IW Technologies

Fair warning: we walked into Anderson Humane to drop off donations and very nearly walked out with several new coworkers. (The four-legged kind.)

All throughout May, all IW team members across the company pitched in to collect dog food, cat food, and pet supplies for the animals at Anderson Animal Shelter. And when the month wrapped up, we packed an SUV to the ceiling. The animals at Anderson are going to be eating well for a while.

It was a true company-wide effort, and the generosity that poured in says a lot about the people we get to work with.

Huge thanks to the team at Anderson Humane for the work they do every single day, and for letting us hang out with a few very good boys and girls while we were there. Saying no to those faces took more willpower than any of us expected.
To the dogs, cats, and critters at Anderson: this one's for you.

In today’s world, staying with a company for 5 years says something. Staying for 25, 35, or 40+ years says everything.

It says the work matters.
It says the people beside you are worth showing up for.
It says the culture is real.

Some of these folks have been part of IW longer than a few of our next-generation team members have been alive. But more importantly, they’ve helped shape the standards, stories, and spirit that make IW what it is.

So last week, we made sure that kind of loyalty got the spotlight it deserves.
Yes, there were trophies. Really good ones.

Because when someone gives years of their talent, grit, patience, problem-solving, and ‘I got it handled” energy to a company, that deserves more than a quiet thank-you.
From the warehouse floor to customer support, from sales to service, from behind-the-scenes problem solvers to the familiar faces our customers count on, these are the people who have carried IW forward year after year.
And as IW celebrates 50 years, we’re not just looking back at the business we’ve built. We’re honoring the people who helped build it.

To every milestone honoree: thank you for the years, the stories, the standards, and the steady “we’ve got this” energy that makes IW feel like IW.

P.S. We’re proud to be Great Place To Work Certified. But having team members who have been here 40+, 35+, 25+, 20+, 10+, and 5 years?

That might be our biggest flex.

ESLs don’t usually fail in the demo. They fail when the rollout hits the sales floor.

Store 115 doesn’t match the prototype.
The shelving layout changed after the last remodel.
A rail that worked in apparel doesn’t fit beauty.
A gateway looks fine on the floor plan but leaves dead zones near the back wall.
An overnight install window turns into rework the next morning.

That’s where deployments either stay controlled or start creating problems store teams have to live with.

A single store can mean 20,000 to 60,000 labels.

That’s thousands of mount points, assets to track, batteries to manage, and devices that eventually need service or disposition.

That’s not signage. That’s infrastructure.

Mike Thornton has spent 20+ years in store technology rollouts where these details determine whether projects scale cleanly or turn into constant maintenance. He breaks down why ESL success depends on the teams that rarely get talked about early enough:

Procurement | Deployment | Low-voltage| Field service | Maintenance |Disposition.

Because once ESLs hit the sales floor, software alone doesn’t fix broken rails, signal dead zones, bad mounting, or lifecycle gaps. Experienced ex*****on does.

Read more at https://www.weareiw.com/blog/electronic-shelf-label-deployment/

If Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) ROI is only modeled as paper tag savings, the business case is incomplete.

In grocery, labor is only one part of the equation.

The stronger question is how ESLs change ex*****on at scale.

Because pricing work touches more than tags.

It affects promo accuracy.
Markdown timing.
Front-end disputes.
Shrink exposure.
Fresh department ex*****on.
Store labor capacity.

That is where the economics start to change.

Not from replacing paper with digital tags.
From using ESLs to strengthen the operating model behind labor, pricing accuracy, and margin protection.

Justin Lockefeer, Vice President of Domestic and International Sales at IW Technologies, breaks down how grocery operations leaders should think about ESL ROI and why usage depth matters more than the label itself.

Not hype. Not a pitch.

A practical look at labor, ex*****on, and payback from a grocery operations lens.

If ESLs are part of your 2026 planning, this is the right way to pressure-test the business case.

Link in comments below.

Turns out, the secret to lasting 50 years is not just reliable hardware and great service.

It is good people.

IW Technologies is officially Great Place To Work Certified™ and in our 50th year, this one hits differently.

Because a company does not reach five decades on strategy alone.

It reaches 50 years because the people inside it keep building, keep solving, keep caring about the work, and somehow still find time for a laugh when the day gets a little too “Monday.”

From hardware and lifecycle services to repairs, rollouts, warehouse hustle, service calls, customer saves, wellness challenges, holiday traditions, and the everyday moments that make IW feel like IW this Certification points back to the team behind it all.

Our most important operating system has always been our people.

And because this recognition came directly from employee feedback, we wear the Great Place To Work badge with a whole lot of pride.

The badge is official.
The people behind it are the real flex.

Read the full news release on Yahoo Finance: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/iw-technologies-marks-50-years-134000015.html