CAMM moves to national status

Left to right: CAMM chairman Dan Moynahan, president of Platinum Tool Technologies (Oldcastle, Ont.); CPIA president Serge Lavoie; and CMTDMF chairman Cy McGrath, after discussing the new set-up for moldmakers in Canada.

The Canadian Association of Mold Makers (CAMM) is expanding its membership base and strengthening its position as a national association. As the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) restructures, and essentially drops moldmaking from sectors it covers, CAMM is stepping in to fill the vacant role.

Dan Moynahan, president of CAMM says, “CAMM is open now to accepting moldmakers as members from any part of the country, not just from close to its home in Windsor, Ont. It has been focusing on international marketing much more, and on promoting Canadian-built tools as quality engineered products in export markets.”

Cy McGrath, chairman of the Canadian Machine Tool, Die and Mould Federation, and general manager for Progressive Components Canada Ltd., adds, “this is a positive move for moldmakers and the plastics industry as a whole.”

CAMM, he points out, still has a small organizational structure, but it has been expanding its reach over the past year. For example, its redesigned trade show booth visited various shows in Mexico and the US over the past year, and as a result of ongoing lobbying, it recently received six-figure provincial government grants to support investigation of new types of software, as well as to promote Canadian tooling shops at the Moldmakers Trade Fair in Windsor in November.

It has also begun moving beyond its traditional affiliation with the automotive industry, to encompass moldmaking for transportation, material handling, electronics and other end-use markets.

Tom Meisels, president of FGL Precision Works Ltd. (Toronto), observes, “CAMM will be recognized as the one and only voice for moldmakers in Canada, so its influence will strengthen.” Meisels’ company has been a long-term CPIA member, but it also joined CAMM earlier this year, and he says it found significant benefits from membership.

CAMM remains an integral part of the Canadian Machine Tool, Die & Mould Federation, which in addition to CPIA includes the Canadian Tooling & Machining Association as well as the Canadian Pattern Makers Association. Although its long-term relationship to the plastics industry as a whole is still being determined, some form of strategic alignment with CPIA is currently in the works.