ThinkIQ has been recognized by CIOReview Magazine as the recipient of “Top 10 Manufacturing Technology Solution Companies - 2018,” based on our proprietary methodology, reflecting its position in the industry. This profile has been developed by the CIOReview research and editorial team based on insights from an interview with Doug Lawson, Founder &CEO.

ThinkIQ
Increasing Sales, Yield, and Profits by creating Traceability

Doug Lawson, Founder &CEO

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to make it easy and cost effective for manufacturing companies to install new sensors and record almost all physical activity in a supply chain. But the technical challenge to make business sense of this new and old sensor data has led to a lot of time and effort without corresponding results. A startup software company, ThinkIQ, is successfully changing this by enabling manufacturers to save millions of dollars in their supply chains while making better, more competitive, and safer products.

Smart, socially-connected customers expect a different level of insight into the products they buy. They expect to be able to match products to their exact preferences and are demanding a closer relationship with manufacturers under normal and abnormal conditions. Traceability, transparency, and provenance are paramount to address these needs. For instance, a person with celiac disease looks for gluten-free food while some consumers are inclined toward local sustainable products. As a result, it is becoming mandatory for companies to guarantee the authenticity of the claimed characteristics of their products regardless of where they fit in the supply chain.

Until recently, it was onerous and expensive to collect and share traceability data. ThinkIQ provides a software platform that leverages the power of big data analytics and delivers accurate traceability information for entire manufacturing processes. The platform monitors data in real time and automatically builds a granular, accurate, and trustable genealogy, cost-effectively and with minimal operator burden.

The beauty of ThinkIQ’s approach to traceability data is that it also provides the foundation for a broad range of analytics that can fundamentally improve the economics of any supply chain. Businesses have a lot to gain from the genealogy and traceability data that ThinkIQ provides. Manufacturers can now see data about physical processes, the quality attributes of materials, and related business transactions in a single place that is clear and approachable. Sensor data can help these companies keep a track of their manufacturing processes, and in turn, increase operational efficiencies, reduce costs, and boost revenues.

Furthermore, machine-learning and pattern recognition help detect anomalies in the processes for immediate alerting and resolution, and can even predict and prevent failures.

ThinkIQ’s approach to traceability data provides the foundation for a broad range of analytics that can fundamentally improve the economics of any supply chain

“We accumulate data about each and every incoming material into a company’s supply chain along with the information from ERP systems to predict how the physical processes should be,” adds Doug Lawson, founder and CEO of ThinkIQ. Any kind of deviation from the expected results is an indicator of a potential problem whose exact nature and cause is deduced by using smart analytics. For example, ThinkIQ’s platform has enabled a large international producer of onion rings to find and resolve the root cause of a production issue, which has increased its production yield from 42 to 54 percent, generating millions of dollars of improved profitability annually.

The effectiveness of ThinkIQ’s solution can be further understood by how it assisted General Mills—a manufacturer of branded consumer foods—in detecting a critical supply chain problem. General Mills had changed all their Cheerios products to gluten-free a couple of years ago but had to recall 2.2 million boxes of Cheerios in October 2015 that were found to include gluten. General Mills now deploys ThinkIQ’s solutions to ensure the smooth functioning of the entire Cheerios manufacturing process. ThinkIQ’s platform has demonstrated its ability to identify and prevent these types of recalls in addition to operational analytics reducing expenses by $30M in 2017.

“The generic nature of our cloud-based software, coupled with the consulting that our go-to-market partners provide allows us to solve all kinds of problems across various industries,” states Lawson. Being a venture-backed company, ThinkIQ now looks forward to expanding the scope of its platform’s capabilities along with expanding to other manufacturing segments.

ThinkIQ

ThinkIQ Secures Patent For Manufacturing Material Traceability

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

ALISO VIEJO, Calif.: ThinkIQ, a pioneer of digital manufacturing transformation SaaS, today announced that it has secured a new patent for tracing and analyzing material flow in manufacturing processes. The patent further demonstrates ThinkIQ's commitment to granular and contextualized traceability across the entire supply chain.

