Smart Skin

Smart Skin Technologies Inc. (SmartSkin) is a Fredericton, New Brunswick-based industrial IoT company that builds sensor-equipped "digital container twins" — devices shaped like a bottle or can that travel through conveying, filling and packaging systems just like a real container. As they move along the line, they measure the magnitude and location of damaging forces including pressure, impact/shock, vibration, spin and tilt, and transmit the readings to accompanying software for analysis. The company's patented Quantifeel solutions combine sensors, analytics and artificial intelligence to give manufacturers actionable data on the forces their containers experience during filling and packaging, so that previously undetectable adverse or abnormal operating conditions can be identified and corrected.

The products are marketed to two principal industries: pharmaceutical manufacturing and food and beverage. In pharma, SmartSkin positions its platform for quality assurance and quality control teams, supporting reduction of glass breakage, faster root-cause analysis and corrective/preventive actions, line qualification and validation, and container closure integrity; data collection is typically performed during water-fill cycles, changeovers and maintenance cycles so production need not be halted. In beverage and food, the technology is used to diagnose line handling problems, compare line performance against a generated industry benchmark, and track historical performance for managerial decisions.

The company originated as a University of New Brunswick spinoff. An earlier iteration of the Quantifeel technology was introduced for golfers to measure pressure points on a golfer's grip, before the company focused on the Quantifeel DRONE product for bottling and packaging lines.

Founding story

The company is a spinoff of the University of New Brunswick, founded by Kumaran Thillainadarajah, who graduated from UNB's Activator program and earned a diploma from the J. Herbert Smith Centre for Technology Management and Entrepreneurship, and won the New Brunswick Young Entrepreneurs Award (under 35) in 2009. In its early years all ten of its employees were UNB graduates, a majority with postgraduate degrees in engineering and science, and its research director, Dr. Felipe Chibante, was an associate professor in UNB's department of chemical engineering.

Business model

SmartSkin sells hardware container twins together with proprietary analytics software to industrial manufacturers, supported by demos and direct engagement with sales and product experts, and by a network of representatives and regional distributors.

Sales of sensor-based container twin hardware together with proprietary analytics software to manufacturers, sold directly and through distributors and representatives.

Traction

Reported global presence covering 30+ countries sold to, 50+ brands and 170+ customer sites. Customer testimonials cite avoided repair costs of roughly $200,000-$300,000 and about two weeks of downtime at a global soft drink company, and reduced glass defects and corrected line behaviour at a global vaccine manufacturer. Major bottling and packaging companies in Europe and North America adopted the Quantifeel DRONE technology in its early years.

Latest developments

In August 2025 CIBC Innovation Banking provided a $7.5 million growth capital facility to be used to expand market reach. In October 2025 the company was named to the Canadian Food Innovation Network's inaugural Foodtech Frontier 25 as an Established Leader for work on zero-defect manufacturing with digital container twins and real-time analytics. The company has also announced a Pharma Seal Assurance solution providing real-time information on container closure integrity and seal performance.