Jannatec Radio Technologies is going international with the newest generation of its Johnny Light Cap Lamp and MineTrax wireless tracking system.
Wayne Ablitt, co-founder and president of the Sudbury-based company, is realizing his vision of becoming a global player as he sealed his most recent $2-million deal with a Mexican mining company. Partnerships with the Schauenburg Group of Germany and more recently, Newtrax Technologies, a Montreal-based technology company that specializes in wireless solutions for tracking and data communications, has helped Jannatec move forward globally.
Ablitt has set his sights high, aiming to establish up to 10 distributors across the world within the next 18 months. He already has three: one in the United Kingdom, Mexico and Chile. In the four years prior to the 2009 crash, he was experiencing 30- to 35-per-cent annual sales growth. He is confident he can pick up where he left off. Even the dip last year was enough of a wake-up call for Ablitt to rely less on local markets. Now, with his international goals, he is targeting 65-per-cent growth.
Jannatec’s new offices at the NORCAT building have brought a professional look to the company along with the ability to network with other like-minded innovators at the centre.
“By coming here, it has allowed us to utilize some resources of the other companies and share technology ideas,” Ablitt said.
The 7,500-square-foot space has provided ample room for the company’s 24 to 26 employees to research, develop, manufacture and innovative new products and upgrade older ones. With three full- time people performing research and development, there is little time for the dust to settle on older products. A new generation of the Johnny Light Cap Lamp has been created to meet the requests of Sudbury miners.
A new LED bulb to replace the incandescent one is not only brighter and smaller, but it lasts up to five years. The LED is placed in a focusable angle-hood reflector setting.
“This gives off the best light of any head lamp in the world for an underground mine,” Ablitt said. “When we engineered it, we angled the reflector so it would reflect and give more light down at the miner’s feet.”
The battery and charger system has also changed. The original cap lamp models used nickel-metal hydride batteries, which lasted about two to two-and-a-half years. Ablitt has replaced these with lithium-ferro battery technology. They are 40 per cent lighter and last twice as long, between four and four-and-a-half years.
In addition to modernizing the Johnny Light Cap Lamp, Jannatec has consolidated some of its previous features and added new ones into the product.
The first is the two-way radio for voice communication. The second is the collision avoidance system called Jannatec Advanced Warning System (JAWS), a device placed on the dashboard of an underground vehicle that lights up, alerting the driver to a nearby person.
At the same time, a light on the cord that runs between the battery and the miner’s lamp, will light up, warning the person of a nearby vehicle. The new safety feature of this lighted cord warning is the “Safe Zone,” which turns the warning light off when the person enters a vehicle and turns back on once the person has left the vehicle. Originally, a manual switch was used to turn the safety system back on. This prevents operator error.
The third piece is the MineTrax tagging system. This system works under a wireless mesh network. It involves installing wireless “nodes” or a small metal receiver box that picks up the “tagged” miner or vehicle, thus tracking the individual or load, sending location information to a main console. The node’s range is 350 feet in a straight line and about 180 feet around a corner. All nodes are numbered and entered into the computer console, making it easier to track. Two inorganic lithium batteries will power the node for two years.
“Depending upon how many nodes you have throughout, you can track vehicle loads per day or the flow of manpower,” said Jason Buie, Jannatec’s research and development engineer. “In an emergency situation,it is like an automatic roll call as miners enter a refuge station.”
Buie said the tags are two-way, which means they communicate to the console above ground, but if a person finds themselves in trouble, he or she can push a panic button. This will send an alarm signal over the network to the console, alerting others.
The MineTrax is the results of a distribution and marketing agreement between Jannatec and Newtrax Technologies.
Another new product that is receiving orders is the Minisonde, a transmitter device that is tied to a weather balloon to profile air temperature. This can be used in industrial areas, or for forest fires.
