Case Study: Unlocking Rocket Factory's capacity to drive corporate growth
“Elevated Signals' software and service go above and beyond our expectations regularly. Since switching to the software we’ve seen significant operational improvements across the business and a huge reduction in the time spent on paperwork and reporting. This has freed up capacity for our team to focus on our corporate business objectives and helped us drive key growth initiatives forward.”
Highlights
🌿 Thousands of dollars saved each week on labour requirements
🌿 Freed up time to focus on corporate goals & growth
🌿 Accurate inventory tracking, faster CTS reporting
🌿 80% reduction in the weekly time spent reviewing paper records
🌿 Access to real-time information
About Rocket Factory
- Location: Chatham, Ontario
- Facility Size: 30,000 sq ft.
- Licensed date: 2022
- License Type: Standard cultivation & processing
Rocket Factory is a Canadian Licensed Producer that combines science and cutting-edge technology with a passion for craft cannabis. Its facility in Chatham, Ontario, is dedicated to cultivating the finest genetics and perfecting a sophisticated process that ensures every product it produces is consistently high quality. The team is currently focused on producing dried cannabis efficiently at scale, to supply its customers which include some of Canada’s largest producers.
The Situation
The Rocket Factory team runs a very tight ship, which means they use advanced tools and systems wherever possible to ensure processes and operations are efficient and consistent.
“As soon as we got our license we implemented a track and trace software to help manage operations within the facility. As we got up and running, it became clear that the track and trace system was difficult to use and too unstructured for our business. Inventory numbers didn’t always add up and our lack of trust in the software meant we were also continuing to run our paper-based process, so having to enter data on two systems,” said Michael Inman, Director of Quality Assurance, Rocket Factory.
This caused headaches across the business.
"Accessing information was challenging for the finance team, impeding their ability to prepare forecasts and understand operational costs. They heavily relied on our QA team to ensure data accuracy."
Read: Calculating cannabis cost of goods sold for producers
“Furthermore, obtaining buy-in from other departments was challenging due to the complexities and administrative burden of managing two systems. This restricted our ability to run a total-quality approach across the business.”
These issues lead to the leadership team at Rocket Factory being unable to address essential company goals.
“We were spending too much time on paperwork - inventory reporting, preparing documents for approvals and initialling and dating documents alone took days. It was extremely costly and left us with little time to spend on the initiatives we needed to work on for our business to grow and succeed. It wasn’t sustainable,” continued Michael.
Read: Reasons why your current cannabis software has poor inventory management and how to improve it
The Rocket Factory team began a due diligence process to find a new system to replace its existing track and trace + paper-based system.
“Previously, I’d worked at a cannabis producer that used an ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning) to track operational and manufacturing data - it was a nightmare. These systems are built for finance teams and have so many problems when it comes to tracking cannabis. So I knew this wasn’t a route I wanted to take with Rocket Factory,” said Michael.
“After evaluating various cannabis track and trace and manufacturing systems, we decided Elevated Signals was the best product for us.”
Credit: Rocket Factory
The Solution
Elevated Signals’ cannabis manufacturing software provides Rocket Factory with the perfect balance of customizability with tight quality and compliance controls, structure and flexibility.
“We’re able to track all of our facility’s bespoke processes and functions, but the system’s design and architecture significantly reduces the risk of errors. When it comes to electronic batch records we have the flexibility to take our existing practices and put them in a digital format. It's a great system that combines structure and customization,” says Michael.
Onboarding, implementation and ongoing support have also been a vast improvement on Rocket Factory’s previous system.
“It took us four weeks to train and implement Elevated Signals,” says Micheal. “The transition was very smooth. We had a schedule, a go-live date and a sandbox, so we could make mistakes and train our staff without impacting our operations. The structured approach included defining our inventory and digitizing our forms, as well as dedicated customer support once the system was live, so we could ask questions.”
“I really feel like [Elevated Signals’ onboarding] gave our team the tools to use the software to its maximum potential, and the capable service team greatly contributes to our success.”
“In terms of labour requirements, we are saving thousands of dollars each week thanks to the process improvements Elevated Signals has enabled."
"Key personnel are no longer spending the vast majority of their time dealing with paperwork and reporting - and tasks that previously took days now take hours or minutes.
“This freed up a considerable amount of time for our team to focus on corporate objectives, honing their skills, cross-training and continuous improvement initiatives.”
One standout area of improvement for Michael has been operational visibility.
“With Elevated Signals, it's quick and easy to search for specific forms and batch records and ensure they’re not missing anything, like sanitation activities. This used to be a complete nightmare for us, and I can now do it from anywhere, and at any given point, I don’t have to be on site.”
"We can see the exact status of our products in real-time, enabling us to give our customers accurate timelines and updates."
“The system's user-friendliness means we have widespread buy-in and active participation across all levels and departments within Rocket Factory, enabling our quality-first approach."
Credit: Rocket Factory