The funding will be used to increase the pace of development of technological innovations and to accelerate the conquest of international markets
2021-09-21, Montreal, Canada - JITbase has secured $650,000 during a seed funding round led by Canadian investment firm Bluesky Equities Ltd, aerospace manufacturing company Leesta, Quebec Deep-Tech investor Boreal Ventures and several angel investors from US and Canada, to scale its novel CNC machine management software. The Montreal-based startup will use the funds to expand its in-house team, increase implantation capacity with new customers, further develop software capabilities, and accelerate the conquest of international markets.
JITbase offers specialized Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology for high-precision CNC machines typically used in heavy manufacturing. Its novel Optimal Path System (OPS) uses AI to calculate actions and sequences for individual machinists and coordinate activity across the entire production workflow in real-time, further enhanced with data monitoring and analytics.
The manufacturing sector currently faces compound challenges, including post-pandemic supply chain disruption and mounting labor shortages set to cost the US economy $1 trillion by 2030. With JITbase, manufacturers can decrease the number of operators per machine, minimize operational downtime, and prolong the equipment lifecycle to generate efficiency-based cost savings. Frederic Scherer, CEO & Co-founder of JITbase, says,
At JITbase we believe that the major labor shortage in CNC machining can be addressed with industry 4.0 technology and we’re delighted that Bluesky Equities Ltd, Leesta, Boreal Ventures will join us on this mission to improve the interaction between humans and machines. With their support we can accelerate software development and implement the system with more manufacturers across Canada and the US.
The company’s cloud-based solution also drives continuous improvements with constant machine monitoring and powerful data analytics. An edge gateway securely communicates with JITbase cloud servers to produce performance reports and identify main downtime reasons for continuous improvement.
Derrick Hunter, President & CEO at Bluesky Equities Ltd, comments: “We’re incredibly excited to partner with JITbase as they revolutionize the workflow on the machine shop floor. Frederic and his team have built a product that is intuitive for operators and significantly enhances machine utilization, and firmly believe every CNC shop will recognize the value proposition the JITbase Optimal Path System brings.”
Ernest Staub, President at Leesta, comments:
Leesta has been working with JITbase for several years, participating in the development of its OPS software. As we continue our journey to become a technology company, it is a natural step for us to take an equity position and continue to increase productivity.
Sergio A. Escobar, Angel Investor and Corporate Venture Capitalist, comments:
While accelerating JITbase at Founder Institute Montreal, we always aimed to develop a unique technology to play a key role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. JITbase has a unique momentum and opportunity to become the most important global technology provider in the Billion dollar market of CNC machines.
JITbase takes just 1-hour to install and connects automatically to standard CNC operating protocols to keep machine downtime to a minimum. To book a free demo or for more information visit: https://www.jitbase.com/
About JITbase:
JITbase, a graduate of Founder Institute pre-accelerator in Montreal, is smart manufacturing software that calculates the optimal sequence of machinist activities on the shop floor. Being proactive, machinists manage more CNC machines and make informed decisions that lead to increased uptime. JITbase OPS (Optimal Path System) guides the CNC operator in telling the next action to perform, thanks to optimization algorithms. Refreshed in real-time with machine data, OPS optimizes the interaction between humans and machines. The output is an increase of CNC machine uptime (+10-25%) and a reduction of the ratio operator/machine (-50%).
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