Don’s Salads’ previous disparate systems, MAS 90, Parity and ProcessLogic, were a hindrance to their day-to-day operations. The legacy system was heavily customized and the customer support received was minimal at best. Daily operations were visibly slow and lacked integration between departments. Don’s Salads’ staff often spent 45 minutes placing a single customer sales order which involved creating a mock sales order in a separate system to complete the order for manufacturing, and then reworking the mock order to ensure accurate accounting. Don’s desired a unified solution that integrated their accounting and manufacturing functions as their future growth depended on it. “The critical needs that we had were lot traceability, accounting and being able to schedule our production in a streamlined fashion,” said Michele Lyter, Office and HR Manager, Don’s Salads. In their search for an ERP provider, they wanted a true business partner with reliable customer support and a solution that would take their entire manufacturing processes to the next level.

L.D. Davis was previously functioning on disparate systems, a combination of SAGE CRM, homegrown software and paper and pencil documentation/ tracking. Specifically, production scheduling was handwritten which was time consuming and prone to errors. As a made-to-order manufacturer, they needed the ability to track product formulation to provide quality metrics and traceability for their customers. The company’s unique ability to bid on distressed materials required a system that compares use of these materials with the purchase of regular raw materials. Lack of visibility by stakeholders throughout the company prohibited a clear picture of processes, inventory and customer orders.

Hammond Group, a chemical company with plants in the US and abroad, was facing growing overhead costs and lengthy implementation time with a tier one ERP supplier. They had also experienced two unsuccessful CRM system migrations. The company realized that to grow and maintain its reputation for customer care, it needed to invest in systems that would cut operational costs while still focusing on its customers. They turned to Aptean Process Manufacturing ERP Ross Edition to handle their financial and production operations.

Vita Health Products, a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in Canada, was facing challenges with its aging AS/400 system. The company was struggling to maintain inventory control, manage cost inputs, and keep products on the customer's shelf. The lack of forecasting capabilities forced Vita Health to carry more product inventory, thus increasing carrying costs and waste potential. The company was also having difficulties in tracking product expiration dates and tracing lot information. The situation became more critical after Vita Health purchased Stanley Pharmaceuticals, which effectively doubled sales volumes and SKU counts. The company realized that its existing system could not meet the growing business demands.

Boston Centerless, a leader in supplying precision ground bar materials and grinding services, was facing several challenges with its existing software. The software was technologically outdated and lacked the analytical features required in the modern manufacturing environment. Furthermore, the support for the software was minimal. The company also had to manually prepare complex specification documents, which was a labor-intensive process. The lead time for processing orders was another challenge that the company was facing.

Primarch Manufacturing Inc. was a long-time user of Sage PFW, an older Sage solution. When Sage retired PFW and stopped offering support, Primarch determined the need to upgrade their ERP solution. The company needed a solution that would fit their manufacturing processes and be easy for their staff to learn and use. They also wanted a solution that would support their quarantine and test methodology, which is a core standard in their competitive private label manufacturing for nutraceuticals. This process involves quarantining everything upon receipt, applying lot numbers, and performing QC tests to verify vendor raw material claims.

BioZone Laboratories, a global developer and private-label manufacturer of cosmetics, topical pharmaceuticals, and dietary supplements, was in need of a solution to better manage its common base material and specialty ingredient inventories to avoid inventory overages and shortages. The company needed to manage products by average cost method, by capturing true costs at order, receipt, manufacturing, packaging and delivery. As a make to order business, BioZone also needed a solution that could forecast profitability allowing the company to maximize its investment of capital and resources. Over the last ten years, the cosmetics market has given way to specialty advisors and the boutiquing of the industry, which has been challenging for BioZone as many of their products are oil-based and they have been faced with significant raw material and transportation cost fluctuations.

Premier Research Labs (PRL) is a leading manufacturer of excipient-free nutraceuticals and superfood concentrates. As the company's business grew, they realized that their existing, outdated ERP system was not sufficient to manage their formulas, manufacturing, and financials. The old solution was heavily customized, making upgrades impossible. Departments were having trouble sharing data, and the system's inefficiencies were impacting collaboration across all departments. PRL needed a comprehensive solution that could accommodate their unique inventory structure, where inventory and customers are distinct yet most of the product formulations and production schedules are shared. Their manufacturing schedule needed to have visibility into customer's orders from all sources and produce an accurate master production schedule.

