Having the right people on staff is crucial to the success of every organization. And, Svante (formerly Inventys Thermal Technologies) is fortunate to have gathered a world-class team of strategists, scientists, engineers, technicians, specialists, project developers, and entrepreneurs.
When it came to hiring for one position, however, the company had to look beyond the usual suspects. This role required a person with some unique attributes.
- Extreme attention to detail
- Able to single-handedly manipulate large fragile objects
- Superior vision
- Absolute accuracy
- Willingness to work long hours
- Ability to complete repetitive tasks without diminished performance
The key responsibility of this role is to build the proprietary adsorbent structures that are at the heart of Svante’s carbon capture system. The adsorbent structures are made of layers upon layers of adsorbent sheets. To create these structures, a special adhesive is applied and then individual adsorbent sheets, or laminates, are stacked precisely one on top of the other.
The sheets, which are about 2 feet by 4.25 feet (610mm x 1300mm), are thin and flexible. Handling them is challenging. And, the exact positioning of one on top of the other is critical to maximizing the efficient performance of the materials.
Further analysis revealed the best person for the job wasn’t even a person.
“It wasn’t feasible to scale up our manufacturing process with manual labor,” said Vice President of Manufacturing Operations Daryl Musselman. “The robot uses optical detection system and computer algorithms to ensure repeatable precision stacking.”
Watching the robot work is one of the highlights for visitors that tour the Svante facility in Burnaby. The optical detection system gives the impression that the robot is actually “eyeballing” the surface. Watch our video and you can see for yourself.
