Business View Magazine | November 2019

244 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2019 PREFERRED VENDORS n Hy-Lok www.hylokusa.com Since 1977, Hy-Lok has been a respected global leader when it comes to the manufacturing and supplying of fluid system components. Our extensive catalogue of valves, fittings, presetting tools and more, have earned Hy-Lok a reputation for exceptional quality, unbeatable customer service, and a dedication to innovation in our field. Each of our Canadian and worldwide locations from North America to Korea, where our development is based, prides themselves on ensuring our customers always have access to the best solutions on the market, as well as expertise they can trust. n IFM www.ifm.com Since 1969, ifm has developed, manufactured and marketed automation solutions to industries that include assembly and robotics, automotive, material handling, packaging, plastics and food and beverage. Ifm has enjoyed strong working partnership with Vitalis Extraction Technology over the past several years and look forward to continued growth for both organizations. customers on that side of things, as well, because there’s a lot of documentation required.” Sherlock: “Training is such an integral piece of our business model. With the rate at which these companies are scaling, the idea of selling a machine is just step one in our relationship. Often, the operators are running a piece of industrial machinery for the first time. And the company may not understand that maintenance on the equipment is not optional. So, a lot of our training goes into how to maintain the equipment for a long life, how to minimize downtime, how to properly manage your inventory of spare parts.” BVM: What plans do you have for Vitalis over the next three to five years? Sherlock: “Most of our manufacturing will be based in Kelowna and we’ll have more parts centers or distribution hubs elsewhere. And we’ll be adding a few more people on our sales teams in Europe, one or two more on our Latin America service teams.” Patterson: “We recently installed a Q90 system in Australia and we lease some warehouse space there where we hold inventory, and we’re just in the final stages of hiring a Vitalis employee who will be a service technician. We had to do a full review on our own processes to ensure we were doing everything right for what was required by the Australian government in the cannabis sector. It’s incredible what they’re asking for but we were happy to be able to supply that.” Sherlock: “We’d like to see increased compliance across this industry. It means safer manufacturing, safer operation at our customer sites when they’re using appropriately certified equipment, and a better quality product for the end consumer. With proper extraction methodology, where we can track any deviances from the quality control process, we can ensure that the patient or the consumer is getting the same product every single time. And that’s critical.”