Jounce Therapeutics, a pioneer of precision immunotherapies for cancer, was facing challenges in managing all the assay and antibody data from concept to IND across different teams. They were using multiple software platforms that did not communicate well with each other, leading to productivity loss as wet lab and informatics groups had to spend time transferring files and copying/pasting data across these platforms. The informatics group also had to spend valuable time maintaining and connecting these multiple software ‘solutions’. Critical data was stored in multiple software applications across different servers, complicating report generation, insight generation, and regulatory compliance. The friction of multiple logins and the need for specific training on how to best use each different software platform frustrated scientists and impacted productivity.

Enveda Biosciences, a company that uses a computational metabolomics platform to discover new chemicals for drug development, was facing challenges in organizing and scaling their foundational data. The company was generating a large amount of structure-activity relationship (SAR), biomarker, and mechanistic readout data that they could no longer manage with siloed data solutions. They needed a data platform that could automatically structure experimental data and feed it into their machine learning pipelines. The platform also needed to be intuitive and user-friendly, as well as capable of handling robust and iterative data models customized to Enveda’s use case.

uniQure, a leading pioneer in gene therapy, faced several challenges in their operations. As an international company with worksites in Amsterdam and Lexington, Massachusetts, they found it challenging to share data and collaborate across research sites. Their paper-based workflows made it difficult to track results and streamline experiment execution. A lack of standardized Notebook templates led to nonstandard experimental workflows and impeded quality control. These challenges were further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced some uniQure scientists to work from home.

TurtleTree Labs, a biotechnology company with a mission to create lab-produced milk, faced challenges as it grew. The company found it difficult to track and optimize processes in the lab through spreadsheets and emails. Without a centralized system for experimental data, the executive team couldn’t easily get an overview of research progress, making it difficult to set new goals and timelines. Additionally, R&D teams distributed across Singapore and Pakistan needed an easy way to share progress and results.

Novozymes, a company focused on harnessing the power of enzymes and microbes to solve global challenges, was facing issues with its data management. The company's strain engineering teams were dealing with an increasing volume of data, from hundreds to thousands of samples, which required a more modern digital infrastructure for better connectivity and scalability. The company had many point solutions and regularly brought on new or custom software to address specific scientist needs. Over time, data about plasmids, strains, and assays were spread across multiple systems. Data scientists spent up to 90% of their time trying to reformat data to glean insights. Routine reports were hard to create and even harder to automate. Additionally, scientists had to hunt through Excel sheets, emails, and databases for past results, taking scientists away from science.

AC Immune, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, was facing challenges in harmonizing data quality and standardization across the company. The R&D teams were using lab notebooks and spreadsheet-based software for data storage, analysis, and sharing, which was time-consuming. The company wanted to speed up crucial handoffs by offering the ability to easily search and interact with data across teams, experiments, and sites. Furthermore, AC Immune was looking for a systematized approach for capturing, sharing, and referencing data to boost data-driven decision-making for cross-functional projects.

Gilead, a global biopharmaceutical company, was facing challenges in managing data across its process development teams. The teams were using multiple systems and databases, managed through a mixture of email, Excel, and an on-premise electronic lab notebook (ELN), which resulted in data silos within and across teams. This made data capture challenging and required time-consuming manual handoffs between teams. Furthermore, aggregating data and conducting trend analysis was difficult and time-consuming, leading to less data-driven decision making.

The customer, a major mobile communications vendor, was faced with the challenge of designing, developing, and manufacturing a high volume of 5G-ready remote radio units (RRUs) for their customers. These RRUs needed to cover a variety of frequency bands and power levels. The emergence of 5G has led to an increase in demand for a wider variety of RRUs with different frequency and power level requirements. The customer needed a partner with strong design, new product development, test engineering, and global manufacturing capabilities as well as scale.

The cloud industry is experiencing significant growth, and keeping pace with infrastructure build-out demands is a major challenge. A leading cloud service provider was in need of a partner to design and manufacture high-quality motherboards on a massive scale. The size of the project left no room for error. Even the smallest errors could result in delayed deployment and increased total cost of ownership (TCO). The customer needed an attentive partner they could trust with their design-led manufacturing. They also needed to navigate unplanned obstacles such as sourcing issues and the impact of tariffs, and hit their cost and schedule targets.

In the automotive industry, style and energy efficiency are paramount. Automakers are increasingly using energy-efficient LED lighting in designs, from taillights to instrument panels. As more products become “smart”, the underlying technologies need to adapt to new shapes and offer powerful functionality in ever-smaller packages. The challenge was to optimize LED solutions for customers in the automotive industry by making the flexible circuit technology lighter, simplifying the design, and reducing costs.

