About Carbon
Carbon is a leader in 3D printing technology, revolutionizing manufacturing with proprietary 3D printers and resin materials. Known for its dual-cure resin technology, Carbon partners with leading brands to deliver high-quality, innovative solutions.
| Before Quickbase | With Quickbase |
| Expensive, slow ERP customizations | Flexible, cost-effective Quickbase apps |
| Disjointed systems for core operations | Centralized suite integrating all production processes |
| Manual tracking with siloed tools | MES & nonconformance systems unified |
| Single-product apps crashing under load | Scalable architecture supporting growth |
| No standardized training platform | Custom app standardizing training |
The Struggle
From managing hardware manufacturing and resin production to legal compliance and sales commissions, Carbon was facing complex challenges. Enhancing their existing ERP required time-intensive customizations which could incur additional costs. They needed a scalable, flexible platform to bridge these gaps—one that could handle the duality of hardware and chemical production while integrating seamlessly with their existing CRM and ERP.
The Quickbase Fix
Quickbase proved to be the perfect match, offering a customizable and cost-effective solution tailored to Carbon’s needs. Starting with a custom-built Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system to manage processes, Carbon expanded its use of Quickbase to develop a suite of interconnected applications called the "Production Suite."
Carbon’s custom Production Suite includes:
- Manufacturing Execution System (MES): Tracks hardware production, manages work orders, and enables functional testing for pre-shipment and field repairs.
- PLM: Serves as the single source of truth, managing product lifecycles, engineering and manufacturing change orders, and Bills of Materials (BOM).
- Nonconformance Tracking: Handles manufacturing defects, supplier corrective action requests, integrates seamlessly with production workflows for both the Hardware Manufacturing and Field Service Engineering teams.
- Preventative Maintenance and Calibration: Ensures proper calibration of tooling and machinery to maintain high production standards.
- Resin MES: Adapts the MES framework for resin production, ensuring quality checks and efficient collaboration with contract manufacturers.
The Quickbase Impact
Carbon achieved remarkable results by leveraging Quickbase:
- Efficiency Gains: By consolidating standalone applications into a central MES tool, Carbon reduced inter-application misalignment. This consolidation also simplified their data entry process by allowing them to only work in one application, instead of five or more to track production. This likely saved hundreds of hours per month across teams.
- Cost Savings: Eliminated redundant tools and reduced software costs by optimizing CRM and project management pipelines.
- Scalability: Quickbase’s horizontally scalable architecture enabled Carbon to handle its expanding product portfolio without overwhelming systems. They now manage over 44 applications, with 15 apps supporting 10+ users and 28 apps supporting 5+ users.
- User Adoption: Employees overwhelmingly prefer Quickbase’s UX/UI when compared to the native ERP UX/UI for its ease of use and flexible customization.
- Innovative Applications: Quickbase’s adaptability allowed Carbon to expand into supply chain management, training standardization, and streamlined contract manufacturer workflows.
What’s Next?
Carbon plans to:
- Expand integration to better synchronize ERP data with Quickbase.
- Extend Quickbase’s functionality to the hardware design phase, integrating it into early-stage product development.
- Develop a comprehensive supply chain suite to enhance visibility and efficiency across operations.
- Scale its internal training application to standardize onboarding and upskilling across the company.
