Kanoa
Kanoa develops a modular Manufacturing Execution System (MES) built on Inductive Automation's Ignition platform, serving manufacturers across food & beverage, chemicals, and industrial sectors with configurable production, quality, and traceability software.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersFederal Way, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Kanoa does
Kanoa is a privately held industrial software company founded in October 2018 by Jason and Nicole Coope in Federal Way, Washington, that builds a modular Manufacturing Execution System (MES) on top of Inductive Automation's Ignition platform. The company's product suite comprises Kanoa Ops (real-time production visibility and OEE analytics), Kanoa Trace (lot tracking and traceability), Kanoa Quality (SPC and quality management), and a consolidated kanoaAPP Ignition project that bundles the underlying kanoaCore, kanoaOps, and kanoaQDS modules. The architecture is anchored by an optimized Microsoft SQL Server database following third normal form (3NF) and an API surface of approximately 400 system.kanoa scripting functions covering assets, materials, modes, states, schedules, shifts, and quality checks, designed to be configured rather than coded.
The platform is sold to mid-market and enterprise manufacturers through a sales-led motion combining scheduled guided demos, a self-serve live dashboard at demo.kanoa.ai, and a channel partner program ("Friends of Kanoa") that recruits systems integrators and MES consultants. Kanoa generates revenue from per-gateway/server subscription licenses for production and discounted development/test environments, supplemented by Implementation Assurance professional services. The customer base spans food & beverage (Tree Top, Johnsonville, Mark Anthony Brewing), building materials (Georgia Pacific, Amrize, Bakelite), chemicals (Balchem), industrial safety (MSA Safety), agriculture technology (AgroFresh), and other manufacturing verticals, with the Tree Top/CedarTech case study and an ICC 2025 "Full Plant MES in 8 Weeks" ProveIt session serving as primary proof points.
The product roadmap has accelerated since 2023, with major releases including Kanoa MES v1.4 (August 2024, consolidating projects and adding barcode/image capture for quality checks), Kanoa MES 1.14 (March 2025, with Ignition 8.3 compatibility and deeper OEE/downtime insight), and the Schedule Optimization Accelerator (February 2026) that ships deterministic scheduling heuristics. Kanoa co-markets with CirrusLink Solutions on MQTT-based MES architectures and participates in the broader Ignition ecosystem events (ICC 2025). The company remains founder-led, bootstrapped, and small — roughly 12 named individuals — with no disclosed institutional funding beyond a $0 round with the Washington Technology Industry Association in May 2024.
Kanoa firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Kanoa
- Legal name
- Kanoa, Inc.
- Website
- https://kanoa.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Kanoa develops a modular Manufacturing Execution System (MES) built on Inductive Automation's Ignition platform, serving manufacturers across food & beverage, chemicals, and industrial sectors with configurable production, quality, and traceability software.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Kanoa industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
- NAICS
- Instruments and Related Products Manufacturing for Measuring, Displaying, and Controlling Industrial Process Variables (334513)
- SIC
- Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Industrial Automation Software (SCADA, HMI, MES, Historian) (IMAHAHAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Process & Batch Control Software (Recipe Management, ISA-88) (IMAGABAH), Factory Automation & Control Systems (PLC/SCADA/DCS) (IMAIAMAA)
Keywords
Where Kanoa is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Federal Way
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Kanoa business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- MES Software Licenses and Subscriptions: Kanoa MES is distributed as Ignition modules (kanoaCore, kanoaOps, kanoaQDS) plus supporting projects (kanoaAPP, KANOA_SCRIPTS). The software is licensed per gateway/server. The About page references the software as a product offering with pricing displayed on the website's Pricing page, indicating commercial software sales.
- Implementation and Consulting Services: Kanoa offers 'Implementation Assurance' — expert guidance for successful MES deployment. The company philosophy emphasizes delivering value from day one through consulting, training, and implementation support. This suggests professional services as a revenue stream alongside software licensing.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Production Server License |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Development / Test Environment Licensing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Kanoa product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Kanoa sells Kanoa MES, a modular Manufacturing Execution System built on Inductive Automation's Ignition platform that delivers out-of-the-box production management, OEE analytics, quality management with SPC, lot traceability, scheduling, and shift management for manufacturers. The product is sold as Ignition modules (kanoaCore, kanoaOps, kanoaQDS) plus the kanoaAPP Ignition Project, backed by an Implementation Assurance consulting service and ancillary Accelerators (such as Schedule Optimization) for systems integrators.