Titan Company was focused on developing a unique wearable to address the demand in the urban youth market through their Fastrack brand. Since the product was targeted at youth, cost targets were challenging for the project to be viable. Also, the 9mm slimness meant that the entire assembly of the band had to be done in a very controlled environment with plenty of technical expertise.

The modern world has a big electronics habit and it’s getting bigger all the time. Electronic devices keep us connected and on the go, but when they break or become obsolete—which is often very quickly—they frequently end up in the trash. Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a problem not only because of the volume of material that is being discarded, but also because some components can cause serious pollution. During 2014 alone, nearly 42 million tons of e-waste was created around the world. E-waste recycling is growing, however. In the United States, about 29 percent of e-waste was recycled in 2012, up from 19.6 percent in 20101. Better still, the world is recognizing that past recycling practices, such as sending devices to developing countries for disassembly and disposal (where they are often harmful to local environments) can be replaced with something better. That improvement is circular manufacturing, in which materials are collected to be refurbished or re-manufactured. Flex and Sinctronics realized that a market such as the region around São Paulo, Brazil, where manufacturing and re-manufacturing sites are close together, could help them showcase the true potential of a circular economy.

ROSS DIGITAL had a concept of an automated barista, RATIO, which could serve a range of beverages throughout the day and night. The idea was to have a system where customers could place orders via an app by scanning a QR code, and a robotic arm would prepare the beverage. The challenge was to bring this concept to life, from sketch to a ready-to-market product. The project required mechanical design, software logic and IPC coding, PLC, robotic arm programming, safety features positioning, electric circuitry, water and air management, supply chain setup for parts fabrication, full assembly integration, and stress tests.

As business evolved at Port City Logistics, so did their 180,000 square foot warehouse and its primary use. They had undergone a conversion of their warehouse from a set up utilizing area lighting to reconfiguring the 80% of the space to house rack storage. This created a challenge replacing outdated lighting technology and a need to redesign their lighting floor plan as a whole. After the modification, this also presented a huge illumination challenge, with all the lights placed now in the wrong place. On top of the placement issue, the incumbent lighting system consisted of T5 fluorescent lighting. This outdated lighting not only added to a dismal light level problem but also experienced expensive energy consumption, high maintenance costs and safety concerns regarding broken glass and mercury content.

The pressure to create more fuel-efficient vehicles is mounting due to a mixture of government regulations and environmentally conscious consumers. One automaker wanted to improve its fuel efficiency by exploring an emerging trend in vehicle design—active grille shutters. These are shutters that are integrated into the vehicle’s front intake grille to alter the flow of air to the engine, promoting cooling when open and fuel-sparing aerodynamics when closed. Active grille shutters are a relatively new technique in automotive design, and they carry some challenges, particularly in safety and durability. For example, the vendor must be confident that a grille won’t get stuck in ways that would affect vehicle performance or overheat the engine.

temi, the company behind the personal robot, was facing challenges with the mechanical design and assembly processes for the robot assistant. They were also dealing with cost pressures that were impacting their go-to-market strategy of making an intelligent, mobile, personal robot affordable to consumers. They needed a partner to help them overcome these challenges and implement effective strategies for supply chain management and manufacturing.

NEXTracker, the world's leading provider of solar tracking devices, faced a challenge in establishing secure connections between its solar trackers and its cloud data center. The company's solar trackers, which adjust the orientation of solar panels throughout the day to maximize energy capture, required secure data communications. However, the time and effort required to develop an in-house device and data management solution threatened to derail primary development initiatives. The company also needed to ensure compliance with various industry standards, a task that was time-consuming and detracted from their core focus.

Cloverleaf Cold Storage, a large cold storage warehouse company, was facing challenges with their incumbent HID lamps in their 24/7 facility. The heat generated from these lamps was causing issues in the cold storage freezers, as the facility team had to compensate for the heat to maintain optimal temperatures. Additionally, the company was looking to improve the lighting in their facility to create a safer environment for their employees. They were also interested in integrating an advanced control system for monitoring.

Lawler Foods Ltd., a family-owned and operated manufacturer of gourmet cheesecakes, cakes, and pies, was previously utilizing an ERP software system they struggled with for almost a decade. The first of three main issues was the inability to use the Material Requirements Planning (MRP) functionality within the system; an improper fit left their business with individually scheduling for three plants manually which cost them nearly two days worth of labor. Secondly, the scanning aspect of their previous software was a third party add-on that they didn’t receive any support when issues arose. Finally, accounting was also operated via a third party add-on and didn’t function as “true” accounting software, therefore decreasing productivity with the accounting staff and leaving them again stranded without product support to navigate any issues.

