this.

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And uh, can you come and help you know,

in regards to opening up opportunities

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business development, that kind

of thing, consulting on that side.

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And so I said, yeah, that's great.

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This is, this is what I've been doing.

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And that, that's where

that relationship started.

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And really what ended up

happening was it was actually

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the beginning of the pandemic.

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Literally, I got off a plane from

Spain from signing the contract,

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and the whole country was shut down.

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So things changed.

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We definitely had a very big sort

of like outlook of like, okay,

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we're going to do all these things.

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And then I was locked down.

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So it did take a little bit of time,

again, it took a little bit of time,

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but right away was a part of the APMA

and started to talk with the people

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there, like, back in the day the CTO

was Colin Dillon so amazing person

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till still to this day, we keep in

touch and, and we talk about these

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things, but he was a early proponent of

this technology too, and how it could

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really help the automotive industry.

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And so, that brought me to this point,

and there was that introduction that was

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made with you, Brendan because of that,

and especially because of we ended up

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partnering up with McMaster University,

and NGen being there, and all that

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kind of stuff like that, it allowed

us to be a part of similar circles.

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Brendan Sweeney: That's great.

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I think I will, maybe if we have

time at the end, ask about some

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of the productions you worked on

and celebrities you worked with.

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Michael Rosas: Okay.

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Brendan Sweeney: But for now, you know,

John Laughlin and I had a chance to

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see your technology and experience your

technology live, and it's pretty wild.

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It's pretty immersive.

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And it was just amazing how I

mean, really, you know, your,

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your mind, your eyes, your senses

get fully immersed very quickly.

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I'm just going to gush over it.

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Why don't you tell us a bit about

what it is, what it does, and

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why you think I like it so much.

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Michael Rosas: Well, thank you.

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I mean, it's always great.

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I, I truly do believe that experiencing

is believing it kind of thing, right?

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I'm going to do my best to

because this is, I will be honest,

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this is one of the challenges.

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I will describe it you know, but until you

get into it, that's like what, what, what

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happened with Brendan, that's when like

that [mind blown noise] moment happens

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and you go, oh, wow, this is, this can

be applied to so many different things.

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But I'll take it a step

back and I'll simplify it.

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So, essentially, what we saw in the

marketplace was there's a huge challenge

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in regards to adoption of this technology.

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So we're already convinced that this

is something that is going to be

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extremely useful for industry, like I

said, across many different verticals.

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But the challenge with anything like

this, a technology like this, is adoption.

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There's adoption and then obviously

eventually getting to the point where,

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you know, people are using it and then,

saturation or just like that aspect of it.

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We're not even close to that yet.

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One of the things has been, there's

been a lot of friction points that

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we've identified and even us as

a company, that's what we saw.

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We said, the challenge here is that the

technology people like it, it's great in

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what it does, but really what's happening

is it's just kind of point solutions.

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And for industry, it needs to

be something that's scalable.

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It needs to be something

that's collaborative.

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It needs to be something that is remote

ready, right, especially in today's age.

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And that's where, that's where a lot of

these experiences that were, you know,

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leading up to sort of the technology.

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And I'm not saying we're the only ones

who have things, so you obviously have

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different sort of key differentiators

from other competitors, but.

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But definitely a lot of

it is non collaborative.

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It's just one person and an

experience, so It's not multi user.

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So you're not collaborating.

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And then also there's no

remote connection, you can't

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connect with anybody else.

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So there's a lot of investment happening

in sort of one piece of content.

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And I'm not saying everything's like

that, but let's just say the majority.

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So, what we said is, look, we

need to solve this problem just

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for even for our clients, even

for the clients that we serve.

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We need to solve this problem.

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And what we realized is that when we

were solving this, we created a platform,

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but it was something that actually can

help not just our clients, but other

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companies who are trying to adopt this

technology, other studios, for them to

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use it as a platform to build on top of.

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And so what we did was we said,

let's, let's build an infrastructure.

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And so that's basically what it is.

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What we have is an XR enterprise

platform, which allows you

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to create content, manage

that content, and deploy it.

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I'm now going to go into each one

of them so that it's fairly clear.

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Okay?

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First thing.

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Content creation.

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One of the biggest challenges,

usually you have to go to an

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external studio to do that.

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There's nothing wrong with it.

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And sometimes you just need

that advanced sort of developer.

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You need a third party, a vendor,

someone to help you with that.

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But that doesn't help with the adoption of

this technology, in companies especially.

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So what we did is we created tools.