Product overview
Kanoa offers a modular Manufacturing Execution System (MES) built on the Inductive Automation Ignition platform. The core Kanoa MES product comprises several integrated modules: Kanoa Ops (operations management with real-time visibility and production execution), Kanoa Trace (lot tracking and traceability), and Kanoa Quality (quality management with SPC). The solution is complemented by Kanoa MES Database (optimized SQL Server backend), Kanoa APP Project (pre-built Ignition screens and workflows), and Implementation Assurance (consulting services). Kanoa MES Accelerators provide reference implementations including Startup Checklist, Machine Setpoints, and Schedule Optimizer for customization. Key features include OEE Analytics, Reliability KPIs with Loss Buckets, Run Review, Run Chart, Marquees (Andon displays), Production Counts tracking, Measures for statistical analysis, and Dashboards for customized reporting.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Kanoa MES A modular Manufacturing Execution System (MES) built on and for Inductive Automation's Ignition platform, providing complete Smart Manufacturing functionality out of the box: production management, OEE analytics, quality management with SPC, lot traceability, shift management, production scheduling, and production analytics. Targeted at manufacturers needing an MES that is configurable rather than custom-coded and that can be deployed in days.
- Kanoa Ops Operations management module of Kanoa MES providing real-time operational visibility, production execution, shift management, and live OEE dashboards for manufacturing plants.
- Kanoa Trace Lot tracking and traceability module of Kanoa MES that captures traceability data across runs, shifts, and quality outcomes, linking lots to assets, timestamps, and product types to support compliance and recall readiness.
- Kanoa Quality Quality management module of Kanoa MES providing statistical process control (SPC) using Western Electric and Nelson rule sets, quality checks, check sheets, attribute-based tolerance specifications, and real-time out-of-control alerts.
- Kanoa APP Project Complete MES Ignition Project providing pre-built screens, workflows, and configuration tools for Kanoa MES; delivered as a single kanoaAPP project combining the formerly separate kanoaCore, kanoaOps, and kanoaQDS projects.
- Implementation Assurance Expert guidance and consulting service for successful MES implementation — coaching manufacturers on the adoption and use of Kanoa software and driving continuous improvement outcomes from day one.
- Kanoa MES Accelerators Library of practical MES implementation resources for Kanoa customers and partners, including the Operator Startup Checklist, Machine Setpoints, and Schedule Optimization reference implementations that provide starting points for custom workflows, asset automation, and work-order-driven behavior.
- Schedule Optimization Accelerator Reference implementation accelerator for production scheduling logic, providing deterministic scheduling heuristics (Baseline EDD, On-Time EDD, Global Least-Slack Priority, and Item Batch Dispatch) built on Ignition Perspective and Jython scripting.
Quantifiable outcome
- Full plant MES deployment achievable in 8 weeks (as demonstrated at ICC 2025 ProveIt)
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Kanoa
Customer profileNamed customers18 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Kanoa technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability4 records
Feature7 records
Kanoa partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- Inductive AutomationcoreKanoa MES is built on and extends Inductive Automation's Ignition platform. Kanoa applications sit on top of Ignition, leveraging its support for connecting to any type of data source. The partnership is foundational — Kanoa is branded as 'Powered by Ignition' and leverages Ignition Gateway, Perspective module, tag system, scripting, and the broader Ignition ecosystem.
- CirrusLink SolutionssupportingKanoa and CirrusLink co-hosted a webinar on Building MES architectures with CirrusLink MQTT. The collaboration demonstrates how MQTT simplifies data flow across distributed manufacturing operations, showing live demonstrations of buffering and data recovery for mission-critical MES environments using CirrusLink MQTT modules alongside Kanoa MES.
