A Tauranga design engineering company is on the cusp of starting production of an industrial safety product which could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Multifid in Greerton has developed an electronic device which can track the movements of people working in proximity to heavy vehicles/machinery and warn the operator - a technology that could save lives and prevent hundreds, if not thousands, of costly accidents.
The device uses sonar equipment to track workers and radio equipment to send audio warnings to operators when their workmates are close by or behind a large object the operator intends moving.
A reversing truck driver may hear a warning like "stop, stop, stop, Tom is behind you".
Multifid owner James Graham has been working on the project for two years and last year brought in Paul Edwards to market the product, SonaSafe, through a company called Toi Mata.