Calgary’s Blackline doubles manufacturing capabilities
Adam Dras
Announcements News Blackline ippt manufacturing processing safetyBlackline Safety Corp., has announced a $2 million investment in its manufacturing process that will allow the company to double its hardware production.
The upgrade — implemented in preparation for an anticipated increase in global customer demand — is expected to enhance manufacturing horsepower as the company gears up for high volume production of its soon-to-launched G6 entry-level single-gas wearable safety device.
“With SMT, we build on our already robust manufacturing technology and facility alongside additional flexibility to quickly respond to increased demand — all while maintaining product excellence,” said Kevin Meyers, Blackline Safety Chief Operating Officer. “Having SMT to place components on a printed circuit board line allows us not only to produce units more quickly and with greater precision, it’s also a layer of much tighter control of our manufacturing process.”
The investment includes bringing in additional Surface Mount Technology (SMT) to Blackline’s in-house production line, which has proven to reduce assembly and ship times to 24-48 hours from as high as five weeks when using the company’s contract manufacturing.
The technology — which involves directly mounting electrical components onto the surface of a printed circuit board — is also reportedly more cost-effective, with Blackline realizing payback on the equipment in just 10 months.
Blackline’s technology is cloud-based, featuring GPS-enabled safety sensors and devices that leverage the Internet of Things (IoT) to connect workers to live 24-7 command centre monitoring. The platform includes emergency response and evacuation management capabilities as well as contract tracing. It connects employees with software that pinpoints their location, enables back-and-forth information sharing and collects vital data, making it possible to detect the exact location of a gas leak or determine how often workers are travelling through high-risk areas.
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