Wear Kinetic

Wear Kinetic is a newer upstart company focusing on technically advanced solutions to combat workplace related injuries among front line workers. A rock-solid team of individuals skilled in engineering, artificial intelligence, and robotics banded together to produce the wearable, clip-on device known as REFLEX. The REFLEX device utilizes sensors to track the movements of the wearer and transmits activity into data sets that are then managed to identify high-risk postures, progress towards company movement goals, and total sets of specific motions. One of the most remarkable features of the device is its ability to provide real-time alerts through light vibrations if a wearer is in a position prone to strain or injury without proper safety precautions.  

Additional features of these devices include on-screen data of wearer’s mobility statistics, gamified displays, and goal and reward functions. The effectiveness of REFLEX has already been indisputably proven in test studies showing wearers reduced improper postures by 72% while using the device. Employers have found that the REFLEX data and predictive analytics, which is compiled into the REFLEX dashboard, specifies injuries by job type, day of the week, by individual, movement at time of injury, and companywide progress towards reducing bodily harm to be especially useful.  

Andrew Tergis, the Tech Lead of the Electrical Engineering team at Wear Kinetic, has several core duties within the company including, but not limited to, overseeing hardware product development, maintaining hardware engineering, managing the manufacturing and supply-chain production. Looking forward to the next few years, he will be leading the engineering team in producing a second generation of the wearable waistband device.  

The central mission fueling Wear Kinetic is to help businesses, from small mom and pop stores all the way up to major corporate brands, such as Frito-Lay and Iron Mountain, to reduce worker’s compensation costs, reduce lost work days, reduce risk of employee injury, and improve the day to day experience of front-line employees with the best analytic software and real-time data feedback technology available.  

Prior to collaborating with Mid-Hudson Works, Wear Kinetics was encountering some difficulties with the timing of their manufacturing of the REFLEX devices, coupled with international delays in shipping speeds that resulted from the impacts of COVID-19 worldwide. Additionally, finding a dependable workforce to resolve a possible defect in the initial battery of REFLEX was another hinderance to production. Mid-Hudson Works was able to assist by assigning a task force of veterans and individuals with disabilities in search of employment to manage these tasks.  

The leadership team of Wear Kinetic was first informed of Mid-Hudson Works by a colleague in New York City who works in startup development. Wear Kinetic was looking for manufacturing facilities close to New York City, as well as technological support, and thus trusted the advice of an advisor close to their home base in New York City.  

Wear Kinetic decided to work with Mid-Hudson Works because they were looking to transition their production of REFLEX from South China to the United States. They also wanted to find facility space for production of REFLEX outside of Brooklyn, which has limited operating square footage, and to check in regularly in-person on the production of their device as its assembly developed over time. Mr. Tergis also mentioned that Wear Kinetic fully supports Mid-Hudson Works in their mission to provide veterans and individuals with disabilities to become valued members of the labor market. 

Mid-Hudson Works has assisted Wear Kinetic in terms of their flexibility with the manufacture of REFLEX, their ability to provide a solid foundation from which to scale further upon in terms of staffing, in quickly finding workers to dissemble and rework REFLEX batteries, test for flaws in each iteration of the REFLEX device, and in finding solutions when specific tools needed for the manufacture of REFLEX were challenging to find or expensive to acquire.  

In the near future, Wear Kinetic aims to continue to reach businesses of all sizes, from the hundreds of thousands to less than ten in size. Wear Kinetics goal is to improve the ergonomics of the workplace, and thereby the lives of their employees, by providing workers with the tools to be conscious and mindful of their movements throughout the workday. The engineering team aims to roll out new products to continue the success of REFLEX. As Wear Kinetic also has their own insurance company through Nationwide, they will continue to offer insurance coverage services to businesses that are looking for an insurer who is experienced with worker’s compensation policies. Their mission is to reduce workplace injuries through prevention and employee self-monitoring, rather than the sole use of outside regulations. 

We thank Wear Kinetic for trusting in Mid-Hudson Works and continue to support their products and exponential reach into workplace safety nationwide.