APN is a precision machine shop located in Québec City that differentiates itself through information technology. APN’s motto – perfection multiplied – reflects its focus on technology to produce consistent and reproducible results for its customers in the aerospace and other industries.
We had the opportunity to speak with APN President, Yves Proteau to discuss the how the company differentiates itself from other machine shop manufacturing facilities for aerospace, and how the Internet of Things has differentiated APN from its competition. APN is an internet 4.0 technology showcase site in Québec as a result of its technological advances in integrating robotics and interconnecting CAD-CAM files and specifications from its customers to seamlessly produce parts to the highest levels of precision, which has been better than six sigma levels.
APN is a family owned business, founded in 1970 by Claude Proteau. Today, his two sons, Jean and Yves Proteau, are co-presidents and continue to grow the company.
What differentiates APN is the system they create to integrate information and add artificial intelligence to enable 5-axis machines to run almost autonomously. They are a group that utilizes robotics and IT to quickly implement new products by leveraging automation and rapidly developing high quality at lower costs, including integration with customer data and drawings. The company is competitive anywhere in the world and is currently reversing the trend to move to low-cost countries. Currently, the company is pulling business from companies in Poland, for example, because they can build products faster and cheaper than they can locally. APN may be the most advanced user of IOT 4.0 in Quebec.
APN has grown by 40% over the last two years and is aiming at continued double-digit growth over the next few years. The company has invested in engineering and IT talent to continue the development of state of the art processes and maintain advantages in both quality and cost.
The Bottom Line:
APN is a machine shop that has been redesigned and rebuilt through the use of information technology and is a world-class competitor. Even the composition of the company’s board of directors has young engineers with advanced IT and manufacturing process engineering skills. APN is a company that differentiates itself through advanced information technology.
