About Manufacturing Automation

Manufacturing Automation

Overview

Manufacturing AUTOMATION is a Canadian business-to-business magazine and website serving the industrial automation sector, published by Annex Business Media at automationmag.com. It covers the technologies and decisions involved in automating Canadian factories — robotics, controls, machine vision, motion, software, sensors and the integration of production systems — for the engineers, plant managers and executives who specify and purchase automation equipment. The brand describes itself as "the leading source for manufacturing automation" in Canada and as a trusted, audited resource connecting automation suppliers with the people responsible for buying and specifying industrial automation solutions; those characterisations are the publisher's own.

The magazine marked its 40th anniversary in 2026, making it one of the longest-running Canadian trade titles devoted to factory automation. It publishes in print and digital editions, supported by a frequently updated website, newsletters, video programming and industry initiatives such as its Top 10 Under 40 recognition program. This directory lists the title under Simcoe, Ontario, the home base of its publisher, Annex Business Media; the magazine's own contact page gives its address as Annex's Toronto office, a distinction set out openly in the contact section below.

Manufacturing AUTOMATION was verified publishing in the autumn of 2026: its website was updated in mid-October 2026, its September–October 2026 print edition was current, and its Future of Automation 2026 video series was released in October 2026.

History

The magazine began in 1986 under a different name. In his editor's note for the 40th anniversary issue in 2026, editor Jared Dodds recorded that Manufacturing AUTOMATION was "originally published under the name Automation Products and Technology," and that he had reviewed back issues held at the Toronto Reference Library dating to 2004 while preparing the anniversary edition. The anniversary coverage noted how persistent the sector's themes have been: columns and stories from the early and mid-2000s were already examining labour shortages, the productivity gap and Canada's trading relationship with the United States — subjects the magazine still covers today. Long-running columnist Paul Hogendoorn's Industry Watch column, which began in that era, continues in the current magazine.

For much of its life the title was published by CLB Media Inc. In September 2010, Annex Publishing & Printing — the Simcoe, Ontario company now known as Annex Business Media — announced it had acquired Manufacturing AUTOMATION from CLB Media as part of a package of thirteen print titles, among them Canadian Electronics, Canadian Occupational Safety, Canadian Security, Electrical Business and Metalworking Production & Purchasing, together with a number of web properties. Annex president and chief executive Michael Fredericks said the company intended to run the magazine "on a go-forward basis," and the title initially remained at its Aurora, Ontario location, with Mary Del Ciancio as editor and Klaus Pirker as publisher. Pirker remained publisher for years afterward; the January/February 2018 masthead listed Alyssa Dalton as editor and Klaus B. Pirker as publisher.

The editorship has passed through several hands since. Kristina Urquhart is a former editor of the magazine who remained an Annex editor afterward; Sukanya Ray Ghosh held the editor's chair in the period before Jared Dodds, who joined the brand in 2025 and was editor through the 40th anniversary year of 2026. Dodds' first major project on the brand was the Top 10 Under 40 program, which entered its fourth instalment in 2026.

Programming and Content

The magazine's editorial program mixes daily industry news with features, columns, product coverage and multimedia. The website's news file spans automation technology and the business around it — plant investments and expansions, robotics and cobots, artificial intelligence and industrial software, supply chains, workforce and skills, energy and sustainability, and the trade and tariff pressures acting on Canadian manufacturers. Coverage of the world's major automation exhibitions is a staple: the magazine reported from Hannover MESSE, including the 2026 edition, where editor Jared Dodds toured Phoenix Contact's headquarters as part of the press program, and it covered Automate 2026 and Canadian events such as German Technology Day.

Recurring elements include Paul Hogendoorn's Industry Watch column, a long-running commentary on the condition of Canadian manufacturing; the Deep Dives feature series; Tech Chat interviews with industry figures; and a products section covering new automation components and systems, from electric grippers and sensors to servo drives and test instruments. The Watch & Listen video program expanded in 2026 with the Future of Automation series, released in October 2026, examining the infrastructure behind artificial intelligence, the state of North American automation and the realities of collaborative robots, with contributions from technology suppliers. In May 2026 the brand also took part in the launch of Manufacturing, Eh?!, a monthly podcast from Annex Business Media's manufacturing group, hosted by editors Kirstyn Brown and Justin Yule and drawing on the group's editors — fourteen manufacturing brands in total, on Annex's own count — Manufacturing AUTOMATION among them.