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Local tools that exist within the

standard gaming engine, which is called

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Unity, which allows for people who

don't necessarily have developer skills

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to be able to start create content.

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Now, the way that I best way to explain

this is imagine you're an engineer.

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Right?

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And you want to be able to use

this technology as a computational

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tool, but you're not interested in

becoming a programming developer.

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This allows you to bring in, let's

just say your CAD files of something

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that you've designed and create some

simple interactions and then now

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be able to upload it to the cloud.

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And then on the next side, which is the

management, you can create a session and

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then now invite people to come and join

you within that virtual environment to

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be able to see it on a one-to-one scale.

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So just like Microsoft

Teams or like a Zoom.

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It's that simple.

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You create a session and now you

can actually have different people

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connecting from anywhere in the world.

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But now there's the choice

of being able to be in a full

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virtual reality environment.

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Now, that goes into the deployment side.

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One of the challenges

is the friction points.

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So, in this particular case, you

can come in on a laptop computer,

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or a PC computer from home, and

you can just see the screen.

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You're not necessarily in, like, that full

immersive, but you can come in that way.

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So, you don't necessarily need the

headsets to participate in these sessions.

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But if you do have a headset, let's just

say a MetaQuest, HTC Vive, or something,

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you can, you can use that as well too.

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:

And you can do that from

the comfort of your home.

340

:

Now, Brendan, what you experienced,

that deployment method, that one

341

:

is, again, a key differentiator of

our platform, where you can deploy

342

:

in a large scale immersive room.

343

:

And this is what we have at

McMaster Innovation Park, where

344

:

the NGen headquarters are.

345

:

And what that does is it allows for six

people in the same physical environment

346

:

to be able to go into headset and

work collaboratively on a one to one

347

:

scale in virtual reality simulations.

348

:

Now, what this does is it takes away

the friction of all of this because

349

:

we figured out all the infrastructure

and now what we're doing is we're

350

:

allowing companies to be able to use

their own files, create their own IP.

351

:

Collaborate with multiple team

members, have people coming in remote

352

:

to those sessions as well, too.

353

:

Even though we're physically together

in that same space, we could have

354

:

someone coming in from from Germany.

355

:

Let's just talk about Hannover.

356

:

Let's just say so, you know, a

German partner coming in, right?

357

:

They could be coming into our sessions,

seeing everything from a one to one scale.

358

:

Now, why is that useful?

359

:

Well, one of the biggest challenges

that we heard from, especially from the

360

:

pandemic, is that when everybody was in

lockdown, it was extremely difficult for

361

:

engineers and also anybody trying to train

on any kind of process that is, let's

362

:

just say that this is somewhat physical

or somewhat needs to be in an environment.

363

:

Because a Teams call just really

wasn't an, it's a screen, you want to

364

:

be able to see something, you want to

be able to walk around and understand

365

:

the scale of it, poke your head and do

all these kinds of things like that.

366

:

So, this is that.

367

:

Essentially it's the answer to that.

368

:

You now have that ability to do that.

369

:

And so what teams are seeing is that

it's bringing down costs again, right?

370

:

This is what I talked about earlier.

371

:

So there's like a little bit of a

theme here because what are they doing?

372

:

People don't need to travel as much.

373

:

Right?

374

:

Because they could just get on these

into these sessions and do the work

375

:

that's necessary, which wouldn't be

able to be done on a regular screen

376

:

without having to travel, right?

377

:

So then, what does that help?

378

:

It helps to get key

stakeholder buy in, right?

379

:

The ability to be also

in that iterative phase.

380

:

This is sort of what I was talking

about earlier, too, and being

381

:

able to create your own content.

382

:

You're not waiting for an external vendor

to deliver on a piece of content to you.

383

:

You have teams that have the

tools to be able to do it.

384

:

So you could be just iterating as you

go along, and you could be getting

385

:

stakeholder buy in and saying, Hey,

look, this is where we're at with this.

386

:

Can you please review it?

387

:

We'll review it together

in a virtual environment.

388

:

And give me your comments, and then, you

know, you could say, let's make changes

389

:

here, all that kind of stuff like that.

390

:

So now you're also freeing up that

time of management, of anybody who

391

:

actually needs to sign off on these

things to be able to not have to travel,

392

:

to not have to do all these things.

393

:

And, you know, remember, John was telling

us about his previous life where he

394

:

was traveling every single day and that

this would be so helpful for him, right?

395

:

Michelle Samson: Michael, can

you illustrate this even further

396

:

with maybe like a use case?

