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AGC Chemicals has improved its R&D operations by utilizing the Uncountable A-I Platform to develop new high-performance materials more efficiently.
The company faced difficulties in sharing critical experimental information between its remote sites due to information silos and time zone differences between its Pennsylvania headquarters and central research center in Japan.
Engineers worked independently, saving data on personal notebooks and spreadsheets, resulting in disjointed interactions with overseas colleagues and slowing product development. Collaboration on findings often were confined to quarterly calls conducted either very early in the morning or late at night.
And as AGC expanded its business, R&D workflows became increasingly complex as more varied experimentation was put in the channel.
Centralized Data Optimizes R&D Collaboration
To improve workflows and unify R&D processes across sites, AGC implemented the cloud-based Uncountable solution that integrated all materials and experiment data into a centralized source, eliminating siloed data sets.
Using Uncountable software, AGC teams can collect, store, manage, and share information securely on a cloud-based platform, enabling real-time data sharing and standardizing analytics, reporting, and tracking throughout the company.
Manual collection and recording of lab results has been eliminated. Now qualitative data is captured directly from testing equipment and uploaded into the Uncountable platform. Experimental data is retrieved from across the lab and recorded in one place.
R&D personnel no longer need to wait until another colleague is available at another site to share information or be concerned that they are receiving the most current version of the information. The cloud also secures information by regulating access to authorized users.
This level of control and organization is accelerating AGC R&D workflows while reducing manual workloads. Analytics, reporting, and tracking are now standardized and simplified throughout the company.
“Before Uncountable, it was logistically difficult to share information and findings with colleagues in disparate time zones. Now, we can share our data with team members across the globe – in real-time.” Masatoshi Abe R&D Manager, AGC Japan.
Visualizing different experimental interactions
The platform also includes visualization tools and predictive capabilities that interpret large data sets and help engineers visualize the effects of experimental parameters on the product. Engineers gain a visual representation of data based on specific parameters. Predictive calculations help engineers to more quickly and accurately formulate next-generation products.
For instance, the AI-driven platform helped visualize the effects of an experimental polymer on tensile strength, enabling AGC to build better compounds in less time.
Since implementation, the Uncountable platform has enabled AGC to complete more work collectively in less time by centralizing all formulation and experimental data in one secure cloud-based location.
Logistics is no longer a problem as everyone is working on the same page at the same time. Real-time access to the latest qualitative data saves weeks in trying to capture information from emails and discussions. The end-to-end platform also gives AGC capabilities to analyze, report, visualize, and predict outcomes from experimental data.
The platform has accelerated materials development and AGC’s global business expansion, maintaining its leadership role in the industry.
Formulating Future Fluoropolymers
Uncountable is an important tool in maintaining AGC Chemical’s leadership role in its industry.
AGC produces a broad range of high-performance fluoropolymers for various markets, including transportation chemical processes, electronics, and textiles, and also produces specialty performance materials for paint, cosmetics, and facades, greenhouse films, foam-blowing agents, anti-smudge coatings, silica gels, and more. Among the AGC Brands are Lumiflon Reve Resin, AsahiGuard E-Series, and AFLAS Fluoroelastomers.
Download the case study that details how AGC transformed its R&D operations using Uncountable. Find out more about AGC’s portfolio of fluoropolymer resins, compounds, specialty materials, chemical membranes, and more at Fluoropolymers PTFE, PFA and ETFE Resins & Fluoropolymer Compounds (agcchem.com)