Print remains part of the offer: the magazine continues to publish print issues, distributed also as digital editions, with the September–October 2026 edition current in the autumn of 2026. The publisher notes that the digital edition supplements rather than replaces the printed copy. The Top 10 Under 40 initiative, now in its fourth year, profiles emerging leaders in Canadian manufacturing and automation, with the 2026 class including members from British Columbia and Quebec.

Audience and Reach

Manufacturing AUTOMATION addresses a professional trade readership: automation engineers, controls and plant engineers, production and operations managers, maintenance leaders and senior executives at Canadian manufacturing companies, along with the system integrators, distributors and equipment suppliers who serve them. Its subject matter is national in scope, covering manufacturing regions across the country rather than a single province.

No independently published audience figure for the title is asserted here. The publisher presents the title as an audited Canadian resource — a claim made in the magazine's own promotional material — and positions it within Annex Business Media's manufacturing media group, which Annex stated in May 2026 comprises fourteen brands supported by a team of ten editors. Annex describes itself as Canada's largest business-to-business media company, with more than sixty brands and event properties; those are the publisher's own characterisations, given here as such, and they describe the scale of the operation behind the magazine rather than a measured circulation for this title.

Digital Presence

The brand's digital home is automationmag.com, a WordPress-based site updated through mid-October 2026 at the time of verification, organising content into news, features, products, video and event coverage. Print issues are mirrored as digital editions through Issuu, including the September–October 2026 edition, and the site offers newsletter sign-ups, a media kit for advertisers and a jobs board drawing on Annex's manufacturing jobs service. Video and audio are an increasing part of the mix, through the Watch & Listen section, the Future of Automation 2026 series and the brand's participation in the group's Manufacturing, Eh?! podcast. The magazine's 40th anniversary was marked across its print and digital platforms in 2026, including historical artwork drawn from its back issues.

Ownership and Organisation

Manufacturing AUTOMATION is published by Annex Business Media, Canada's largest B2B media company. Annex acquired the title from CLB Media Inc. in 2010, in the thirteen-title transaction described above, and has published it since as part of its manufacturing portfolio. Annex itself was founded in 1997 by Mike and Sue Fredericks of Simcoe, Ontario, began as a collection of local newspapers and trade magazines with its own printing press, sold its newspaper division in 2003 to concentrate on business media, and grew by acquisition — including the January 2015 joint acquisition with Newcom Business Media of sixty-seven trade publications from Glacier Media's Business Information Group. In 2024 the company underwent an employee-management buyout led by chief executive Scott Jamieson, and it moved its magazine printing to Cober effective 1 November 2024.

Within Annex's manufacturing group, the magazine's current leadership is listed on its own contact page, updated in June 2026: Jared Dodds is editor, Kathryn Swan is publisher, and Paul Grossinger is group publisher for the manufacturing portfolio. Editorial predecessors included Mary Del Ciancio, Alyssa Dalton, Kristina Urquhart and Sukanya Ray Ghosh.

Contact and Availability

The magazine's contact page lists Manufacturing AUTOMATION at 111 Gordon Baker Road, Suite 400, Toronto, Ontario M2H 3R1 — an Annex Business Media office — with telephone (416) 442-5600 and fax (416) 510-5140. That Toronto address is the brand's published point of contact; this directory's listing city of Simcoe reflects the head office of its publisher, Annex Business Media, and readers should treat the Toronto address as the magazine's own. Editor Jared Dodds can be reached at jdodds@annexbusinessmedia.com, publisher Kathryn Swan at kswan@annexbusinessmedia.com and group publisher Paul Grossinger at pgrossinger@annexbusinessmedia.com, per the magazine's published contact listings. Subscriptions to the print and digital editions are handled through the subscribe link at automationmag.com, and the current issue can be read in digital form through the site's Issuu edition.