397

:

Michael Rosas: Yeah.

398

:

Michelle Samson: I'd love to get a sense

of like, you know, what a company is

399

:

doing with those six people in that room.

400

:

What are those six people doing?

401

:

What are they seeing.

402

:

Yeah, I'd love to hear

something like that.

403

:

Michael Rosas: Absolutely.

404

:

Okay.

405

:

So then maybe this is actually

also a good segue into Simumatik

406

:

, because this is what we're going

to be featuring at Hannover.

407

:

But this is particular to, let's

just say, the manufacturing industry.

408

:

So what we have is we recently

acquired a company they're based in

409

:

Sweden, clients all over the world,

uh, which is a digital twin virtual

410

:

commissioning automation platform.

411

:

Okay.

412

:

What it allows is for engineers to be able

to build any kind of automation system.

413

:

They don't need to do this in

virtual reality, just to be clear.

414

:

This is something that

is a standalone platform.

415

:

This is now a vertically

integrated product.

416

:

And I'm going to get to how it all works.

417

:

But essentially, this is one of the

big things that I'm sure people,

418

:

you know, everybody's talking about

digital twins and like, how are we

419

:

going to use them and Industry 5.0

420

:

now, you know, 4.0,

421

:

we've already figured that out.

422

:

What's the human in the

loop aspect of things?

423

:

And then this is where our

unique solution comes in.

424

:

Because essentially what's happening

is, is that the engineers, they

425

:

get to program and create basically

virtual digital twins of their

426

:

automation systems, automation lines.

427

:

Let's just say in particular, let's

just talk about a manufacturing system.

428

:

They could do it all before

they actually build it.

429

:

So what does that do?

430

:

That brings down costs, obviously,

because you could make a lot of changes

431

:

to it, because it's always going to

be more costly once you're actually

432

:

installing it in the real factory.

433

:

And going all the way to testing

every single aspect of it, because

434

:

you can connect it to PLC controllers

and test everything, and have

435

:

even different companies, like,

let's just say, Siemens or FANUC.

436

:

You have a large scale of different

sort of devices that you could use,

437

:

robotics, all kinds of different things.

438

:

And so it has a library, but you could

also even program your own stuff.

439

:

So what this does is it helps in

regards to this aspect of the process.

440

:

Now, where VIROO, which is the platform

that I was talking about earlier, the

441

:

XR platform and kind of the question

that you're asking me, what it does

442

:

is it allows you to actually connect

directly with that project and view

443

:

everything in virtual reality instantly.

444

:

So this is a game changer because

normally what you would have to do

445

:

is you do all that work, and then you

would have to export it, bring it into

446

:

Unity, do a bunch of stuff, export it

again, there's a whole sort of list of

447

:

things, which again, so I was saying,

these are some of the friction points

448

:

that the industry is going through.

449

:

So what we've done now is we've taken from

this point where what we want to do is see

450

:

it and then connected it directly to it,

so there's a bidirectional aspect to it.

451

:

So now, you ask me, what do I see?

452

:

So kind of similar to when Brendan

and John from NGen were over, what you

453

:

see in front of you is that automation

line, exactly at a one to one scale,

454

:

and it is, even in regards to the

buttons and everything that you're doing

455

:

is actually bi directional, so it's

affecting the actual emulation of it.

456

:

And so, let's just say the

engineer could be anywhere, again,

457

:

anywhere else in the world too.

458

:

So let's just say we're at McMaster,

the engineer can be in Germany, we can

459

:

connect to that session, they could see

all the different things that we're doing,

460

:

we could be testing these things out.

461

:

We could see how a robot comes in,

picks up an item, puts it in to get,

462

:

let's just say, into a CNC machine.

463

:

These kinds of things.

464

:

We could visualize all that in a safe

environment without having to build

465

:

it, and then talk about, obviously,

the revisions of what we need to do.

466

:

Right?

467

:

In an iterative way, how can we improve

on this process, potentially, especially

468

:

if it's still in the design phase?

469

:

Now, the beauty of that

is going into production.

470

:

So now you've, you've already

benefited from utilizing these types

471

:

of platforms, bringing costs down,

teams working together remotely,

472

:

all these kinds of things like that.

473

:

Now it goes into production.

474

:

Now you have the operations

and maintenance of the life

475

:

cycle of that manufacturing line.

476

:

So now you could use that same system to

be able to train operators, maintenance

477

:

technicians, to be able to go and see

before they actually do something, in

478

:

a safe environment and not messing

around with actual real equipment, right?