Westwood Laboratories, a contract manufacturer of liquid-based personal care products, was using an older version of BatchMaster integrated with Sage PFW accounting to run their business. However, Sage retired PFW accounting and with it, the older version of BatchMaster used by Westwood Laboratories. This posed a challenge for Westwood Laboratories as they needed a solution to continue running their business efficiently. Additionally, as an FDA licensed company, Westwood Laboratories needed to track inventory lot detail for every inventory item they received into the plant and keep detailed records of all QC testing and results. They needed a solution that could help them manage these requirements and be compliant with FDA regulations.

International Paper, a global paper and packaging company, was facing challenges with its manufacturing system. The company's water-based flexographic ink business was struggling to meet customer requirements due to major fluctuations in customer order patterns. The company had to maintain sizable safety stocks or pay premium prices for delivery of short items to meet customer requirements. As the scale of business grew, so did the severity of this problem. The company realized that the manufacturing system then in place, a semi-custom mainframe-based inventory, sales and purchase order management system, was no longer adequate to support their business. They needed a system that provided immediate access to inventories from all ink manufacturing sites within the company and updated inventories as batches were closed at the various plants.

Cosmaceutical, a contract manufacturer of liquids, lotions, and creams for the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry, was facing challenges with its existing non-integrated systems. The company was using a series of Microsoft Office tools including Excel spreadsheets and custom applications written in Access. As the company grew, these systems became a limiting factor. Duplicate data entry and accuracy were becoming a problem. The systems covered all aspects of the business, but they didn't communicate with each other, leading to islands of information. One department didn't know what another department was doing. The company needed an integrated system so that anyone in the company could see what was happening with a product at any given time.

International Coatings Company (ICC) was in need of a new system to support its growing business, protect margins in a competitive market, control costs, improve inventory control, and reduce shortages. The company, which specializes in textile screen-printing inks and industrial intermediate plastic compounds, was vulnerable to price fluctuations due to its reliance on petroleum-based raw materials. The company was also looking to improve its inventory control and reduce shortages. ICC had been a longtime user of BatchMaster software, starting with the DOS version in 1995. However, the company decided to upgrade to the Windows version in 2002 to support its projected growth and take advantage of the many new features that the Windows version offered.

CoValence Laboratories, a custom topical application developer and manufacturer, was facing challenges with their existing 'Out-of-the-Box' accounting package that supported a discrete manufacturing model. The system was not able to meet the growing sales and production needs of the company. Customizing the existing system to enable even the most basic functionality was proving to be a significant investment. Moreover, the company was also facing increasing compliance demands in their International Market requirements. The company realized that customizing their original accounting system would cost too much in meeting their business growth or the increasing compliance demands in their International Market requirements.

Polytex Environmental Inks, a company established in 1943 to manufacture and supply industrial coatings, was facing a challenge. With the growing concern over air quality and the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970, industries were forced to turn their attention to new technologies. This accelerated the need to develop inks and coatings that comply with changing environmental standards. To effectively support the printing industry, Polytex established a 80,000 square foot plant in 1986 in the Bronx, N. Y. to include Research and Development and Manufacturing. To strengthen its position worldwide, Polytex established an R&D and Manufacturing site in the Netherlands in 1993. However, in 2008, the European arm of the organization began a search for a solution that would support not only manufacturing and distribution of their products, but that included full support for their R&D needs. After some initial research, Polytex identified solutions from Microsoft, Infor Global Solutions and SAP that offered support for some or most of their business needs. Unfortunately, none of them fully met their needs for product development, production management and distribution.

Diversified Foods and Seasonings had been using Sage PFW for many years to manage formulas, costs, and inventory within their ERP solution. However, when Sage announced their plans to retire PFW, Diversified began to review replacement ERP solutions. They evaluated nearly 15 ERP systems during their review period and selected BatchMaster Mfg. because it could fill every need they had. They were looking for a solution that was designed for formula-based food manufacturing companies and had specific functions such as Quality Control and Assurance, a Formula Approval process, and MRP/MPS integrated functionality.

