Download PDF
Establishing a Compliant Foundation for Defense Product Development
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Device Management Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Electronics
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Product Research & Development
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Regulatory Compliance Monitoring
- Remote Control
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- System Integration
- Training
The Challenge
With an approximately $20M contract from the U.S. Army, SIONYX launched a product program that required not only the team’s innovation and technical competence but also control of all technical data and design for government regulatory compliance. “We needed to demonstrate that we have a formal set of industry-standard controls around how we do things and how we manufacture,” stated Steve Anderson, Vice President of Operations for SIONYX. “We had manual processes early on and our government customers required us to implement a PLM system with embedded best practices and automated workflows—aligned to ISO9000 standards.” The defense contract brought SIONYX the compliance requirement for proper handling of technical data, including access controls, full audit history, and a compliant platform architecture. Arena’s AWS GovCloud platform solution provided a low-overhead solution for SIONYX to meet the business and regulatory needs with significantly reduced risk. An additional hurdle to the project was time, or lack of it. “We kicked off this project in January and we needed to demonstrate to the government by August that we had a compliant setup between QMS and document controls,” shared Anderson. “We had a very tight timeline.”
About The Customer
SIONYX’s mission is to provide the most accessible digital night vision technology in the world. As a silicon-based photonics company with proprietary ultra-low-light CMOS image sensor technologies, SIONYX designs solutions for commercial, industrial, medical, law enforcement, and defense markets. The Aurora, small and lightweight, is the company’s commercially available and award-winning night vision camera. SIONYX also works with OEMs who need advanced imaging technology for custom applications. Now, the company is proud to be working with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Army for delivery of digital lowlight level cameras for the highly publicized IVAS (Integrated Visual Augmentation System) program.
The Solution
SIONYX searched for a solution and found Arena. “Arena hit all the requirements,” Anderson remembers, “including best practices on how to implement and the ability to keep pace with our schedule.” The SIONYX team was motivated for success with the new product program, the processes that needed to be built, and the deployment of Arena. “This was a significant change management effort but our team saw the value and were very results oriented. In addition, Arena’s experienced implementation team led us through a well-thought-out framework with a set of milestones we needed to achieve in order to meet our ‘go-live’ timelines. The solution architect pushed us to stay focused and, as a result, we beat our timeline by two weeks.” With Arena’s AWS GovCloud platform, SIONYX provided their defense customer with a road map of what they would be putting in place. After implementation, SIONYX did a remote verification process with the customer. “We checked all the boxes of what we said we were going to do. They were quite happy,” shared Anderson. With Arena, SIONYX has a cloud-based secure system that will scale with the company and product lines. With the core product management, document control, and quality processes like corrective action and preventive actions in place, the team has the foundation to expand both depth and breadth as needed. “Arena operates as defined. We are looking to scale and Arena is a central component. From my perspective on both the platform and the implementation, I give it two thumbs up.”
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Remote Temperature Monitoring of Perishable Goods Saves Money
RMONI was facing temperature monitoring challenges in a cold chain business. A cold chain must be established and maintained to ensure goods have been properly refrigerated during every step of the process, making temperature monitoring a critical business function. Manual registration practice can be very costly, labor intensive and prone to mistakes.
Case Study
Hospital Inventory Management
The hospital supply chain team is responsible for ensuring that the right medical supplies are readily available to clinicians when and where needed, and to do so in the most efficient manner possible. However, many of the systems and processes in use at the cancer center for supply chain management were not best suited to support these goals. Barcoding technology, a commonly used method for inventory management of medical supplies, is labor intensive, time consuming, does not provide real-time visibility into inventory levels and can be prone to error. Consequently, the lack of accurate and real-time visibility into inventory levels across multiple supply rooms in multiple hospital facilities creates additional inefficiency in the system causing over-ordering, hoarding, and wasted supplies. Other sources of waste and cost were also identified as candidates for improvement. Existing systems and processes did not provide adequate security for high-cost inventory within the hospital, which was another driver of cost. A lack of visibility into expiration dates for supplies resulted in supplies being wasted due to past expiry dates. Storage of supplies was also a key consideration given the location of the cancer center’s facilities in a dense urban setting, where space is always at a premium. In order to address the challenges outlined above, the hospital sought a solution that would provide real-time inventory information with high levels of accuracy, reduce the level of manual effort required and enable data driven decision making to ensure that the right supplies were readily available to clinicians in the right location at the right time.
Case Study
Gas Pipeline Monitoring System for Hospitals
This system integrator focuses on providing centralized gas pipeline monitoring systems for hospitals. The service they provide makes it possible for hospitals to reduce both maintenance and labor costs. Since hospitals may not have an existing network suitable for this type of system, GPRS communication provides an easy and ready-to-use solution for remote, distributed monitoring systems System Requirements - GPRS communication - Seamless connection with SCADA software - Simple, front-end control capability - Expandable I/O channels - Combine AI, DI, and DO channels
Case Study
Driving Digital Transformations for Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices
Diagnostic devices play a vital role in helping to improve healthcare delivery. In fact, an estimated 60 percent of the world’s medical decisions are made with support from in vitrodiagnostics (IVD) solutions, such as those provided by Roche Diagnostics, an industry leader. As the demand for medical diagnostic services grows rapidly in hospitals and clinics across China, so does the market for IVD solutions. In addition, the typically high cost of these diagnostic devices means that comprehensive post-sales services are needed. Wanteed to improve three portions of thr IVD:1. Remotely monitor and manage IVD devices as fixed assets.2. Optimizing device availability with predictive maintenance.3. Recommending the best IVD solution for a customer’s needs.