Primrose Candy Company was previously using outdated methods of tracking business operations across multiple sources and systems. Data management was manually entered, leading to duplicate data entries and increased chances for errors. The company needed real-time financial and inventory control information that would alert them when inventory was low and what items were needed to fulfill orders. They were also facing an increasing need for quality control measures, a scheduling system that coincided within one system, and a reliable formula storage system.

STIR Foods, LLC (STIR) was an emerging start-up in 2005. They foresaw the potential growth their business could have and wanted to guarantee they were set up for success. Instead of starting with Microsoft® Excel and then transferring data into an ERP system, they decided to bypass other introductory forms of tracking and immediately start with ProcessPro’s ERP solution. They sought a fully integrated ERP solution they could easily implement with little to no customizations. They implemented ProcessPro even before they had their first order, and then began to internally structure according to how the software was setup vs. creating numerous software modifications to match their processes.

Ready Foods was previously utilizing a UNIX system for 15 years that they simply outgrew. They required a system that would facilitate all process manufacturing and business operations functions in a unified system to stay competitive in their growing industry. The company was experiencing an essential need for a software system that would be able to meet their long-term needs and grow with them. Their previous system required them to halt operations for 24 hours to manually count inventory levels. They would then spend over a week keying in the data to find where they had lost inventory from one period to the next. This process not only led to a loss in time and money, but was unreliable.

Cornfields Incorporated, a leader in the private label healthy snack market, was previously only utilizing an accounting system and lacked any manufacturing operations support. In order to grow their business and stay competitive in the flourishing, all-natural and organic industry, they needed one unified system that would manage the accounting functions as well as manufacturing from raw materials to finish goods. They also desired a solution that provided lot tracking and quality control to meet increasing certification standards.

J. Kings, a broad line food service distributor, was previously utilizing Microsoft® Excel for scheduling and accounting needs. As they continued to grow, they required a system that would facilitate all process manufacturing and business operations functions in a unified system to stay competitive in their growing industry. They needed a system that would provide them both visibility of their inventory and production along with traceability of lot numbers. They also needed to control the quality of its products beginning with incoming raw materials, through ingredient manufacturing, all the way to final packaging.

In 2013, BRANDT acquired Monterey Chemical Company, Inc. (aka Monterey AgResources) which was already a ProcessPro client. At the time, BRANDT was operating on Macola ERP software. They quickly unified their business processes and began implementing ProcessPro’s ERP solution within its remaining facilities. BRANDT desired a fully integrated ERP solution that bolstered their growth initiative post-acquisition with robust manufacturing specific functionality. The solution needed to manage their accounting and financial information and provide real-time and accurate inventory and production information.

Hampford Research, Inc. (HRI) was previously operating on a homegrown system that was difficult to maintain and didn’t allow for any upgrades. With a lack of real-time data and complete visibility to all manufacturing operations, they weren’t able to judge on a daily basis what was happening within the company – everything from inventory status to warehouse management to simple financial reporting – there was always an information delay.

IRMCO, a manufacturer of water-based, environmentally friendly lubricant technologies for the metal-forming industry, was previously utilizing a discrete manufacturing ERP system. The system was not a proper fit for their process manufacturing business and it wasn’t going to be supported in the future. This compelled IRMCO to research a new ERP solution. The company needed a system that could easily and efficiently track its inventory levels in a real-time environment. They also wanted to streamline their processes, reduce operational costs, and eliminate dual recording of a majority of their inventory transactions.

All American Pharmaceutical (AAP) experienced rapid growth, necessitating a new facility and additional resources to support its development and rigorous quality control (QC). The company had a long-standing reputation for producing high-quality products and needed to maintain this tradition while protecting its brand and consumers from potential contamination. AAP required a solution that would support its QC requirements and secure the formulation and manufacturing components.

Pacific Nutritional, Inc. (PNI) was in need of a fully integrated ERP system that was specifically designed for their highly regulated industry. They were operating on a manufacturing system that wasn’t connected to the accounting system they utilized. Another search criterion was a strong, committed, client service team to support the software. Finally, PNI wanted to upgrade from DOS operating system to a Windows system. PNI was experiencing an essential need for a software system that would be able to meet their long-term needs and grow with them in their changing industry.

21st Century HealthCare, Inc. was in search of an ERP solution that was industry-specific, cutting-edge, and capable of offering product modifications to meet their needs. They also required a software company that had a quality support team. The pharmaceutical industry was experiencing increased regulatory requirements of current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) documentation, and 21st Century needed an ERP solution that would provide sound reporting standards. They also desired more inventory control to increase the productivity of the manufacturing process.