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RedLore

At RedLore we build high-accuracy on-site asset tracking and condition monitoring solutions: We tell you where stuff is and what condition it’s in, in the warehouse, the production hall, the laydown yard, the hospital, the container ship, etc.

Our customers are manufacturers and logistics companies, to keep track of their inventory, but also service organizations such as hospitals, who want to make more efficient use of their equipment.

In addition to tracking where things are, we also automate logistics and production processes: Instead of relying on manual and error-prone barcode scanning, our technology automatically keeps track of where in the (manufacturing/distribution) process an item is.

Our bigger mission is to track every physical object in the world, allowing people to focus on higher value-add and less repetitive operations and to make people’s lives better by giving them this visibility.

Tell us about yourself?

Before founding RedLore I was working in automotive manufacturing, heading a facility in Germany and France and supplying to the large automotive companies in Europe. It was striking to see that what made the difference between profit and loss at the end of the year was very much determined by how efficient we were able to run our supply chains and logistics and not only on the efficiency of the core manufacturing activity.

Example: One day we forgot to load 2 pallets in a truck, even though in our IT system we had recorded the pallets as having been loaded on the truck. Later on the customer informed that we would be liable to a $185,000 fine for stopping their production line because they were missing these parts. We were able to solve the problem without paying the fine, but it cost us a great deal of money, stress and “exception management time” to get the parts to the customer in time.

These stories are the daily reality in most manufacturing and distribution activities.

After immigrating to Canada, I decided to do something about it and to develop Internet-of-Things technology to track every physical item that is making its way through the supply chain. It helped that I had done an IoT startup before. That venture ended as a success, but I did make a lot of mistakes back then that I can now avoid just from prior experience.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

The advice: Expect new roadblocks to appear without a warning.

New business opportunities arise on an almost weekly basis, which is great. But at the same time new roadblocks appear as often. COVID was one big roadblock. The supply chain crisis, which for us means a severe shortage of electronic parts, came along with it. There’s no end to new challenges and they don’t announce themselves. Given the diverse nature of problems arising, there is no one way to prepare for it or a standard remedy to cure it. But the advice would be to be mindful of new problems and to never assume it will be smooth sailing ahead.

What is your magic sauce?

The industry in general loves the idea of tracking things, especially if they can know where things are with a high accuracy, typically better than 50cm accuracy. But as most of our customers are large industrial players, working in a very organized way, they hate to install a lot of infrastructure and wiring to make the technology work. It disrupts their ongoing operations and creates an extra point-of-failure

That explains why similar technologies to ours have generated some early success, but never achieved widespread adoption.

The people who were foundational to RedLore understood this problem. Our goal from the start was to offer best-in-class positioning accuracy without the need for any wiring at all. That’s our secret sauce and we have patented the technology to defend our unique position.

What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?

Our technology is working well and we have a credible list of large customers to back this up. Our goal is now to scale up our operations so we can accelerate the acquisition of new customers and build out a larger operation, beyond the size of a startup.

At the same time, we realize that a leading technology position, such as the one we have, is only temporary because ultimately, competitors find a way to catch up. That’s why we’ll keep on innovating to remain the best in our particular area of expertise: wire-free on-site asset tracking and condition monitoring.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

Finding great people!

I’m a strong believer that in a high-tech company, your people are the source of all success. We don’t own large oil reserves and we can’t rely on 30 years of legacy with long-term recurring customers. So everything achieved was created in the last few years, by the people that are still with the company. Our future successes too, will rely on the great people who give part of their lives, their energy and their passion.

With this realization, finding great people, who will thrive working at RedLore, is our biggest challenge.

How do people get involved/buy into your vision?

It’s as simple as sending us a mail to info@redlore.com. We generally answer within 1 business day.