Contract Chemical Manufacturer Enhances Efficiency and Quality
Company Profile: Georgia Tech alumnus Clinton Beeland always aspired to have his own business. After working in chemical manufacturing for several years, he realized a need for tolling in the pest control industry and started a contract chemical manufacturing company in 1997.
Today, CJB Industries has approximately 200 employees and three facilities totaling 361,500 square feet in Valdosta, Georgia. They offer custom formulating, milling, blending, filling, packaging, warehousing, and logistics for diverse markets, including the agricultural and pest industries, and have become known for their exceptional customer service and milling experience.
They have also participated in the ChemStewards environmental, health, safety, and security management program, received ISO 14001 and 9001 certifications, and registered their facilities with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
Situation
As CJB Industries has continued to grow, they have engaged Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech through various events and projects in the past 13 years. In early 2022, Mitchell Tatar, CJB Industries process engineer and Beeland’s daughter, collaborated with Sean Madhavaraman, GaMEP Industry 4.0 project manager, and Olivia Pitts, GaMEP quality management systems project manager, to achieve better operational efficiency and quality.
Solution
Tatar, who has experience with data, knew the company needed to start collecting information so they could better identify opportunities for improvement. In March, she asked Madhavaraman to assist with historicizing their data. Madhavaraman helped schedule and evaluate interviews with software companies. After CJB Industries selected dataPARC, Madhavaraman guided the implementation process. The real-time data analysis and visualization not only allowed them to optimize their manufacturing process, but it also provided them with opportunities to grow.
“It completely changed how we look at our data,” said Tatar. “It’s really helped with our efficiency, but most importantly, I think it’s a huge foundation for our future.”
In June 2022, Tatar also asked Pitts to evaluate their quality. Pitts conducted a three-day assessment, interviewing operators, observing production, reviewing documentation, and provided an action plan with process improvement opportunities. Pitts suggested a new quality management software (QMS) that facilitated different communication.
“Because of her advice we were able to get an entirely different software that really altered our culture and the way that we communicate our quality expectations and that’s had a phenomenal impact,” said Tatar.
Subsequently, these two endeavors led to a new project in February 2024. As Tatar started learning more about artificial intelligence (AI) and receiving employee feedback about batch sheets, she asked Madhavaraman to help solve the pain point.
With more than 200 diverse customers, employees exhausted numerous hours processing printed batch sheets that included non-standard client data every week. Madhavaraman knew of an Advanced Technology Development Center startup company with AI capabilities and helped schedule and evaluate another interview. CJB Industries and Vieaura began working together to test using generative AI to automatically compile the unique customer information into a standard format. Tatar expects to convert their printed batch sheets into automated digital workflows in the next few months, which will positively impact their culture and quality. But most of all, she looks forward to continuing to explore AI, particularly engineering controls that will lead to unprecedented safety and security in their industry.
“This really sets us up for using data and AI in the future, and that’s something we aspire to be an industry leader in,” said Tatar. “Within five years, it’s going to look entirely different to our employees and we hope to continue to use GaMEP to help us with that.”
Results
Since collaborating with GaMEP on three projects in the past two years, CJB Industries has:
- Implemented data software, representing a $300,000 investment across two facilities that includes coding, rewiring, and updating equipment
- Increased production capacity by 20%
- Enhanced preventative maintenance, saving $30,000 per month by preventing a chiller breakdown
- Replaced the QMS, reducing price of non-conformance (PONC) by 51%
- Started training the AI software, which will eventually convert more than 100 printed batch sheets into digital workflows
As a result, these projects have standardized and streamlined operations, improving efficiency, reducing errors, saving labor costs, and more.
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