Q& A

If you haven’t already heard, the Canadian Association of Mold Makers (CAMM) in Ontario and Quebec’s Federation of Plastics and Alliances Composites (FEPAC) recently announced a strategic partnership. Canadian Plastics sat down with Dan Moynahan, president of CAMM, and Pierre Fillion, president and CEO of FEPAC, to talk about the goals of the partnership, and what the alliance means for our industry.

Q. What are some of the benefits in bringing CAMM and FEPAC together?

D.M. We’ll be a new voice for Canada’s plastics and composites industry. CAMM and FEPAC are two strong organizations, and sometimes when you put one and one together you get three. For example, we can make it easier for each organization to grow beyond its home province. We’re trying to harness the synergies between Quebec and Ontario, and we’re not going to stop here. We want to bring this all across Canada, from B.C. to Nova Scotia, and help market Canadian manufacturing technologies as a whole.

Also, we’re hoping to bring the governments of our two provinces closer together– to break down some of the barriers that our governments can seem to break down, and get all of the levels of government working together with us.

Q. What are some of your goals in the short-term?

P.F. First, FEPAC will coordinate, manage and promote the Quebec chapter CAMM, and CAMM will do the same for the Ontario plastics and composites chapter of FEPAC.

Second, we’re going to join our IT infrastructures. We’ll be launching the e-Plastics.net and e-Composite.net web platforms in September 2010. All members from CAMM and FEPAC will be able to create complete business profiles.

Third, we’re going to co-organize trade and technology missions around the world, beginning with the Plastimagen 2010 show in Mexico during March; FEPAC had a delegation at the CAMM pavilion. Following that, we have plans to team up for the K-2010 event in Dusseldorf at the end of October.

Q. How important is the symbolism of a partnership between organizations from the rival provinces of Quebec and Ontario?

D.M. This is 2010; there shouldn’t be these kinds of barriers within Canada anymore. Let’s put these things behind us, and move ahead as a strong, united country. We hope to be able to lead by example. That’s one of the exciting things about this: We’re going where governments have had a hard time going.

Watch the complete interview with Dan and Pierre on the Canadian Plastics website; go to the “CanPlastics TV” link at the top right quarter of the screen.