DECEMBER 2015MANUFACTURINGTECHNOLOGYINSIGHTS.COM8The Digital TransformationNew England Biolabs (NEB) was founded in the mid-1970s and is one of the oldest biotech companies in the world. It was founded by scientists and is committed to developing innovative products for the life sciences industry. NEBers strive to provide the best quality products and the highest level of customer service. We take pride in the fact that our customer's calls are answered by scientists who can intelligently discuss with them their research and how our products can be used. That product quality and that level of service is what provides the challenge. How can we increase our production in an efficient manner, while maintaining quality and while satisfying some of our customer's requirements in regulated industries? How can we be there for our customers 24x7 and allow them to get information about our products, order our products and use our scientific tools anytime, anywhere and from any device. We have many technology initiatives in the works that are answering those questions. We are looking at software solutions, like electronic laboratory notebooks (eLN) and laboratory information management systems (LIMS) to help in the research and production areas. We are deploying our SAP ERP system to help plan and manage our production and manufacturing environments. And we are adding new functionality all the time to our CRM solution, Salesforce.com, to help us understand and connect more often and with value to our customers. Digital transformation is key as well as initiatives around SMAC­Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud. All are critical to allow us to get to the understanding of, and connection to, our customers. 360 Degree View across an Organization This is one area where we are making great strides in our Enterprise Architecture. We collect data points from our different systems and integrate this information in to our Salesforce CRM. Every visit, every communication and every order is now available for review and/or analytics ­ on a global basis.Seamless Customer IntegrationIt is about getting the right product to the right consumer at the right time. Technology does play a huge role, but it isn't the only thing needed, and may not be what will keep them coming back. Companies should provide a shopping experience on the consumer's terms. It should be about personalizing touch points with customers and to be true collaborators, rather than just another company to buy from. We should be able to provide customers seamless, integrated and consistent methods to interact with our companies. Over time, we should be able to anticipate the customer's needs as they progress from one channel need to another and as they work their problem to a solution. A true omni-channel approach to customer service.In the Process to Build a Strategic Roadmap AheadNEB focuses on the science and that is what makes us great. The systems and the processes needed to produce, market and sell our products are getting there but we still have a way to go. I see many opportunities where technology can add value to NEB. My problem is what should be the priority and how much change can the company handle at one time. I am in the process of building a strategic roadmap that will give us a plan but it will take several years to execute. Enhancing the Existing ProgramNEB implemented a very innovative solution utilizing the IoT to help solve the problem of having our products Innovation Initiatives for Better Manufacturing ManagementSharon Kaiser CIO and Director of IT, New England Biolabs, Inc.IN MY OPINIONSharon Kaiser
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