The manufacturing business, as has been well reported, has spread around the world recently as a globalized economy has developed. As a maker of products designed to increase efficiency on the plant floor, Mississauga's
Shoplogix has followed that business. According to company President & CEO Martin Ambrose, Shoplogix had deployed its product to four countries in 2007, a number that has grown to 40 countries today.
New investment in Shoplogix secured through the provincial government's
Emerging Technologies Fund will allow Shoplogix to continue to expand its global footprint, Ambrose says, by further augmenting the product for international markets and by "driving out deployment" to those markets through marketing partnerships.
The product is
Plantnode, a device similar to a mobile phone that monitors production assets on the plant floor to evaluate efficiency and to communicate immediately across the plant when materials shortages or breakdowns occur. Ambrose claims that Plantnode's value proposition is a 5-35% efficiency gain on each "production asset," which translates for his clients to savings of $1,000 to $35,000 per week on each asset.
Founded in 2002, the company has grown to employ 50 people worldwide, with 38 of those in Canada. Ambrose says the planned expansion will see him hire an additional 10-15 staff locally over the next 18 months.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Martin Ambrose, President & CEO, Shoplogix