Proof, not promises
The track record that gets Exceed started.
Before Exceed, founder Ian Taylor built a controls and automation company called Connect Control Systems — and ran it onto one of the most credible private-company rankings in Canada.
Canada · 2015
84th on Canada's Profit 500.
Under Ian's leadership, Connect Control Systems earned the 84th spot nationally and 6th in the Edmonton region on the Canadian Business / Globe and Mail 2015 Profit 500 — the magazine's annual ranking of Canada's fastest-growing private companies, based on five-year revenue growth. Read the St. Albert Gazette coverage →
That ranking is a verifiable third-party credential. It's what an operator's résumé looks like when the work is real.
Source: Canadian Business / Globe and Mail · Profit 500 · annual ranking of Canada's fastest-growing private companies by 5-year revenue growth.
Founder
Why Exceed exists.
Ian Taylor
Founder & Principal · Exceed Group of Companies
Ian spent two decades building and running industrial-controls companies in Alberta before starting Exceed. Connect Control Systems grew on the back of tight client relationships, a field-first culture, and an unwillingness to over-promise. Hitting the Profit 500 wasn't the goal — it was a side-effect of that discipline.
Connect was eventually wound down following a failed merger. Rather than chase scale for its own sake, Ian started Exceed and invited longtime clients to continue the relationship here. Most of them did — because the work is done by the same people, with the same standards, on the same terms.
Exceed's philosophy is deliberate: stay small enough that senior engineers are on every job, vendor-independent so the platform fits the process instead of the catalogue, and close enough to clients that the relationship survives the next merger, acquisition, or management reshuffle — whoever's having it.
The long arc
Twenty-plus years in industrial controls.
EARLY CAREER
Field technician to systems engineer.
Started in the plants — commissioning PLCs, tuning drives, troubleshooting control loops on live process equipment. The grounding that still defines how Exceed approaches every job.
CONNECT CONTROL SYSTEMS
Built and scaled an Alberta controls firm.
Founded and led Connect Control Systems across power, oil & gas, and manufacturing projects throughout North America. Landed long-term service relationships with generation, midstream, and industrial clients that are still active today.
2015
84th on Canada's Profit 500.
Connect Control Systems ranked 84th on the Canadian Business / Globe and Mail Profit 500 list of Canada's fastest-growing private companies — validation of a field-first operating model and disciplined growth.
TRANSITION
Connect winds down · Exceed stands up.
After a failed merger, Connect was wound down. Ian founded Exceed and most longtime clients followed the relationship. Same people, same standards, clean structure.
2022 — 2026
Thirteen delivered projects across four industries.
Power & utilities, oil & gas, manufacturing, and R&D / prototyping — from Alberta to the Gulf Coast. See the Projects page for the full catalogue.
Vendor-independent by design
Platforms we work with.
Exceed is deliberately vendor-agnostic. We write the logic to fit the process — not the catalogue. The systems below are representative of what our engineers sit in front of every week across controls, electrical analysis, and process design. Not exhaustive.
01 Automation & Control
PLCs, HMIs, SCADA — the daily-driver stack for process and discrete automation.
02 Generator & Power Controls
Generator controllers, protection relays, and turbine / engine control systems.
03 Engineering & Analysis
Drafting, 3D modelling, process simulation, and electrical-system studies.
04 VFDs & Drives
Variable-frequency drives, soft-starts, and servo systems from fractional-HP up to megawatt-class.
ComAP — Certified installation platform · in progress
If your facility runs it, we've probably written logic for it — or modelled it, drawn it, or studied it. If we haven't, we'll tell you before we start, and we'll learn it properly before we touch live equipment.