John Joseph of Datanomix Tells Us How to get an A in Manufacturing

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

John Joseph: We’re doing fine. The only challenge is that I don’t get a break from my 24, 26, and 27-year-old kids. I now have to debate with them about everything from Amazon to Netflix. Ten years ago it was No!!

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Datanomix.

John Joseph: I was educated as a mechanical engineer with a graduate degree in business. After graduating from WPI, I joined the IT industry and have been there my entire career. 10 years in development and 20 in sales, marketing, and general management. 

I come from a family of manufacturers in the textile and apparel industry. As a young adult, I watched manufacturing get offshored to countries with a fraction of the United States’ labor cost. That hollowing out of our infrastructure in America hurt a lot of people in our country and affected me deeply. So I’ve always had a soft spot for our brothers and sisters in the manufacturing sector.

Datanomix presented me with an opportunity to develop and deliver technology that would be transformational to manufacturing in America. We discovered that by transforming machine data for industrial machining companies, we could give them actionable information about their job productivity along with a whole host of other information that allowed them to get the most out of the capital they’ve deployed. The manufacturing industry in America is filled with some of the most innovative people I have met in my 30-year career. Software technology has the ability to take massive amounts of data and make it useful to people trying to get the most out of their businesses. Innovative software companies have largely ignored manufacturers. We are here to help provide an additional tailwind to their resurgence in the form of simple and powerful software that helps them run their factories better.

How does Datanomix innovate? 

John Joseph: Customers are our greatest asset and source of inspiration. My co-founder, Greg McHale, and I spent months talking to manufacturing leaders about what they needed to run their businesses more efficiently. We listened, watched, and walked all over their production floors, looking at how people worked, and information flowed. We then spent months engineering our product and taking it back to our early customers and advisors to measure their impact on improving their businesses’ outcomes. We found that by developing our software to score production by using machine derived data. We could guide people to the areas on the factory floor where they could solve problems quickly to improve output and efficiency while reducing scrap, downtime, and we’ve returned hours a day to critical personnel. Our Fusion software became a virtual employee who watched the data, reported on performance, and is the smartest “person” in the factory. Fusion answers production questions when asked. This has translated into growth and significant efficiency gains for our customers.

To the point of innovation, it’s more important to listen sometimes. We start by processing the information that is in front of us.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

John Joseph: We could have let Covid affect our business, but we didn’t. We used the separation issues to help our customers see their factories from a distance. Our employees rallied around helping our customers. Many of them did it from home, but it was still very effective. We also used a lot of video connectivity to stay connected and supportive. 

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

John Joseph: The culture of our company is one of endurance. We didn’t have to make difficult choices per se. The way I look at it, when the chips are down, make new ones. We foster a think out of the box culture here. Our winning culture delivers a great product and happy customers. 

How do you deal with stress and anxiety? How do you project yourself and Datanomix in the future?

John Joseph: Like I have always told my children, “You have to power through it!!!” There is always going to be stress and anxiety in our lives. It’s how we deal with it that separates us from mediocrity. High achieving people welcome stress and feed off of it. It’s the cutting edge for some people. I’m not exactly an adrenaline junky, but I sure do like a good fight. 

Likely why fishing for tuna so much fun for me in the summertime of the Rhode Island coast. If it was easy, anyone could do it. 

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

John Joseph: Our competition is a lack of knowledge. Not having a production score on your factory floor is our biggest opportunity to win new customers. There are several companies out there that claim machine monitoring and have convinced some companies that monitoring is the essence of Industrial IoT 4.0, but I think they totally missed the mark. Putting factory data in context for your customer is the greatest gift you can bestow upon them. Giving them a morning roadmap for action and management of their organization is so powerful. There really isn’t another company out there delivering the kind of value proposition like Datanomix. 

Your final thoughts?

John Joseph: I’m very proud of what we have developed at Datanomix. Many people have told us that our product value proposition and execution (user experience) is the best in class. “As simple and intuitive to use as an iPhone.” Our Fusion software delivers what I believe to be the best rendition of what Industrial IoT should be to consumers. Iot is not just about data collection and consolidation. It’s about the digital transformation of data into context for users: an intelligence tool that guides people to problem-solving and optimization efforts. Our company is committed to delivering game-changing technology to manufacturers of all shapes and sizes. 

Your website?

www.datanomix.io