Advanced technologies are radically upgrading manufacturing capabilities, and a new report highlights how Alberta in Canada is emerging as a hub that is bringing together cross-sector expertise to fuel industry growth.
Titled Alberta’s Evolution in Advanced Manufacturing: The Technologies Overcoming Global Challenges, the report examines this ecosystem through the three connected areas of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), the shift underway in heavy industries as lower-carbon production is targeted, and how Alberta’s natural resources and processing capabilities could strengthen North American supply chains for critical minerals.
Industrial applications of automation, robotics, and AI in Alberta
Alberta combines a skilled engineering workforce, competitively priced energy, established industrial infrastructure and universities that can collaborate directly with companies on commercial projects. A prime example is the robotics market, which GlobalData projects will grow from $90.2bn in 2024 to $205.5bn by 2030.
While many industries have used forms of mechanisation and automation for centuries, technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are driving significant efficiencies and freeing up the human workforce to focus on higher-value tasks.
Alberta has a sizeable head start in automation because these technologies were adopted in the province decades ago to provide companies and researchers with a substantial base of practical experience across a diverse range of industries.
The report highlights the companies harnessing automation solutions, robotics, and AI. For example, Little Potato Company’s Edmonton facility uses automation across cleaning, sorting, grading, cool-room storage and packaging. This reduces labour requirements and the scope for error while maintaining traceability. In construction, Edmonton-based RoBIM Technologies is developing modular building systems that use AI-enabled robotic arms for on-site assembly and digital tools that can turn early sketches into detailed concepts or plan cable routes.
The same ecosystem supports precision manufacturing and logistics. GN Corporations uses smart manufacturing to improve the machining of industrial components, while Sond Industries provides automated machining services to customers in sectors ranging from energy and heavy construction to aerospace and medical technology.
In terms of warehouses and fulfilment, Amazon operates five facilities in Alberta that are demonstrating how the human workforce can work effectively alongside automation, AI, and robotics. The fulfilment centres are equipping employees with the skills they need for the future economy with training and career development opportunities, while getting machines to perform the more strenuous and repetitive tasks.
Research institutions also help companies move from an idea to a working industrial application. The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) has supported projects in warehouse robotics and AI-based defect detection and is home to reinforcement-learning pioneer Dr Richard S Sutton.
Other organisations and institutes supporting the provincial ecosystem include NanoFAB at the University of Alberta (U of A), the University of Calgary’s AI Research Hub, the U of A’s Alberta CREATE Centre, and Alberta Innovates.
How Alberta is building a heavy industries cluster
Alberta’s heavy industries enable advanced solutions to connect with customers, infrastructure, and subject matter experts.
The presence of the oil and gas industry in Alberta dates back more than 100 years, creating a foundation of expertise that remains in the province today. Along with the established infrastructure, Alberta features technical know-how, as it has the highest number of engineers per capita in North America.
Then there are the cost advantages, with affordable natural gas and electricity and comparatively low land prices. Alberta’s Industrial Heartland brings petrochemical plants, hydrogen producers, utilities, rail links and carbon infrastructure into the same cluster. This supports manufacturing opportunities across petrochemicals, clean fuels, carbon capture equipment and services, modular data centres and electrical systems.
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is a central part of this proposition. Alberta has almost a decade of commercial operating experience and estimated permanent storage capacity of more than 100 billion tonnes in saline aquifers and oil and gas reservoirs. The Quest project has captured and stored about one million tonnes of CO2 annually since commercial operations began, while the open-access Alberta Carbon Trunk Line can transport up to 14.6 million tonnes a year. Investors can therefore develop capture equipment and industrial processes around infrastructure that is already operating at scale.
Hydrogen and ammonia extend the opportunity. Alberta offers low-cost natural gas, suitable storage geology, industrial skills and rail connections to ports serving Asian markets. Projects involving Pembina and Marubeni, Hydrogen Canada, Shell and Mitsubishi indicate the range of commercial interest. Sumitomo is also investing in Alberta-based manufacturing connected with carbon capture infrastructure. These projects are supported by Canada’s lowest provincial corporate tax rate, targeted provincial and federal incentives, and a workforce experienced in pressure systems, fabrication, subsurface risk and large industrial retrofits.
Alberta’s growing role in critical minerals supply chains
Amid the growing global demand for critical minerals, the report highlights how Alberta is ideally positioned to become a location for sourcing and processing.
Manufacturers require greater security of supplies of the minerals used in batteries, electronics and other next-generation technologies. Alberta has identified resources spanning 40 metallic and industrial minerals, with lithium presenting one of the largest near-term opportunities. The Alberta Geological Survey estimates that the province’s brines contain 82.5 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent. Almost half of Alberta’s active mineral exploration is already focused on lithium. An example of this is E3 Lithium, the company plans to reach commercial production of 5,700 tonnes from 23 wells as early as 2027. GlobalData expects the lithium-ion battery market to grow from $158.4bn in 2024 to $309.5bn by 2030.
Alberta’s brine resources could support a lower-impact extraction model. Lithium can be recovered through wells, avoiding conventional open-pit mining and large evaporation ponds. The province can also draw on skills developed in oil and gas, including drilling, reservoir management, water handling and large-scale plant operation.
Critical minerals opportunities in Alberta reach further than lithium. The report highlights how the presence of helium reserves provides a major advantage for Alberta’s development of quantum computing technologies. Alberta also has known reserves of vanadium, cobalt, nickel, titanium, rare earth elements, uranium, magnesium and potash, alongside existing capabilities in metals, petrochemicals and industrial gases.
Processing these materials requires reliable energy, which is one of Alberta’s clearest advantages. The province’s deregulated electricity market supports power purchase agreements, on-site generation and other flexible arrangements for energy-intensive facilities.
The rapid development of data centres is also creating demand for electrical equipment, cooling systems and construction materials, strengthening the local supply chain. Rail networks and West Coast port connections provide access to North American and Asian markets, while low taxes and investor-support programmes improve project economics.
Download the full report for further information on how companies can harness Alberta’s resources and industrial clusters, as well as develop research partnerships for commercial advantages.
