Watch out, industrial IoT?

ProAxion is one of five winners in the latest round of NC IDEA grants worth as much as $50,000. In a Q&A, CEO Justin Rothwell talks about how the startup’s technology could have a major impact on the industry-related Internet of Things.

WRAL TechWire is profiling each of the winners, letting executives tell their startup stories in their own words. Each was asked the same five questions:

Focus of the business

  • What sets it apart?
  • Who are the founders
  • How did they come up with their ideas
  • What’s the backstory behind the company name?

First, here’s what NC IDEA CEO Thom Ruhle had to say about why ProAxion, which is based in Apex, won a grant:

“These guys are on the forefront of predictive analytics and the internet of things,” Ruhe said. “They are the ‘check engine’ light for industrial control systems. This is a company that has potential to create widespread job opportunities in North Carolina. Their patented technology provides differential value that can be measured in real dollars for their manufacturing customers.

Our Q&A follows:

  • What is the primary focus of your company?
ProAxion is a technology startup helping to define the Industrial Internet of Things by helping factories avoid downtime due to unexpected machine failure. Their cloud-connected wireless sensor system is both affordable and plug & play, which brings the benefits of predictive maintenance to the millions of machines that keep society humming.
  • What sets you apart from others in this space
Legacy predictive maintenance systems using machine temperature and vibration data are complex, with installed systems requiring expensive sensors, telemetry systems, analysis software and significant expertise to use. ProAxion’s first product, TACTIX, is an easy to use system that takes much of the technical burden off of customers who can now reap the benefits of a predictive maintenance without having to become an expert in all of the nuance of sensor selection, signal processing and vibration analysis. Our system has this expertise already baked in.
  • Who are the founding members of your team?
Justin Rothwell, PE (CEO & Co-Founder) has 20 years of experience designing, selling and supporting industrial equipment in various industries including manufacturing, nuclear power, and life sciences.
Elliot Poger (CTO & Co-Founder) has 20 years of network and embedded software engineering experience, including seven years as a Senior Engineer at Google.
  • How did you come up with the idea for this venture?
I (Justin) have been around industrial machinery and control systems for much of my career, and many of these systems are old and do not work well. When you go into many industrial facilities it’s like being transported back 30 years. Much of the reason older technology continues to be used is that integrating new technology has always been expensive and complex.
However, in the last couple of years the capability and cost of wireless sensor and cloud-based computing technology has experienced a significant paradigm shift, and all of a sudden cost and complexity should not be a factor.
This is the opportunity of the Industrial Internet of Things. There are literally thousands of applications that require overhaul, however predictive maintenance of machinery using vibration is a special case in that it’s much more complex than others like simple temperature or speed monitoring. In addition to liking the technical challenge of simplifying something that’s inherently complex, which makes it tough to duplicate, there are literally millions of machines that can benefit from predictive maintenance, but previously could not afford it.
Once I saw how to put the system together in my head, and verified that there is a good demand in the market at a price point we could support, I decided it was the right time to make it happen.
That was a year ago almost to the day. Meeting up with Elliot was the key that unlocked the whole thing, and his involvement in building something that works so well cannot be overstated. Ideas are easy, execution is extremely difficult and complex, and without Elliot ProAxion would still just be a concept.
  • What is the basis for the name?
ProAxion (pronounced “pro-action”), is a play on proactive. Our mission is to develop technology tools that help manufacturing facilities use data to be proactive, rather than reactive, which is the way many facilities currently perform maintenance, they fix it after it fails. With our technology they can now manage their machine assets proactively, which helps them raise uptime, and stay competitive.