Ann: Nanotron and Protran sign volume supply agreement, page-21

@Spekul8 and @Minrose. Spot on IMO.

I was speaking to a mate the other day about this tie-up. He works in the rail industry in Australia and elsewhere in the world. Two key issues seem worth mentioning:

1. regulatory change is the primary reason most operators alter existing practices and improve safety protocols. In Australia, and most jurisdictions, regulations regarding rail safety do not oblige workers to be tracked in most situations (my mate works on rail all the time and hasn't had to use a personal tracker... but notes that the use of RFIDs and related systems for tracking rolling stock are increasingly common). On-track collision warning systems for rolling stock have, of course, been in place for ages, but Protran offers collision avoidance equipment for other on-track equipment too.

2. cost savings, combined with other efficiency and/or safety gains, are an impetus for incremental change for many operators. For example, the use of detonators for signalling line workers has been largely phased out in Australia and some other countries and been replaced by less hazardous ways of tracking of rolling stock. There is a strong rationale for using locational tracking for rolling stock and personnel on lines with high traffic. This is particularly significant in busy metropolitan settings (for both surface and underground lines) where there is pressure on operators to increase frequency of traffic in the network.

Protran's safety equipment is well regarded in the industry, but the personal safety systems by-and-large exceed the requirements mandated for worker safety in most countries today. Moreover, in juristictions such as the US where there are many discrete operators, the regulatory environment is complex; while Protran's roadway protection systems (like those of competitor Zoneguard) respond to recommendations by the Federal Railway Administration, the FRA has not mandated any related provisions for worker safety... yet.

Drivers for change can be sudden and dramatic. Sensera's success with its location awareness systems in large underground mines in Turkey is a clear example; the Turkish government introduced sweeping changes to mine safety (incl. tracking of personnel) after the Soma mine disaster in 2014, which killed hundreds of workers. Our partnership with Protran (Harsco, see my earlier posts) embeds us in their safety products (i.e. sticky) and puts us with on the front-foot with regulators in the railway worker space, which is directly related to our mine and other location awareness verticals (i.e. hospitals).

@Minrose has already discussed how our new ISO 13485 certification is putting us on the front-food with changes in medical-tech development (with FDA adopting ISO 13485 in an effort to harmonise global standards for the development of medical devices)... a move that affirms our commitment to best practice in the med-tech space with marquee partners like Abiomed and Harvard's Wyss Institute and our growing list of other med-tech clients.

The cap. raise overhand (hangover) still seems to be dragging on Sensera's SP, as does broader market sentiment towards the spec. sector, but Sensera is quietly ticking boxes and looking the goods IMO. GLTAH R-7