How Universal Nutrition increased manufacturing productivity by 12% in just 60 days.
Learn how Universal Nutrition worked with Essembi to deploy smart sensors across their packaging lines to eliminate manual tracking, automatically capture root causes of downtime, and drive continuous improvement.
About Universal Nutrition
Universal Nutrition is a leading sports nutrition and supplement manufacturer with 40+ years of experience serving athletes worldwide. Their commitment to quality and innovation has made them a trusted name in the industry as they produce, market, and sell their own brands across the globe.
INDUSTRY
Supplements
FACILITIES
3
ESSEMBI START DATE
September 2025
The Opportunity
Universal Nutrition's packaging operations faced a common manufacturing dilemma that was holding back their performance: critical production data was being captured manually on paper by supervisors throughout each shift. This manual process created significant blind spots across their operations.
Without automated data collection, the team struggled to track key metrics in real-time or spot trends that could drive meaningful improvement. Team leaders often did not know about problems until well after they had already impacted output. Creating weekly or monthly performance reports required hours of manual data compilation.
"We had limited data to help us drive improvements and make strategic investment decisions. We were constantly trying to complete detailed time studies on lines to get critical data points to help us make those key strategic investment decisions. But as the business grew this became more and more challenging."
Even more problematic was the lack of granular downtime data. When a packaging line went down, the team knew which line stopped and for how long, but they had no systematic way to capture which line component or why. Was it a specific component failure? An upstream supply issue? Operator error? Without root cause information tied to each downtime event, Universal struggled to identify patterns, prioritize maintenance investments, or address recurring bottlenecks that were quietly reducing their overall equipment effectiveness.
The paper-based system also meant that valuable tribal knowledge about line performance, common failure modes, and troubleshooting techniques remained locked in the heads of experienced operators rather than being captured in a way that could benefit the entire team.
The Essembi Solution
Automated Data Collection with Sensors
The Essembi team helped Universal Nutrition deploy multiple sensors across each packaging line. Some lines now have up to 9 sensors monitoring different components throughout the production process. These sensors automatically:
- Measure run rates and throughput at each critical line component
- Trigger downtime alerts when no product is detected for a configured threshold
- Automatically capture the specific line component where downtime or other incidents originate
- Eliminate manual data entry for production supervisors, freeing them to focus on production efficiency
This sensor network is the start of a digital twin for each line, providing the granular visibility that was previously impossible with manual tracking.
Simplified Workflow for the Plant Floor
Essembi was designed with plant floor workers in mind: intuitive, fast, and requiring minimal training. This approach drove rapid adoption across shifts and eliminated the usual resistance that comes with new manufacturing software.
To simplify the production operator day-to-day workflows, Essembi integrated directly with Universal's existing ERP platform. Production teams use barcode scanners to scan the job number off a batch ticket to automatically pull up the job they are working on in Essembi - no typing, no duplicate manual data entry across multiple systems.
Built-In Intelligence for Faster Improvement
Beyond just collecting data, Essembi's native dashboards give Universal's leadership team the access to real-time key performance indicators:
- OEE
- Production run rates
- Downtime
- Units produced
- Labor costs
- Mean time to repair (MTTR)
- Production yield
- And any custom KPI that is required for you business
All of these metrics are available across multiple dimensions such as work order, formula, line, and more. Essembi also gives leaders the ability to drill into the detail data source on any report to learn more which is one of the huge advantages of having reporting as a native tool like Essembi. Universal Nutrition has also taken advantage of Essembi's AI analysis surface improvement opportunities and help prioritize where to focus resources for maximum impact.
Unlimited rotating dashboards can be configured to be displayed across any device - mobile, tablets, desktop, and TV. This is a great way to engage production and other team members working on the manufacturing floor.
The Results
Project Timeline
Universal Nutrition implemented Essembi in just 90 days across over 21 production lines in 2 plants. During the project, the Essembi team worked with Universal to help install IP-68 waterproof cabinets that included Arduino PLCs in each production area. The PLCs were then wired to sensors that were installed along each production line to capture key real-time data along the line.
Immediate Performance Gains
Universal Nutrition achieved a 12% OEE gain in just 60 days through automated monitoring and faster response to issues—a dramatic uplift that demonstrated ROI almost immediately. What do OEE gains mean for a business?
- Jobs get done faster with reduced labor costs due to efficiency to improve your bottom line
- Increased production capacity to make more which is key in the fast growing supplement business today
- Enables teams to maintain operational excellence as new lines are deployed
New Visibility Driving Strategic Decisions
Real-time labor cost per unit tracking enables better workforce planning, while component-level run rate analysis identifies bottlenecks and capacity constraints. Clear data on which line components drive the most downtime guides maintenance priorities and capital expenditure decisions.
"The 12% productivity gain in just 60 days was impressive. And what really changed the game was having data we could trust. Now when we are deciding where to invest capital, we are not guessing — we know exactly which line components are costing us the most and why."
Actionable Intelligence and Operational Benefits
Interactive dashboards with drill-down capabilities give managers the full picture without requiring SQL queries or custom reports. AI analytics automatically surface improvement opportunities that would take weeks to identify manually, while data-driven prioritization for capital investments replaces gut-feel decision making. Cross-functional teams now work from a single source of truth rather than arguing over competing spreadsheets.
Downtime root cause tracking enables targeted problem-solving, and the team has dramatically reduced time spent on manual reporting and data compilation.
Ready to transform your plant floor?
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