Langlinais Bakery, a family-owned business that has grown significantly over the years, was facing challenges due to its outdated Sage accounting and other independent software products. The company needed to upgrade its software to meet the growing demand for its products and to comply with increasingly stringent regulatory requirements. The company initially moved to the SAP Business One solution, but soon realized that it did not address key manufacturing functions such as batch ticket management, raw material inventory control, and lot traceability. The company needed a solution that would provide more control and greater visibility into its operations.

Bar Bakers, a private label manufacturer of baked and cold process cookies, wafers, and nutritional bars, was experiencing exponential growth. The company needed a system that could manage the entire flow of inventory, from work order and demand to purchasing, receiving, A/P, and material consumption. They also needed a system that could provide rapid lot number traceability, crucial for their commitments to food safety and their pursuit of a BRC food safety certification. The system also needed to provide document management throughout the company for transparency and ease of access to information. As a rapidly growing company, Bar Bakers needed a system that could scale with them and support their operations.

Andy’s Seasoning, a family-owned and operated dry blend seasoning manufacturer located in St. Louis, MO, needed a solution to run its manufacturing operation. The company, which began operations in 1983 with a single product, had grown to become a nationally known firm. However, it lacked a comprehensive system to support its continued growth. The company needed a solution that could automate its processes, manage growth, and help it operate efficiently.

Custom Ingredients, Inc. is a privately held company that supplies the Southern California food and nutraceuticals market with high quality flavors. The company's primary goals are dependable service, trustworthy relationships and up-to-date regulatory standards. However, when the company first started blending flavors, they relied on tools such as Excel to record formulations and inventory, with inventory tracking done manually. This was not efficient and did not allow for optimal inventory control and lot traceability. The company needed a formula-based manufacturing solution that could handle these tasks and more.

Cain Food Industries, Inc., a Dallas-based company that produces and supplies micro-dose ingredients for the wholesale and retail baking industries, was facing several challenges with their previous business operation software, Process-Pro. They often encountered problems in lot traceability, an essential requirement of their customers who need this information for regulatory compliance. Due to the lack of availability of real-time information of inventory and finance, it was very difficult for them to assess their current status and make the best use of the available inventory. In addition, they had to spend considerable time in calculations for their formulas. Their formulas are based on the bioactivity of enzymes, which is one of their main raw materials, and its bioactivity, which varies from lot-to-lot. To remain competitive in the current challenging economic environment, and to retain and expand their customer base which demands food ingredients in compliance with regulatory requirements, Cain Foods decided to search for an affordable software solution, which could satisfy these needs.

Radio Frequency Company, a leading manufacturer of advanced industrial radio frequency (RF) processing systems, was facing a business problem. With manufacturing jobs that could last up to six months or more, the company needed an automated solution to accurately monitor the costs and evaluate the status of these complicated and lengthy projects. They needed to quickly distinguish one-time labor costs, increase their overall planning efficiency, and provide visibility into these processes for the Project Managers and upper management. The company was also looking for a solution that could help them better evaluate bids and estimates and track the ongoing changes to engineering, resources, and services for their Engineered-to-Order (ETO) equipment that have complex product lifecycles and long lead times.

Daktronics, a leading manufacturer of electronic scoreboards and displays, was struggling to manage both its standard and technical contract manufacturing using an MRP solution. The MRP solution was designed for technical contracting and did not support standard product manufacturing tasks such as standard inventory management, standard costing, build-to-stock, and product shipping. The company needed a robust solution that could handle both technical contract projects and standard manufacturing, and provide visibility into critical business operations to streamline operations and improve customer service.

TRB, a fully owned subsidiary of Tokai Rika Japan, is a major supplier of components to leading automobile manufacturers. The company was looking for a solution to streamline its production and delivery processes. The automobile industry is characterized by precision and mass production, and customization of the end product creates innumerable permutations of the finished article. To keep the production lines rolling, and supplied with the right components at the right time, TRB needed a system that could handle the complexity of its supply chain. The company was specifically looking for a solution that incorporated Kanban, a system used for controlling the production line.

