E-Ink Tags in a Production Environment.

It all began with a simple but powerful question: How can we embrace more sustainable practices, reduce operational costs, and capture product build data more efficiently? At the time, our Direct Pressure production cell was heavily reliant on paper. Each Baratron® capacitance manometer we produced came with a trail of paper records—created, processed, collected, stored, and eventually optically scanned for permanent archiving. It was a system that worked, but it wasn’t as efficient or sustainable as it could be.

That’s when we turned our attention to E-Ink tags—small, paper-like digital displays capable of interfacing directly with Visual Factory, our manufacturing execution system. These tags offered a new way to record and display production data in near real-time, without the need for paper.

We first tested the concept in the Flow Sensor area in Methuen. The results were promising. Encouraged by the success, we fully implemented the solution in the Direct Pressure cell in Andover. The transformation was immediate and impactful.

With E-Ink tags, we no longer needed paper travelers to track build data. This not only reduced the time operators spent writing down information but also eliminated the cost and effort of scanning and digitizing those records. Locating specific units on the production floor, which once took hours, could now be done in minutes.

The return on investment came quickly—within just eight months. And the benefits didn’t stop there. The success of the implementation led to the expansion of E-Ink tag usage across our facilities in Wilmington, Methuen, and Nogales. Each site continues to see significant savings and efficiency gains.

What started as a question turned into a transformative innovation—one that continues to shape the way we build, track, and think about production.

If you’re looking for the freedom to introduce and develop new ideas, we’d love to hear from you.

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