- Friends of Kanoa Partner NetworkcoreKanoa's formal partner program welcoming systems integrators, MES design consultants, AI applications providers, infrastructure specialists, and manufacturing community members. Partners create a network of technologies, thought leaders, and solution providers to solve any manufacturing challenge. The program is designed for qualified individuals and companies delivering Smart Manufacturing solutions.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves1 record
Expansion highlights4 records
Kanoa competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Sepasoft: Sepasoft provides MES modules built natively on Inductive Automation's Ignition platform, directly competing with Kanoa MES for the same Ignition-installed-base customers and offering overlapping OEE, quality, and traceability functionality.
- Critical Manufacturing: Critical Manufacturing offers a modular MES for discrete and batch manufacturers, competing head-to-head with Kanoa in verticals such as electronics, medical devices, and food & beverage.
- Aegis Software: Aegis's FactoryLogix is a full MES platform targeting electronics and discrete manufacturers with production execution, quality, and traceability — overlapping Kanoa's target use cases and customer profile.
- iBASEt: iBASEt's Solumina MES serves complex discrete and process manufacturers with production execution, quality, and shop-floor integration — a directly comparable offering to Kanoa MES for industrial customers.
- Werum IT Solutions (Körber): Werum's PAS-X is a leading MES in regulated process industries (pharma, biotech, F&B), directly competing with Kanoa in shared verticals such as food & beverage and life sciences.
- Lighthouse Systems: Lighthouse Systems provides modular MES for batch and process manufacturers, including SPC, OEE, and traceability, overlapping with Kanoa's Kanoa Ops, Kanoa Quality, and Kanoa Trace modules.
Others
- Inductive Automation: Inductive Automation is the platform vendor on which Kanoa is built and the operator of the Ignition ecosystem; it is also a quasi-competitor since Ignition can be extended for MES functionality, and its roadmap and partner economics directly shape Kanoa's opportunity.
Broad incumbents
- Siemens Opcenter: Siemens Opcenter is a broad, enterprise MES suite competing against Kanoa in larger accounts where manufacturers standardize on the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio.
- Rockwell Automation (Plex / FactoryTalk): Rockwell's FactoryTalk and Plex MES offerings target discrete and process manufacturers with deep integration to Rockwell controls — a broad incumbent competing for the same plant-floor modernization budgets as Kanoa.
- AVEVA MES (CONNECT): AVEVA's MES offerings serve process and hybrid manufacturers with enterprise-scale production management, competing with Kanoa for industrial customers pursuing unified operations strategies.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Kanoa social profiles
Digital presenceKanoa financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Kanoa leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Kanoa funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Kanoa M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Kanoa
What does Kanoa do?
Kanoa sells Kanoa MES, a modular Manufacturing Execution System built on Inductive Automation's Ignition platform that delivers out-of-the-box production management, OEE analytics, quality management with SPC, lot traceability, scheduling, and shift management for manufacturers. The product is sold as Ignition modules (kanoaCore, kanoaOps, kanoaQDS) plus the kanoaAPP Ignition Project, backed by an Implementation Assurance consulting service and ancillary Accelerators (such as Schedule Optimization) for systems integrators.
Is Kanoa a public or private company?
Kanoa is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Kanoa founded?
Kanoa was founded in 2018. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Kanoa based?
Kanoa is headquartered in Federal Way, United States, in the North America region.
How does Kanoa make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. MES Software Licenses and Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are implementation and Consulting Services.
Who are Kanoa's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Sepasoft, Critical Manufacturing, Aegis Software, iBASEt, Werum IT Solutions (Körber) and Lighthouse Systems. Inductive Automation is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are Siemens Opcenter, Rockwell Automation (Plex / FactoryTalk) and AVEVA MES (CONNECT).
Does Kanoa have an API?
No public API is recorded for Kanoa.
What industry is Kanoa in?
Kanoa's product category is Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). Its primary akta.pro industry code is IMAHAHAJ, Industrial Automation Software (SCADA, HMI, MES, Historian), with a secondary code of IMAGABAH, Process & Batch Control Software (Recipe Management, ISA-88). Its NAICS code is 334513 and its SIC code is 3823.