Samuel Larochelle
Special collaboration
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Go back. In March 2020, the world was in urgent need of N95 masks and respirators. Hospitals were overflowing. Health needs were increasing.
“As engineers, there was no way we could sit on our own two hands while the pandemic decimated people,” recalls Marc St-Hilaire, vice-president of technology and innovation. At home, everyone raised their hands to help. “
First step: participate in the import of masks. “As a world leader, our strategic department had very strong relationships in China, which enabled us to bring in 150,000 N95 masks that we sold to the governments of Canada, Quebec and Manitoba. “
The biggest change came later, when the company saw the dramatic shortage of respirators from coast to coast. “In a few months, our teams devoted themselves seven days a week to create a respirator approved by Health Canada and the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, in addition to obtaining ISO 13 485 certification, which is the gateway to for those who want to manufacture medical equipment. “
A process of design, manufacturing and quality control that transformed the perception of CAE leaders on their organization.
Before the pandemic, we were a very strong training company. Since then, we see ourselves as a company of deep technology capable of manufacturing extremely complex systems.
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Marc St-Hilaire, Vice-President of Technologies and Innovation at CAE
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Another legacy of the crisis: the need for distance in training services. “People no longer wanted to be close in a classroom or a flight simulator. We have therefore innovated to offer distance training that goes beyond Zoom Where Teams. »
For example, in the medical world, training with automated mannequins are now accessible online thanks to augmented reality or virtual reality, which makes it possible to reproduce aspects of the human body such as blood circulation, respiration and pulse.
What will be left?
CAE will not continue to manufacture respirators. “After a period in which everyone thought respirators were essential in dealing with a pandemic, the medical field realized that this was not the best way to treat patients affected by COVID-19. For months, several big players have manufactured two to ten times more than before, which will be enough for the needs of the planet for the next decade. “
However, the company sees its activities transform in the future. The reason is simple: Countless industry analysts have claimed that 2020 is the year technology will transform the healthcare industry. “The emergency forced the acceptance of new ways of doing things. For example, when I meet my doctor, I now see him through a screen. These new realities will pave the way for several transformations, such as remote sensors to take vital signs. The pandemic has accelerated everything. ”
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