Adhesive company’s products keep battling robots running

In the hit cable television series, “BattleBots,” competitors go through many tubes of adhesives in their efforts to keep their robots in fighting form. Recognizing the similarities between the rigours of this form of entertainment sport and the problems faced by maintenance technicians, Loctite has signed on as a major sponsor.

In BattleBots, contestants design and build radio-controlled robots that employ an array of destructive weaponry to defeat opponents in one-on-one combat within a hazard-filled, Plexiglas-enclosed arena. These contests are broadcast on the Comedy Central Network in the U.S. on Tuesday evenings.

The decision to sponsor a BattleBot competitor made perfect sense to Loctite. “Our industrial customers can really relate to the challenges these BattleBots competitors face,” explains Jase Doane, manager of MRO marketing with the company. “Just like maintenance technicians, BattleBots builders are using Loctite adhesives, sealants and other specialty products to keep their equipment together in the most brutal environments and repair them between battles.”

Combatants use threadlockers and sealants to prevent failures and shutdowns. Since the fights are single-elimination tournaments, if their vehicles fail for even a few seconds, they could be out for the season.

Loctite sponsored the past robot champion of the heavyweight division, “Vlad the Impaler,” weighing in at a threatening 208 lb and built by Gage Cauchois. “Vlad” comprises a tempered aluminum body, a powerful electric drive secured to an alloy steel frame, four polyurethane wheels and, extending from the front, a forklift whose prongs are sharpened for maximum stabbing ability — hence the robot’s name. The two-time champion and favourite was narrowly defeated in the championship and had to settle for second place.

Since many people can’t get the Bots program in Canada, readers can turn their web browsers to http://www.come dycentral.com/tv_shows/bb/ for details via the Internet, as well as streaming video clips from past shows.

IT’S OFFICIAL: MEMAC JOINS CME

Perrin Beatty, president and CEO, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME), and Larry Barrett, former chairman, Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers Association of Canada (MEMAC), have confirmed that effective May 1, 2001, MEMAC became part of CME.

Beatty said MEMAC’s decision to join CME “confirms CME’s position as the preeminent business organization representing Canadian manufacturers and exporters. The merger will add momentum to our association’s activities and will benefit both MEMAC’s current members and CME’s member companies.”

Barrett, who is also president of Emerson Electric Canada Ltd. of Markham, Ont., noted that networking, learning and business development have always been MEMAC strengths and “this will only increase because now our members will be able to take advantage of CME’s greater size, its geographic reach across Canada and its many programs, activities and events.”

Under the terms of the merger, MEMAC member companies will become members of CME and will retain their association identity though a separate council within CME. MEMAC, which was founded in 1955 to represent Canada’s $18-billion machinery and equipment industry, has closed its Ottawa office.

CME is a business network with a history dating back 130 years. Its members represent 75 per cent of Canada’s manufacturing output and 90 per cent of its exports. It has its national office in Ottawa, and active divisional offices in all 10 provinces. More information is available from the CME’s Mississauga, Ont., business office at 905-568-8300 or on the Internet at www.cme-mec.ca.

PTDA TO BE A SPONSOR OF MRO EXPO

The Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA) will be a sponsor of the inaugural MRO Expo for Equipment & Machinery, to be held November 14-15, 2001, at the Toronto Congress Centre in Toronto, Ont.

To be held every two years, the new trade show is geared to Canada’s $26-billion MRO market. Expected to include more than 200 exhibitors, the show will feature mechanical power transmission, bearings, electrical/electronic controls, hydraulic/ pneumatic components, motion control technology, hand/power tools, predictive maintenance, diagnostic/analytical instrumentation and air compression products.

The event is being organized by Reed Exhibitions of Toronto. For more information, call 416-491-7565 or visit www.reedexpo.ca/mroexpo.