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Quality over Quantity for Communications Company

Heidi Levitt - NLT
President and CEO

STORY INLINE POST

Wed, 10/18/2017 - 16:39

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Despite the availability of lower-priced and often lowerquality products, Mexican consumers appear to put a priority on quality and are willing to pay for it. A McKinsey and Co. study in 2012 found that, after the financial downturn, only 4 percent switched to less expensive alternatives. Heidi Levitt, President and CEO of Northern Light Technologies, says this trait bodes well for companies like NLT.

“Even though Mexico is a highly underprivileged market, it really embraces quality,” she says. “The country seems to be willing to spend money on technology if the quality is worth the investment.” This, she says, serves the company well given the increased competition caused by the lower-quality products that are flooding in from Asian countries.

Northern Light, which develops and deploys technologies to make mines safer and more efficient, is focusing on getting its digital communication products into Mexico to enable communication underground and on surface mines. The technology allows companies to track people and equipment, optimizes safety and operational costs and automates mines. Northern Light recently introduced equipment into a mine in Durango belonging to Grupo Bacis, which Levitt says will be the company’s market test; end users, after all, are usually unwilling to play the role of guinea pig.

“Mexico is an important market sector for us because it has a tremendous amount of mining and exploration potential,” says Levitt. The company also has a strong relationship with its Mexican distributor, which gives the company invaluable experience from a local context, as well as a great number of connections in the mining market. As a result, Northern Light has penetrated the cap-lamp business and is now looking to expand its offering.

This expansion comes at an opportune time as Mexican companies are becoming more concerned about safety and measuring air quality to avoid compromising employee health and safety. “In certain cases, companies may opt for buying a cheaper system and end up recognizing that they need a full solutions system,” says Levitt. “They then come to us in search of a more professional system. Mexico is becoming more receptive to the digital mine concept.”

Companies normally start with voice systems, Levitt says, because it is an easy way to transition into increased automation and has a tangible value from the outset. “All companies want to communicate faster. This system allows staff outside the mine to talk to specialists in the mine through an underground phone system,” she says. The old leaky feeder technology using UHF or VHF radios only allows internal users to communicate, with a dispatcher facilitating the call. But with voice over IP (VoIP), the connection works just like an extension and colleagues outside the mine can also be contacted.

These kinds of automated systems are the first step toward increasing productivity. Northern Light, which was the first company to introduce Wi-Fi networks to underground coal mines, can create Wi-Fi ecosystems in mines that enable people to move faster, which saves the company money as it optimizes productivity and strengthens safety in operations. Solutions such as health metrics are important as data is collected from mining machines that operators can use to measure when they need to change a piece of equipment in real time and other significant details.

“Our Wi-Fi infrastructure is easy to use and can be managed by users that do not have highly technical expertise,” says Levitt. “We have slick software that maps out mines in the same way that Google Maps works. Companies can use it to zoom in and out and updated maps can also be installed into the software quickly to make sure the map does not remain static.” Users can even use these systems to check their email accounts underground.

This adaptability has allowed Northern Light the opportunity to work with Bacis and soon Levitt hopes to establish relationships with other major operators. With the right demand, the company is even willing to set up manufacturing facilities in the country, meaning it will be here for the long haul.

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