479

:

So this is something now that it

allows you to use this technology

480

:

across your value chain, right?

481

:

So not only is it for prototyping and

design revision and that manufacturing

482

:

line process, the commissioning of it.

483

:

You now also have a lifespan of using

that same digital twin in the actual

484

:

operations and maintenance of your line.

485

:

And a lot of companies are using

it for promotion because actually,

486

:

sometimes, that's what they're selling

is these automation systems, and

487

:

they're not even built yet because

a lot of them have to be customized.

488

:

So then they could even show it,

showcase, and say, to their clients,

489

:

come, I'm going to show you what

it is before we even build it.

490

:

And that gets people buying.

491

:

So when you start to look at it that way,

it's a very different value proposition

492

:

in regards to this type of technology.

493

:

And this is one that I'm basically talking

non stop about so that people start to

494

:

see the value in this and hopefully start

to adopt these things so that we can

495

:

build more resiliency in our economy.

496

:

Michelle Samson: Very cool.

497

:

So before we move on to Hannover, I

have to ask about a workforce initiative

498

:

that you very recently announced.

499

:

I think this is going to be of

great interest to the economic

500

:

developers that are listening.

501

:

Michael Rosas: Yeah, so one of the

things that's actually really exciting

502

:

is a project called Battery Boost,

and it's a program with Invest Windsor

503

:

Essex, the economic development office

based out of Windsor, and they're,

504

:

basically sort of leading this effort with

NextStar Energy, who's building or in the

505

:

process of building a giant gigafactory

for batteries for the EV market.

506

:

It's a, joint venture

between Stellantis and LG.

507

:

And so, through Upskill Canada and

Palette Skills, there's funding that

508

:

was brought to be able to create

a project where we've now built

509

:

immersive rooms at Invest Windsor

Essex, a sort of training VR location.

510

:

But what's amazing about it is that

what they're doing is they're getting

511

:

multiple cohorts throughout the

year to hire up to 400 new workers.

512

:

And what they're doing is, that they're

going through a process of training

513

:

them before the factory is even built,

and getting them just understanding the

514

:

different processes and also even the

facilities of being able to, like, be

515

:

inside the actual facilities before it's

built, understand all the, you know,

516

:

the health and safety aspects, but also

the technical and, and all these things.

517

:

Think of it as a a digital twin

simulation of these factories where

518

:

they'll be able to, in a collaborative

environment, this one actually has

519

:

eight people where you could have an

instructor and they can show you all the

520

:

different things that you need to do.

521

:

And you can test people and see

if they actually get the process

522

:

right and do all the different

things with, uh, with the machinery.

523

:

So, you know, and I can share a

link as well, too, in regards to

524

:

just more information about that.

525

:

But we're really excited about

that because we think that

526

:

there's definitely more to come.

527

:

So, that's a great example of how

industry and also even federal government

528

:

is saying we need to provide these types

of technologies to help our industries,

529

:

especially in the upskilling of workers.

530

:

So, this side of it, this training

side, is addressing one of the biggest

531

:

challenges that the manufacturing

industry has, which is the workforce.

532

:

Like, where do I find people who are

going to work in these factories if

533

:

we're going to make these investments?

534

:

We also need people who have

skills, and that is challenging

535

:

to upscale these people.

536

:

And so now we could do it in a, you

know, smaller footprint where we

537

:

can still bring in sort of the whole

factory environment and be able to train

538

:

people in a much more efficient manner.

539

:

You're gonna need to finish

people on real equipment.

540

:

So it takes you about 80 percent

of the way, but it ends up becoming

541

:

a much more cost effective.

542

:

And also you can help qualify people.

543

:

So so you know, maybe people their skills,

it's not quite jelling, you could then

544

:

maybe say, Okay, hey, this is not for you.

545

:

But we can find something else.

546

:

And that's what they're doing.

547

:

They're actually looking at actually

placing them in other like the people

548

:

who maybe don't don't get through

placing them in other sort of roles.

549

:

So this is, again, now a technology,

computational tools, helping solve

550

:

a real world problem within the

manufacturing industry, especially

551

:

when it comes to workforce development,

and we're really excited that this

552

:

is going to not just be the first or

the last, it's going to be many more.

553

:

Michelle Samson: Yeah, there's

opportunities, I think, for other

554

:

economic development offices

to, uh, partner in similar ways.

555

:

Michael Rosas: Yeah, I am.

556

:

Exactly.

