Paging company transforms to manufacture mining product: Jannatec finds niche developing cap lamp with two-way radio. (Special Report: Sudbury).

Experience in the wireless two-way radio industry and good business sense led two local entrepreneurs to diversify their business by developing a niche product for the mining industry.

Greater Sudbury's Jannatec Radio Technologies was first founded in 1989 as a paging and wireless two-way radio company by Wayne Ablitt and Joey Knechtel. But, in the late 1990s they were approached by Inco Ltd. to combine a cap lamp and a two-way radio for miners, and after four-and-a-half years of testing and going through various approval procedures, the cap lamp hit the marketplace.

The Johnny Light Radio Cap Lamp is a cap lamp with a two-way radio incorporated into it, explains Ablitt, co-owner of Jannatec. Five years ago, Inco approached a number of other radio companies to develop such a product, but no other company was interested, says Ablitt. Ablitt and his partner were also approached, and the two decided to run with the project.

"We decided it was worthwhile for us to venture down here and go with the project," Ablitt says. "We felt that our industry was changing and that we had to get into a niche market in order to survive."

The company now concentrates almost exclusively on manufacturing the product.

"We could have stayed in a two-way business, but it would not have been as lucrative a business as entering into the manufacturing industry side of things," Ablitt says. "As our market changed, out technology changed so now we are basically the manufacturer of the Johnny Light Cap Lamp."

In fact, Ablitt indicates that the company has already sold over 2,000 units of the product since it first went on the market about two years ago. He also points out that the company has done well nationally and that there is international potential as well.

"We have dealers set up in Quebec and Manitoba and our plan is to expand this into the Canadian market and then into the U.S. and world market."

He also adds that the product was specifically designed by miners to be "mine tough" and to provide for a smaller and lighter package for miners.

"We worked in co-operation with Inco to develop this, so they would test our prototypes and tell us what was wrong with it and what we should be doing to improve it."

The product features a focusable lamp, up to 14 hours of standard usage, an environmentally friendly battery, as well as external programming capability for frequency change and minor maintenance.

"We do not look at it as a radio cap lamp anymore," he says. "We look at the unit as a communications device that every miner should have for safety purposes and for mines to improve their productivity."

The radio cap lamp also includes optional features, such as a safety track feature. When installed on a feeder system, explains Ablitt, the Safety Trak can track each miner each time the two-way radio is used. If the miner is working alone and does not check in, the Safety Trak will automatically page the miner continuously until that miner does finally check in. If the miner subsequently fails to check in, a supervisor is dispatched to physically check on the miner. In addition, if the situation is serious, the Safety Trak can send a signal to open the microphone and listen to the surrounding noise in the miner's work area The background noise can then be used to find out why the miner did not check in.

The company is also currently working on a tag reader, but Ablitt says they still have a lot of work to do before that hits the market.

The company was first known as Page North Communications and was located on the Kingsway in Greater Sudbury. Three months ago the company moved to a 4,000-square-foot facility on Kelly Lake Road. They now manufacture everything they sell.

www.jannatec.com