Say you're manufacturing aluminum cans, lots of 'em. Every little cent you can squeeze out of the flow means either better chance to win a massive Pepsi contract away from your competitor or a margin winfall. Acumence provides those plant operators a better view into manufacturing process data. Because of their very specialized niche, they have better accuracy and analytics than even top-tier ERP systems.
Joe and Chris were already deep into this domain before this venture, having built plants and monitoring solutions in multiple countries. They began as a consulting firm (Visibility Systems), focused on manufacturing Y2K issues. When their clients couldn't find a software solution to better process data and visibility, they decided to build one. Both owners attended Kellogg and the company has been self-funded to date.
Dimensions: 7 people x 9 years x $NDA
Funding: Founders
Customers: Big manufacturing firms in CPG or high-speed discrete mfg
Location: Chicago [North Side] + www.acumence.com