Cortex

Context

Sheertex (SRTX) made indestructible hosiery using industrial knitting machines. When I joined, they had a radical product and an equally radical factory to build. The problem was that there was no software that could tie the whole operation together. Machines, production runs, quality data, and business metrics were all disconnected.

What I built

Cortex was the factory operating system. It connected every machine on the floor, every production run, and every business metric into one system: real-time machine data, production tracking, quality checks, inventory, scheduling, reporting, and analytics all tied directly to what was happening on the floor.

Most manufacturing software is either too generic (ERP systems that require endless customization) or too narrow (single-machine monitoring tools). Cortex was built from the inside, by someone embedded on the factory floor for years, so it actually fit how the operation worked.

It became the only software-connected hosiery factory in the world.

The bigger picture

This experience showed me how much potential there is to bring manufacturing and innovation back to Canada. The gap between what software can do and what most factories actually use is enormous. It’s something I’m actively exploring.