Zhero Industrial AI is an independent Ontario practice that helps small and mid-sized Canadian manufacturers decide where AI and automation will actually pay off, and where they won't. 

 

Founded by Patrick Armstrong (Red Seal 313A, CEM, CEA, MMBA), Zhero delivers Industrial AI readiness evaluations and focused automation work. It assesses management, technology, data and skills separately, because a plant can be strong in three and blocked by the fourth. The practice is vendor-neutral: it sells no software, so every recommendation is to build, buy, or not do it at all.

Patrick brings 20+ years of operations leadership. He started on the tools as a refrigeration mechanic, then founded a services business unit, led a greenfield expansion into Western Canada, and ran a four-market energy division. Most recently he led a manufacturer's multi-site scale-up and digitization.

Zhero's approach is simple: find the real constraint first, scope the work to the team you actually have, and say so when AI isn't the next best investment.