Viscell
Viscell, a Colorado-based startup, is a team of two developers, a regulatory affairs manager, an office manager, and two production workers, creating products for the medical market. Viscell team members are geographically dispersed, working from offices in several locations, and are using both Macintosh and Windows computers. Viscell needed an efficient, easy to use, on-demand, anytime, anywhere parts management solution to manage components, labels, BOMs, subassemblies and assemblies. In addition, because the Viscell is FDA registered, it needs to comply with FDA requirements.
The Challenge
Tracking parts and components on spreadsheets and multiple CAD systems had been a historic inefficiency. Viscell needed a better methodology to easily manage components, labeling, bill of materials (BOMs), sub assemblies and engineering documentation for FDA Compliance.
Viscell wanted anytime, anywhere access by development and support teams located in different cities.
Viscell was looking for a simple and effective solution at an affordable price - not an overly complex, expensive MRP system designed for manufacturing and costing $1,000 or more per month.
Viscell has a diverse technical team, but wanted everyone to be able to access the same parts management database and engineering documentation.
The Solution
A Google search located Aligni, an on-demand, web-based parts management software database specifically designed to manage parts and vendors, track inventory and add significant depth to part records - including the essential engineering documentation to fulfill FDA Compliance requirements. It was quickly evident that Aligni was a dramatic improvement over Viscell's previous patchwork of CAD generated and Excel approaches.
With Aligni, Viscell is able to easily enter components that are part of the product, assemble BOMs for sub materials, parts and part lists, subassemblies and assemblies, and track vendors and manufacturers for each part and component.
Aligni provides Viscell the capability they need for their small engineering company without unnecessary, complex, and expensive vertical features.
Aligni is an on-demand, web-based product providing SaaS. As such, it is an OS agnostic solution working equally well for Macintosh, Windows-based PCs or UNIX users. All that's needed is broadband Internet access.
The Results
"Aligni has dramatically improved Viscell's regulatory compliance, manufacturing productivity, and quality control."
"The FDA requires Viscell have control of components and parts used in our products. Aligni is an excellent tool for FDA Compliance."
"Aligni is affordable - with a low-cost monthly subscription model with no per seat charges, no hidden fees, and no termination charges."
"Big MRP packages provide many more vertically integrated tools - but we don't want or need these tools. We want to keep our operations simple and effective. Aligni is perfect for our needs."
"Aligni is Software as a Service (SaaS) and is externally hosted so there is no need for extra IT support to manage it (as there is with a client-based application), no upgrades to buy, and no annual license and maintenance fees."