ThinkIQ's fact-based, granular, data-centric contextualized view of material flows tracked in its material ledger integrates into existing IoT infrastructures and across supply chains to manufacturing processes and beyond. ThinkIQ's material ledger solution is the foundation of a cyber-physical system, decentralizing decision-making in favor of autonomous task completion with all but the highest-level exceptions.

"ThinkIQ has built its technology on the premise that granular and contextualized tracking of materials is crucial to improve yield, quality, safety, compliance and brand confidence," said Doug Lawson, CEO of ThinkIQ. "This patent further validates that our unique technology delivers unprecedented visibility throughout the supply chain."

ThinkIQ's material ledger technology is part of its Vision Platform, which leverages vision-processing software combined with pre-packaged Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence capabilities to turn cameras on the shop floor into powerful sensors that eliminate blind spots across equipment, materials and people.

The U.S. Patent 11,610,181 comes on the heels of ThinkIQ's recent announcement that it was named "Smart Manufacturing Solution of the Year" by the 2023 IoT Breakthrough Awards for its ThinkIQ Vision platform. The platform creates a new level of capability beyond what independent disconnected operating environments can provide today, helping companies to manage their manufacturing operations and supply chains.

Mitsubishi Corporation Invests in ThinkIQ to Drive Smart Manufacturing in Japan

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Mitsubishi and ThinkIQ partner to jointly accelerate the growth of digital transformation for manufacturing and supply chains in Japan

ThinkIQ, a prominent provider of smart manufacturing solutions, has disclosed an investment from Mitsubishi Corporation along with a partnership agreement aimed at fostering the advancement of digital manufacturing solutions in Japan. The specific terms of the investment remain undisclosed.

The collaboration between Mitsubishi and ThinkIQ is focused on expediting the process of digital transformation through the implementation of smart manufacturing solutions across various industrial supply chains within Mitsubishi's ecosystem. ThinkIQ has developed its open platform in close collaboration with U.S. and European government smart manufacturing initiatives, Industry 4.0 efforts, and global standards bodies. This investment serves as a testament to the credibility of ThinkIQ's technology and is expected to fuel expansion efforts by leveraging Mitsubishi's extensive global presence.

"We are honored to have been recognized by Mitsubishi Corporation as its partner to drive global adoption of smart manufacturing solutions," said Doug Lawson, CEO of ThinkIQ. "Our platform addresses a growing market need to operate and manage complex manufacturing supply chains more efficiently. With our strategic relationship and Mitsubishi's investment, we will expand our market reach and accelerate our efforts to provide end-to-end supply chain visibility."

"Our team has spent years driving thought leadership for a digital transformation strategy for the manufacturing sector, as well as doing research and diligence to find the right partner to drive adoption of those strategies into our industrial supply chains, and we are excited to have chosen ThinkIQ as our technology partner. We expect ThinkIQ's solutions to have a major impact on manufacturers to help improve yield, quality, safety, and compliance while dramatically reducing waste and environmental impact," said Yoshiyuki Watanabe, Division COO of Mitsubishi Corporation. "ThinkIQ's open, innovative platform and leadership in digital transformation for the manufacturing industry is what prompted our investment and go-to-market partnership."

ThinkIQ offers unparalleled visibility into the manufacturing shop floor at every level of intricate supply chains. The Software as a Service (SaaS) platform establishes a secure connection with both legacy and smart equipment, IoT sensors, and OT and IT systems, consolidating all pertinent data into a unified analytics platform. This platform provides context, meaning, and discoverability for all participants involved in supply chain and manufacturing operations. Through ThinkIQ Vision, the integration of vision-processing software with robust pre-packaged Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence capabilities transforms standard cameras on the shop floor into sensors. This innovation eliminates blind spots across equipment, materials, and personnel, significantly enhancing the available data for Continuous Intelligence.

Top 10 Manufacturing Technology Solution Companies - 2018

Company
ThinkIQ

Management
Doug Lawson, Founder &CEO

Description
Offers manufacturing traceability and supply chain management analytics platform that provides unprecedented end-to-end visibility and massively improved business understanding

ThinkIQ Increasing Sales, Yield, and Profits by creating Traceability