557

:

Like, this is something where when

you're attracting business and investment

558

:

coming, this is something that adds

value to not only the people who have

559

:

invested, but also any future investment

coming here and saying, Hey, look,

560

:

we've got state of the art training

facilities, so come and build because

561

:

we can handle that kind of thing.

562

:

Michelle Samson: Love that.

563

:

Brendan Sweeney: So, we're going to

Germany, we're going to Hannover.

564

:

What are you most excited about?

565

:

What are you going to be showing people?

566

:

What are you going to be telling people?

567

:

What do you want us to know about

your role at Hannover Messe?

568

:

Michael Rosas: We're really excited.

569

:

This is going to be, I mean,

it's going to be my first time.

570

:

And it was great because we, we

connected with the NGen people, and

571

:

when we spoke to them about this, they

were like, oh, this sounds really cool.

572

:

So we got to definitely,

we got to make this work.

573

:

So what we're going to do is

we're going to be in Hall 17

574

:

with the Canadian delegation.

575

:

We have a booth, we actually have a

decent size where what we're going to be

576

:

showcasing is that Simumatik platform,

which is the digital twin virtual

577

:

commissioning platform automation systems.

578

:

And then plugged in with VIROO.

579

:

So basically our two sort of flagship

platforms, working together hand in hand.

580

:

The truth is that you could work,

just in VIROO or you could work just

581

:

in Simumatik, but together they make

something, like, we don't know of

582

:

anything out there that does this.

583

:

So this is really exciting to

be able to launch and show this.

584

:

And so people are going to be

able to come and experience it.

585

:

So we're going to have headsets there.

586

:

We're going to be showing how,

the whole process how this works.

587

:

And so they're going to be able to

see a manufacturing line in front of

588

:

them and be able to interact with it.

589

:

We could be in there in that

virtual space with them and

590

:

guiding them through all of it.

591

:

And this is sort of,

that multi user aspect.

592

:

This is where it comes in, where

it's really, really beneficial.

593

:

Because having someone like me, who

has experience in it, being able

594

:

to guide you is, is amazing, right?

595

:

Like, if you were just in there by

yourself, you'd be like, where do

596

:

I even look, kind of thing, right?

597

:

So that's what we're gonna

be focusing on at our booth.

598

:

We're gonna have some headsets there.

599

:

We're gonna also have a monitor

that's gonna show what's

600

:

happening within that space.

601

:

So even people who are walking by, they

could at least see the automation line

602

:

and all that kind of stuff like that.

603

:

And then of course, if they want to,

they can experience it for themselves.

604

:

And then, people who are more interested

in sort of understanding a little bit

605

:

more about how it could work with them,

like learn more about how they see

606

:

potential use cases, our team is going

to be there to help them understand what

607

:

the business case is and why something

like this would be beneficial for them.

608

:

So also there's going to be

the former CEO of Simumatik.

609

:

He's now the product owner because

now it's under our company.

610

:

So he's gonna be there too.

611

:

So he's the one who built this software.

612

:

So we're gonna have the person

also there who, you know,

613

:

this is his bread and butter.

614

:

This is what he does, is like, he's

brilliant when it comes to anything

615

:

digital twin, automation lines.

616

:

He's worked with all kinds of companies.

617

:

I mean, they're based out of

Sweden, so they work with Volvo.

618

:

And so yeah, so he'll,

he'll be there as well too.

619

:

So I think that that's going to be

great because, we have people there who

620

:

can get into the nitty gritty of the

technical aspect and what that means for

621

:

companies, especially manufacturers and

how they can leverage this technology.

622

:

Brendan Sweeney: Amazing.

623

:

Michelle Samson: So, at Hannover,

who is your ideal customer?

624

:

Like, who should really be coming over

to see you and to experience all this?

625

:

Michael Rosas: So, our sweet spot

are companies that are fairly large.

626

:

So let's say Tier One.

627

:

Let's just talk about even automotive,

so like a Magna, a Linamar.

628

:

Companies that have a lot of

operations, not just in Canada, but

629

:

elsewhere, because this is where

it really starts to make sense.

630

:

Because that ability to be able

to actually connect teams, like,

631

:

especially what's happening now.

632

:

And a lot of these places

have places in the US.

633

:

They also have places down in Mexico.

634

:

What's going to be the way to start

to understand how teams are going to

635

:

work and how can you start to leverage

these technologies to help that?

636

:

So to me, those types of

companies are a no brainer.

