infrastructure innovations.
More than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Over the next 20 years, that number is expected to increase one and a half times, to nearly six billion people around the globe. This prospect is both exciting and worrisome, considering just how quickly certain cities and regions will need to grow to accommodate the predicted population. This means innovation in infrastructure will be necessary on every level. Companies like Sarox Technology Inc. and FPrimeC Solutions Inc. are poised to contribute to infrastructure innovations in failure prevention and detection, building integrity and maintenance and more.
Sarox Technology Inc.
At some point in your life, someone probably told you that the best solution to any problem is prevention. For example, you don’t wait for your car to start making an awful noise before you take it to the mechanic; you book regular oil changes and tune-ups to make sure that any problems are identified and corrected early. Other fail-safes are built into our daily lives the same way — a yearly physical at the doctor, regular trips to the dentist, check-ins with a financial planner.
Now apply the same logic to industrial machinery. But instead of a mechanic or a doctor checking things over, it’s a secure, cloud-based platform that continuously monitors, analyzes and assesses machinery health. Now you’ve just scratched the surface of what Sarox Technology’s C-110T can do. The IIoT predictive maintenance and fault detection platform works to identify issues with industrial assets at a very early stage so solutions can be deployed soonest. Go back to the car analogy — like regular trips to the mechanic, Sarox’s technology essentially works to tell you before a problem truly becomes a problem. In their own words, “The SAROX C-110T gathers raw data from the asset and uses advanced predictive analytics and machine learning to turn data into operational demands. By recognizing machine health and failure patterns, SAROX platform benefits maintenance management, asset integrity and overhaul planning in all industries, by bringing a high level of protocol to industrial assets.”
Sarox, which was incorporated in 2018, currently monitors more than 2,000 machines, including 1,890 electric motors, 103 compressors and 42 generators. The platform, with a predictive AI backbone, convenient dashboards and more, is proven to reduce the number of shutdowns and total downtime, reduce stress on operations teams, identify areas of cost reduction and save money for plant owners. Add it all up and you’re inevitably looking at increased revenue.
Sarox’s website is full of success stories, showing just how effective the platform can be. Case studies relay how the platform has previously identified slight changes in a motor’s behaviour, recognized an anomaly in a critical piece of machinery at a manufacturing plant, detected loose cable connections with power continuity monitoring, accurately pinpointed insulation failure, and so much more. Come to think of it, can we get this kind of software for humans?
With population growth, migration and urbanization trends, [we] will require continuous investment in [infrastructure] development.
FPrimeC Solutions INc.
We live in a society that places value on new. When something breaks, the go-to answer is to replace it. But is that really the solution? Or should we focus on prevention and instead work to make things last?
FPrimeC Solutions believes in the latter, especially where concrete structures are concerned. The engineering technology firm specializes in advanced testing solutions for assessing and maintaining large structural assets, like bridges, dams and parking garages, to identify issues before they become detrimental. Traditionally, structures such as these are tested using tedious, time-consuming and destructive approaches like cutting and coring, but the technology out of FPrimeC Solutions makes testing the quality and strength of a structure easier and less invasive. FPrimeC Solutions allows customers to evaluate aging concrete, often isolating issues in advance of symptoms, and allowing their customer base to make repairs before a problem gets worse and requires a more complicated or expensive fix.
Co-founders Hamed Layssi and Dr. Farid Moradi, who both have extensive backgrounds in civil engineering, launched FPrimeC Solutions in October 2015. Since then, they have worked with customers around the world, in sectors like transportation and power. They often provide support on infrastructure projects, too, recognizing the role these structures will play in future development.
“Infrastructure is the cornerstone of sustainable development,” Layssi told futurpreneur.ca. “With population growth, migration and urbanization trends, these will require continuous investment in its development.”
FPrimeC Solutions employs a range of professionals, including electrical, structural and geotechnical engineers to serve their client base. The company’s services include structural conditions assessments; bridge inspections; concrete scanning and imaging; corrosion inspection; quality control for deep foundations; non-destructive evaluation of dams, concrete structures, concrete tanks, and trunk sewers and wastewater facilities; and inspection of parking garages. FPrimceC Solutions have worked with many companies and municipalities to assess everything from transit stations to
water-mains, helping to address problems promptly and keeping communities safe and secure.
As urban centres continue to expand, we will need companies like FPrimeC Solutions to help build and maintain cities that last. It will also be important to continue to push the maintenance mindset. “What we’re really trying to do, especially within the landscape of Canadian construction, is change the culture,” Layssi told Spark earlier this year. “We’re moving toward preventative maintenance.” It’s an important lesson we can all learn from FPrimeC Solutions — new isn’t always better, but upkeep is paramount.
Connect with Spark
Twitter: @spark_centre
Instagram: @spark_centre
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/spark-centre
sparkcentre.org