Designing an electrohydraulic power steering (EHPS) system involves managing numerous interrelated components, where minor adjustments can significantly impact the system's function, efficiency, and reliability. The complexity of the system, which includes an electronic control unit (ECU), torque sensor, valve, and pipe system, requires a detailed understanding of how each part interacts. Traditional validation and physical testing methods are expensive and time-consuming, often taking up to six months. This slow process is not conducive to the fast-paced design cycles required in the automotive industry. Therefore, there is a need for a more efficient method to refine and optimize EHPS designs before moving to physical testing.

The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is undergoing a conversion from highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel to meet the Global Threat Reduction Initiative's requirements. This conversion presents a complex challenge due to the unique fuel and core design of the HFIR, as well as its high power density. The primary challenge is to ensure that the new LEU fuel can maintain the reactor's performance, safety, and reliability. Researchers need to evaluate the impact of the fuel change on various aspects such as neutron scattering, isotope production, irradiation experiments, and neutron activation analyses. Additionally, the HFIR will need to operate at a higher power level (100 MW) to maintain the same neutron flux, which increases the demands on the reactor's thermal margin and safety.

Engineers face daily technical challenges in hearing aid design, with feedback being a major issue that leads to high-pitched squealing or whistling, limiting the amount of gain the aid can provide. Feedback usually occurs when a hearing aid’s microphone picks up sound or vibration inadvertently diverted from what’s being channeled into the ear canal and sends it back through the amplifier, creating undesirable oscillations. The challenge is to design hearing aids that are compact and unobtrusive, yet still capable of providing a powerful sound output to overcome the user’s hearing loss. This makes solving the feedback issue more challenging, as engineers must cram all the hardware components into the smallest space possible without causing feedback instability.

Metamaterials, which are artificially structured materials, have the potential to revolutionize various fields by manipulating electromagnetic waves. However, the challenge lies in the high level of control required over their structure and the high ohmic loss due to the metal components. These materials derive their unique properties from their structure rather than their chemical composition, making the design and fabrication of complex structures a significant challenge. Additionally, precise knowledge of the response at each frequency of interest is needed, making accurate frequency-domain simulations a requirement. The high ohmic loss causes electromagnetic waves to be strongly attenuated, posing another challenge in the practical application of metamaterials.

Deep space and the human body present unique challenges for designing devices that can operate safely, reliably, and efficiently. Equipment used in extreme environments such as aqueous conditions, severe temperatures, and high pressure levels often struggle with stable and efficient power generation. The search for better power efficiency in devices like deep-space satellites and medical equipment has identified electron emission as a potential method for power generation. Electron emission occurs when a metal surface or electrode is subjected to an electrostatic field, heat, or incoming light, causing electrons to escape the metal and be collected for usable electricity. The Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the European Space Agency (ESA) are collaborating to develop systems based on electron emission for solar power collection on deep-space satellites. Researchers at IIT are also applying similar concepts to power nanoantennas for studying electrical signals in the brain.

The built environment, encompassing everything from large metropolitan areas to individual buildings, is continually impacted by physics-based processes such as heat transfer, air flow, and moisture transport. These processes can affect energy efficiency, health and safety, operating costs, durability, and historic preservation. Jos van Schijndel, founder of CompuToolAble and assistant professor at Eindhoven University of Technology, faces the challenge of making complex modeling and simulation concepts accessible to clients and students. His goal is to improve the built environment and preserve historic structures and artifacts through accurate modeling and simulation.

HARMAN, a market leader in connected car setups, faces the challenge of designing unique audio configurations for each vehicle model. The process involves accounting for various components and car acoustics, such as speaker placement, orientation, and packaging. Traditional methods of physical testing and in situ listening are time-consuming and costly. The need for a quicker, more efficient development process that can keep up with the rapid pace of vehicle design is paramount. Engineers at HARMAN sought a solution that would allow them to virtually 'tune' their audio systems before creating live prototypes, thereby saving time and resources.