This is obvious for Can-Explore president Louis Légaré-Lapointe.
As the number of calls for tenders increases, Cities appear more concerned with managing their assets well and being proactive. Not just reactive, he has observed over the past few years.
According to him, sewers are the “unloved” of public infrastructures. Several actions were carried out between the 1950s and 1960s. And they are only being renewed slowly.
“We don’t see them, they are under our feet. But, when it breaks, we know it,” he sums up.
Inspection camera
To help municipalities monitor thousands of kilometers of sewer pipes, the engineering firm specializing in infrastructure asset management founded in 2014 released the ZIPCAM 360 inspection camera.
The ZIPCAM 360 is the result of two years of prototyping and optimization. (Caroline Grégoire/The Sun)
Combining mechanical engineering and software engineering, the device captures 360-degree real-time images as it circulates through the pipes. Valuable data which will subsequently be analyzed by a technician with a right arm: artificial intelligence.
“We don’t just collect data. We manage it for customers when the time comes to make the decision to change the sewer pipes because they are worn, they have the answer at their fingertips in a few clicks,” he adds, mentioning that A web application was also developed.
“Innovations like ZIPCAM that save costs and improve decision-making are more welcome than ever.”
— Louis Légaré-Lapointe, president of Can-Explore
Doing two operations in one – part cleaning and part data collection – is the advance behind the technology, in addition to being able to control the device remotely from a mobile application. Never seen before to his knowledge, admits the president of Can-Explore.
Save time and money
A few municipalities in Quebec have already gotten their hands on the ZIPCAM 360, while Can-Explore is beginning its commercialization phase.
If we are led to believe that the camera is aimed more at larger cities, this is not the case, Mr. Légaré-Lapointe lets slip.
A need is felt in small, more remote municipalities, while “transport [des spécialistes] costs them more than the inspection report delivered,” he whispers.
He also estimates that by combining cleaning with inspection, the use of the device makes it possible to cut the necessary resources in half. “We are reducing the need for labor from four to two people. And the need for trucks from two to a single service vehicle.”
An asset at a time when labor scarcity is also rife in their industry, says the president.
A need that goes beyond Quebec
No sooner has it been put on the market than the inspection camera will be distributed in English Canada and the United States.
A chance meeting of the entrepreneurs behind GapVax, headquartered in Pennsylvania, during a conference allowed them to sign this new collaboration last March.
“It’s a family service company. They have a history that resembles ours and cover the entire United States,” points out mechanical engineer Samuel Lambert, who joined Can-Explore in 2018.
Asked what the market represents on the United States side, Mr. Légaré-Lapointe replies that there are “Drummondvilles every ten kilometers”.
A sign that the sales potential is significant.
“We are already putting the strategies in place for the boom that we hope to see come in the coming months,” he points out with confidence.
