How AMCO uses real-time manufacturing intelligence to scale their contract manufacturing business.
Discover how AMCO moved from monthly Excel reviews to real-time manufacturing intelligence. The transformation enabled faster issue resolution and precise tracking of run rates and labor costs across their operations.
About AMCO Proteins & American Custom Drying
AMCO operates two complementary businesses under one roof. AMCO Proteins, established in 1956, is a leading dairy protein manufacturer focused on powder-based functional and nutritional solutions for food, beverage, and nutrition markets. American Custom Drying (ACD) offers custom spray drying services for both food and non-food specialty ingredient markets, serving industries from nutraceuticals to cosmetics and personal care.
INDUSTRY
Protein & Food Ingredients
FACILITIES
2
ESSEMBI START DATE
March 2025
The Opportunity
As a contract manufacturer serving diverse markets from food ingredients to cosmetics, AMCO needs precise cost tracking and operational visibility as they rapidly scale their business. Their existing approach relied heavily on Excel spreadsheets scattered across the organization, with production data typically reviewed monthly. This delayed visibility made it challenging to react quickly to operational issues.
Plus, the team lacked consolidated data across the diverse business and production lines because the data was trapped in Excel silos. Without consolidated reporting, leadership lacked the real-time insights needed to optimize their blending and drying operations. While critical production issues were often communicated via walkie talkie or email, non-critical issues were often buried in Excel spreadsheets.
"The real-time, color-coded production intelligence displayed on my office TV has completely changed how we view operations. Instead of waiting for end-of-month spreadsheets, leadership can react immediately to what's happening on the floor."
For a contract manufacturer, accurate labor cost tracking isn't just nice to have—it's essential for competitive pricing and profitability. AMCO has thrived in their market relying on the hustle of team members. But as the business has scaled rapidly over the past few years, this was a risk point that the team felt needed to be addressed. The team needed a system that could capture production data electronically, consolidate it into actionable insights, and deliver those insights in real-time rather than weeks or months later.
The Essembi Solution
Real-Time Data Capture Across Operations
AMCO deployed tablets throughout their facilities in Burlington, NJ and Mountain Top, PA, enabling production teams to capture run rates and downtime data in real-time across both blending and drying operations. This eliminated the need for manual Excel entry and provided immediate visibility into production performance.
The system tracks OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) as a key metric for measuring production efficiency, giving leadership a clear picture of how effectively their equipment is being utilized across different customer jobs and product types.
Consolidated Dashboards Replace Scattered Spreadsheets
Instead of waiting for monthly or yearly Excel reviews, AMCO now has live dashboards that consolidate production data across both facilities. Adam Cabot, the CEO and Owner, has a TV in his office displaying rotating Essembi views that keep him constantly informed of production status, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement.
This shift from reactive monthly reporting to proactive daily monitoring has fundamentally changed how the leadership team operates, enabling them to address issues before they impact customer delivery or profitability.
Precise Labor Cost Tracking for Contract Manufacturing
As a contract manufacturer working on diverse projects across food ingredients, nutraceuticals, flavors, cosmetics, and more, AMCO needs precise cost data to price jobs competitively while maintaining healthy margins. Essembi's automated labor cost tracking provides the accuracy needed for informed quoting and pricing strategies.
Run rate information helps AMCO make data-driven decisions about capacity planning, scheduling, and which types of contracts to pursue. This level of insight was previously impossible with their Excel-based approach.
The Results
From Monthly Reviews to Real-Time Intelligence
AMCO transformed their decision-making process by replacing monthly Excel reviews with live production intelligence. Leadership can now react immediately to production issues rather than discovering them weeks later in retrospective reports. The color-coded visual displays make it easy to spot problems at a glance and prioritize responses.
"Essembi gives us accurate labor cost tracking which improves our quoting accuracy, enabling better pricing strategies and helping drive profitability."
Data-Driven Monthly Production Meetings
Essembi now serves as the foundation for AMCO's monthly operations meetings, replacing disparate Excel spreadsheets that made it nearly impossible to spot trends or prioritize issues. With all production data consolidated in one platform, leadership can quickly identify what needs the team's attention. OEE scoring makes it easy to understand top priorities at a glance. When outliers appear or team members disagree on what's driving performance issues, drill-down capabilities allow immediate investigation—digging into specific jobs, time periods, or equipment to get definitive answers and move discussions forward.
"Essembi serves as the foundation of our monthly operations meetings, delivering comprehensive analytics that drive informed decisions and operational improvements."
OEE Tracking for Continuous Improvement
By implementing OEE as a standard metric across their blending and drying operations, AMCO can now systematically identify opportunities for efficiency gains. This data-driven approach to continuous improvement helps them optimize equipment utilization and maximize throughput for their diverse customer base.