Case Study

Data Modernization

Overview

A global chemicals materials manufacturer needed to improve coordination across its R&D labs, production plants, and supply chain operations. Each function ran on separate legacy systems – LIMS in labs, MES/SCADA in plants, and ERP modules in logistics – with little integration between them. This caused delays in scaling new products from lab to production, reactive maintenance on critical machinery, and inefficiencies in procurement and inventory planning. Partnering with Sphere, the client implemented a stepwise data modernization program that connected their systems into a central warehouse, applied practical analytics, and provided role-based dashboards for lab, plant, and supply chain teams.

Challenges

The client’s operations relied on disconnected legacy systems across labs, plants, and supply chain. This created silos, slowed collaboration, and made it difficult to anticipate problems or respond quickly. Four issues stood out:

Executives and operations leaders had no single view connecting lab readiness, plant efficiency, and supply chain performance. Decisions were made in silos, slowing response to disruptions and preventing data-driven planning.

SCADA logs were stored locally and reviewed manually, often only after failures had occurred. Plant supervisors lacked predictive indicators, leading to unplanned downtime on high-value equipment such as extruders and turbines.

Different ERP modules and spreadsheets managed procurement, logistics, and supplier data. This fragmentation prevented accurate demand forecasting and led to both overstocking of raw materials and costly expedited orders.

Quality control and formulation results from the Laboratory Information Management System were not automatically shared with production. Lab staff manually re-entered data into MES, creating opportunities for human error.

Our Solution

Sphere worked with the client on a stepwise modernization program, focusing first on integration of existing systems, then on practical analytics and visualization that could be adopted quickly by lab staff, plant supervisors, and supply chain managers.

1. Deployed a cloud data warehouse (Snowflake) to…
Deployed a cloud data warehouse (Snowflake) to act as a central repository.
2. Built ETL pipelines using Fivetran and dbt to move data from
Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)
3. Plant MES (Rockwell FactoryTalk) and SCADA logs
Plant MES (Rockwell FactoryTalk) and SCADA logs
4. ERP modules (SAP for procurement and logistics)
ERP modules (SAP for procurement and logistics)
5. Standardized master data so material codes, batch…
Standardized master data so material codes, batch IDs, and equipment tags matched across systems.
6. Connected LIMS outputs (QC test results, formulation…
Connected LIMS outputs (QC test results, formulation data) directly to MES, so approved lab results automatically updated production recipes.

Key Achievements

from lab to plant, reducing time-to-market for new formulations.

by enabling supervisors to act on early warnings before equipment failures.

from better demand alignment and reduced reliance on expedited freight.

system was piloted in one plant and scaled to three regional sites with minimal disruption to operations.

Result

MES/SCADA, and ERP systems into Snowflake. Lab-to-plant recipe transfer was automated, removing the need for manual re-entry of QC and formulation data. In plants, anomaly detection models on SCADA logs introduced early warning alerts for supervisors, helping prevent costly downtime. On the supply chain side, ERP and logistics data were combined into practical demand models, improving forecasting accuracy and procurement planning. Role-based dashboards in Power BI made insights accessible to non-technical staff, while executives and managers gained cross-functional transparency for the first time, with a unified view spanning R&D, production, and logistics.

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Lee Ebreo

VP of Engineering at Credit Ninja

These things would not have been achievable if we did not build our own in-house system and if we did not partner with Sphere to help us achieve our goals.

Selah Ben-Haim

VP of Engineering at Prominence Advisors

Our experience with Sphere and their team has been and continues to be fantastic. We keep throwing new projects at them, and they keep knocking them out of the park (including the rescue of a project that was previously bungled by another vendor).

Ben Crawford

Senior Product Manager at Enova Financial

I would expect to be delighted. It's been a really positive experience, working with Sphere, and I would expect you to have the same.

Mark Friedgan

CEO at CreditNinja

Sphere consistently prioritizes the needs of their clients, demonstrating both agility and teamwork. As an offshore team, they have been an integral part of our organization and we plan to continue growing with them.

René Pfitzner

Co-Founder at Experify

Sphere provided excellent full-stack development manpower to augment our team and help push our product forward. They are easy to work with, tech-savvy and proactive.

Bruce Burdick

Chief Information Officer at Integra Credit

We've been working with Sphere and its excellent consultants since our founding. I've found that they are true partners in the success of our business.

Jemal Swoboda

CEO at Dabble

The resources and developers that Sphere Software provides are skilled and have the required technical expertise, but more importantly, they have helped us build a culture of excellence within our team.

Arthur Tretyak

Founder and CEO at IntegraCredit

With Sphere, we were able to migrate in half the time it would take to train an additional FTE… and for a fraction of the cost. Our experience with Sphere has been exceptional.

Lee Ebreo

VP of Engineering at Credit Ninja

These things would not have been achievable if we did not build our own in-house system and if we did not partner with Sphere to help us achieve our goals.

Selah Ben-Haim

VP of Engineering at Prominence Advisors