637

:

This is something that they could easily

start using and like, and some of them

638

:

are using it even on that, on that

educational level to like even help in

639

:

regards to engineers building stuff.

640

:

So, at that level, but

any kind of manufacturing.

641

:

So, like, there could be a

Bombardier that, you know,

642

:

they're making custom airplanes.

643

:

They've got advanced manufacturing lines.

644

:

They're doing a lot of, you know,

great adopters of technology, right?

645

:

And they do stuff in VR as well, too.

646

:

But this really allows

them to really scale it.

647

:

So think about it as something that,

When you're a bigger company and you

648

:

need a technology, a standardization

infrastructure, but then you can build on

649

:

top of and also create your own IP, right?

650

:

I think that that's a big thing,

and I'll actually point it out here.

651

:

We're a platform.

652

:

We do not claim any IP on it.

653

:

So all our clients, they

have their own private cloud.

654

:

Everything that's on

there is their ownership.

655

:

We don't lay any claim

to any of that stuff.

656

:

We have high security,

all this kind of stuff.

657

:

So, they can feel comfortable

that whatever it is that

658

:

they're doing, it's theirs.

659

:

They could even start to think about

this, and this is one of the things

660

:

I encourage, as digital assets, as

assets to their company that have

661

:

value, especially if they can scale it.

662

:

So that would be the main, but

there's a bunch of other companies

663

:

that could also use it as well too.

664

:

I'm not saying that they can't, but let's

just say you know, scalable companies.

665

:

Brendan Sweeney: This is great, thank you.

666

:

Quickly back to that

question about what's a cool

667

:

production that you worked on?

668

:

Michael Rosas: Oh.

669

:

Brendan Sweeney: That we might know about?

670

:

And who's a cool, and who's a cool

celebrity that you worked with?

671

:

Michael Rosas: I mean,

there was a few of them.

672

:

It was actually kind of funny because one

of my team members, he's fairly young,

673

:

and I told him one of the shows I did.

674

:

He's like, I grew up watching that.

675

:

It was a Canadian show, it was

called The Next Star, and it was

676

:

like a competition series for, for

kids to be able to, it's sort of

677

:

like an American Idol kind of thing.

678

:

And on that, this was when he

just was was breaking out, our

679

:

celebrity guest was Justin Bieber.

680

:

Brendan Sweeney: No way.

681

:

Michael Rosas: It was

actually pretty amazing.

682

:

He was he was like three apples high.

683

:

He was tiny at the time, but he

had like the biggest smile and

684

:

absolutely just so talented.

685

:

Like when he walked into the

room, I didn't know who he was.

686

:

I did not know who he was.

687

:

He walked into the room and you just

got this like, you know, this aura

688

:

of like, wow, this, there's something

interesting about this, this guy.

689

:

And then he did a concert

where basically everybody was

690

:

just screaming their head off.

691

:

I couldn't even hear anything, but I

was like, okay, yeah, this guy's a hit.

692

:

And then he ended up being,

as we know, Justin Bieber.

693

:

Brendan Sweeney: I wonder if he's going

to be that special guest performer

694

:

at the NGen reception at Hannover?

695

:

Michael Rosas: That'd be cool.

696

:

That'd be cool.

697

:

That'd be cool.

698

:

Brendan Sweeney: Michael, thank you

so much for coming on and I'm very

699

:

excited to join you in Hannover.

700

:

Michael Rosas: Excellent.

701

:

Yeah, I really appreciate it.

702

:

You guys taking the time and I loved this

opportunity to share all this with you.

703

:

And if anybody does want to reach

out, what I would encourage you to

704

:

do is to reach out to me via LinkedIn

or the contact information that

705

:

we'll have posted on this podcast.

706

:

We can get them booked to

come and see us at Hannover.

707

:

And we have our showroom located

at McMaster Innovation Park.

708

:

That's the best way to

come and experience it.

709

:

This is one of the things that we

encourage, like we said, when Brendan

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:

saw it, he's just like, we've got

to talk about this on the podcast.

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We want people to experience it, to learn

about it, and go away thinking about

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how this could potentially help them.

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So just reach out to me.

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I'd be more than willing to host you

and your team to come try it out and

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hopefully, yeah, there's something

there that is of interest and can

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help with your manufacturing needs.

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Michelle Samson: New episodes of Making

it in Ontario are published weekly.

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Follow us now on Apple Podcasts or

Spotify to make sure you don't miss any.

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Making it in Ontario is an

initiative of the Trillium Network

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for Advanced Manufacturing.

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It is produced by Storied Places Media.

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