Production processes
Manufacturing from every angle
From needs assessment to production ready equipment
Our goal is to optimize your processes so they are efficient, reliable, and perfectly suited to your context.
For us, innovating in production means creating processes that work with you and for you. We design custom solutions to improve your manufacturing or inspection processes, whether they are manual, semi-automated, or fully automated.
From simple mechanization to AI powered automation, we explore the most relevant technological approaches based on your objectives:
- mechanization (including semi-automated equipment);
- automation of manual operations, to maximize workforce potential;
- adaptive or self regulating processes with continuous physical measurement;
- macro and micro processes;
- manufacturing and inspection processes;
- dedicated machines for complex applications.
We then design solutions that are ready to be integrated into your facility. We make sure the transition into your operations is smooth and we support you through to full commissioning.
Customized solutions
Every production process is unique, and every automated process must be too. We create unconventional applications for which companies struggle to find solutions.
We develop equipment tailored to your challenges, ambitions, and resources. We are capable of designing and manufacturing complex automated and semi-automated systems, as well as simple technical aids to facilitate manual tasks, such as adapted tools or error-proofing devices (Poka-Yoke) with a view to preventing production or process errors (Lean Manufacturing).
Whether you need help evaluating your return on investment (ROI) or assessing potential sources of financing, we are here to support you.
Expertise and versatility
With our multidisciplinary team, we can carry out complex projects, including:
- PLC programming;
- integration of pneumatic, hydraulic, and electric actuators;
- integration of laser sources;
- integration of digital industry tools (sensors, industrial vision, industrial mathematics, artificial intelligence, etc.).
Safety and productivity
Since safety is a priority, we conduct machine safety reviews on existing lines and on new equipment, including assessing whether the equipment complies with applicable standards.
We also carry out a productivity diagnostic of your facilities and suggest ways to optimize production flow and workforce efficiency (Lean Manufacturing).
Specialty: industrial mechanization
We’re here to help with projects big and small, even if you don’t need a large automated system or don’t have the budget to acquire one.
We offer mechanical design services whether you need:
- simple mechanisms to make manual operations easier and optimize workforce use, such as mechanical lifting and transfer systems, etc.;
- mechanized tooling for robotic or automated systems, such as positioners, jigs/fixtures, etc.;
- adaptations to existing equipment to ensure compliance with applicable machine-safety standards.
To deliver all of this efficiently and reliably, we rely on an experienced team of engineers, technologists, and machinists who develop equipment truly suited to industrial environments, your needs, and your constraints.
Your manufacturing performance first
For us, the robot isn’t an end in itself: it’s one tool among many to achieve manufacturing performance. Robotics and “cobotics” (collaborative robotics) now offer solutions that are far more varied and affordable than in the past. Novika can help you leverage this technology in a practical way within your production process.
Whether the goal is to automate demanding or repetitive manual tasks, or to perform operations too precise for the human hand (such as micro-assembly), we work in complementarity with your internal resources or through a turnkey mandate (including ROI assessment, selection, integration into an existing line or machine, tooling, programming, application commissioning [FAT], and start-up).
We have delivered numerous robotics projects across a range of sectors, including nuclear waste management, metal processing, and acoustic characterization of products.
Let’s automate and integrate AI
When automating processes, we often replace people with machines. In that shift, we can lose a valuable asset in manufacturing: the operator’s intelligence, the ability to adapt to changing conditions, to assess a product or situation at a glance, and to extract value from information that may be incomplete or imprecise.
In these situations, artificial intelligence fills the gap by being integrated directly into automated equipment or robotic cells. Because our experts are pragmatic and deeply rooted in the industrial world, we know how to prioritize the AI applications that are truly worth developing and deploying in your plant.
We handle data acquisition and preparation, algorithm selection or development, training, optimization, implementation within the equipment, and technology transfer. Depending on your needs, we can take charge of the entire project or work alongside your team or supplier in a complementary role.
Machine vision
Among the measurement methods mastered by our team, machine vision plays a leading role in automation and robotics. We use it mainly to:
- achieve very high throughput without compromising quality;
- perform micron-level precision operations;
- continuously verify product compliance;
- monitor the proper execution of operations.
Based on your needs, we select cameras (visible, IR, hyperspectral, etc.), real-time image-processing software, and lighting systems, then integrate these components into your equipment.
From simple, affordable cameras to extremely high-performance smart cameras, we make sure the right tools are used to meet your objectives, and we configure and program them for optimal performance. When needed, we can also develop custom components, such as AI-powered image-processing algorithms.
Digital factory
You likely have a few recurring challenges in mind that automated data processing could solve. We help you continuously monitor and track the performance of your equipment. We outfit it with sensors, connect everything (PLC, PC, cloud, etc.), and take care of data processing and presentation, for example through customized dashboards.
Once connected, your plant can do so much more, especially when it comes to product traceability, adaptive parameter control, production flow optimization, in-line inspection, production tracking, and more.
Precision process automation
Manufacturing and assembling ultra-high-precision products, as well as automating these processes, is highly complex. Our team has the expertise needed to develop and integrate micron-level precision processes, either by adapting conventional technologies or by leveraging the most advanced laser processes.
We deliver a fully functional automated or robotic system, tailored to your product specifications, your customers’ requirements, and your production environment — for example, for cleanroom operation.
Over 20 years of expertise
For more than twenty years, we’ve been building deep expertise in high-power laser technologies. With a fleet of equipment among the best equipped in North America, we can process a wide range of materials efficiently and precisely: metals, plastics, rubber, wood, glass, and more.
Our 20 kW continuous-wave fiber laser source (the most powerful in Canada) enables us to develop extremely high-performance industrial processes. We’re particularly recognized for our expertise in high-power laser welding. We’ve taken on the most demanding challenges, from sealing nuclear waste containers to welding rail vehicles.
We also develop a range of other processes, such as brazing, hardening, cutting, ablation, cleaning, and more.
A functional process and your autonomy
From feasibility assessment through to in-plant implementation on new or existing equipment, we develop laser processes that push your productivity well beyond the capabilities of conventional technologies.
Because even the best technology can’t deliver its full benefits without solid knowledge transfer, we train your staff to understand the process, operate it, maintain it, and manage safety. And even though our goal is to make you fully autonomous, we’re always here if you need support.
High-precision processes within your reach
Our laser fleet includes several pulsed lasers, offering a wide range of wavelengths, from 340 nanometers to 10 micrometers, as well as pulse durations ranging from femtoseconds to continuous-wave operation.
As a leader in developing short and ultrashort pulsed-laser processes, we deliver exceptional solutions for the most sensitive applications, serving both major players in the aerospace and medical sectors and innovative manufacturing SMEs.
Types of processes:
- polishing
- cutting
- ablation
- welding
- texturing
- etc.
Materials that can be processed
We can work with a wide variety of materials: plastics, glass, semiconductors, carbon fibers, metals, wood, organic materials, and more.
Our infrastructure capabilities are too extensive to list exhaustively. Contact us to discuss your specific application.
Surface functionalization
We perform surface functionalization by modifying a material’s properties at the surface layer to change surface reactivity and enable a device to function properly.
By creating micro- and nano-textures, we can give ordinary materials extraordinary properties: antibacterial surfaces, superhydrophilic or superhydrophobic behavior, improved aerodynamics, spectral signature changes, the creation of an optical trap, and more.
For high-volume, low-cost production, we can also transfer microtextures through injection molding.
