The canary in the coal mine and the Motornostix Canary® story

Canaries were used in coal mining to provide early warning signals of toxic gases. Gases like carbon monoxide would make the more sensitive bird sick before affecting the miners. The visual and audible canary was therefore an excellent early warning system and the phase “canary in a coal mine” is frequently used to refer to a person or thing that serves as a warning of a looming crisis. Likewise the Motornostix Canary offers a critical early warning solution for people to be safe and operate their production machines optimally.

The idea of internet condition monitoring become reality

The idea of a web-based sensor was investigated at the University of Cape Town and the Cape Technicon as a series of post-graduate projects during 1997 and 1998. While there was not any immediate local requirement for such a sensor, it seemed like such a versatile concept that it was worth pursuing and learning the ins and outs of the technology. In 1999, an opportunity arose when a private investor mooted the idea of a web-based condition monitoring system. Development started in that year and continued through 2000. In late 2000, the system was mature enough for commercial development, so venture capital was obtained and Motornostix (Pty) Ltd was formed. After a year of further development, the system was launched on a commercial basis and the Motornostix Canary was born.

Delivering value, now and into the future

Motornostix has grown and learned from its experience in the market from being product-focused to the understanding that we are in a long-term partnership with our clients to solve their problems, and not just to try to sell product to them. We are proud to have been able to add value to clients across many industries including Mining, Minerals Processing, Steel, Automotive, Paper and packaging, Food and beverages, FMCG, Property and Asset care, in South Africa and other parts of Africa.

The Motornostix solutions are Proudly Designed and Made in South Africa and developed specifically for easy application on production critical and most rotating machines. Motornostix, an EME company, has a 100% BBBEE compliance Level 4 rating.

Our most valued team consists of engineers from the mechanical, electrical and electronic disciplines, software development, technicians and administration staff. With many decades of experience in plant maintenance, asset management, electronics, sensor and signal processing, software development and making things work and work well in the real world and the internet of things, are we confident in delivering real value to our clients.