Spotlight on Innovation: A Conversation with Laurie-Anne Méthot of the Quebec Metallurgy Center

Published on: May 15, 2025

Spotlight on Innovation 🔦

A Conversation with Laurie-Anne Méthot of the Quebec Metallurgy Center

I am an industrial engineering graduate. My current role at the CMQ is Research Assistant – Bachelor’s Level. My work mainly focuses on additive manufacturing, powder metallurgy, and energy transition.

In the field of additive manufacturing, I’m involved in every stage of the process: writing project proposals, selecting printing parameters according to project objectives, planning prints and characterization tests, analyzing results, presenting results and advancements to clients, and defining the next steps to optimize our processes. 

Additionally, I’m developing a tool to evaluate equipment costs across all sectors of the CMQ.

Before learning about the CMQ, I was familiar with additive manufacturing technologies, but only for printing plastic components. In my final year of CEGEP, I came into contact with the CMQ and discovered their additive manufacturing systems designed for metal printing. This sparked my interest in exploring whether metal additive manufacturing could achieve the same level of detail as plastic AM, known for its ability to print small figurines. 

I therefore decided to focus my final studies project on designing a part to be printed in titanium that would showcase the detail capabilities of the laser powder bed fusion metal process. I even created an educational video to help spark interest in AM among younger students:

Watch it Here 🎥 

One area of research I am particularly excited about is how to support the transition of additive manufacturing from an experimental technology to a reliable method used by companies for bigger production. We know that AM offers great advantages like topology optimization, but it is still perceived in the industry as a specialized process. I am interested in studying the technical, economic, and organizational challenges of integrating AM into existing manufacturing companies. 

I think the key to maximize the potential of AM is to figure out how exactly to transfer knowledge from research to industry. This is what I am trying to do by working in a College Technology Transfer Center like the CMQ, where we research information, study processes, and then transfer the knowledge we’ve acquired directly to the clients, allowing the industry to benefit from the most recent advancements in additive manufacturing.

AM supports two national priorities: the transition towards circular economy and the adaptation to the current situation of labor shortage in Canada.

It reduces material waste and can extend product lifecycles through repair and customization. This aligns closely with the principles of the circular economy. Also, as a more autonomous and digitalized technology, AM can help with the issue of labor shortage currently affecting many sectors in Canada. By reducing the need for certain manual tasks and automating complex processes, AM can contribute to the growth of industries. 

Investing in this technology is a way to support Canada’s manufacturing sustainability.