INX International Ink Co. has participated in a USD 28.5 million Series B round of venture funding for Oden Technologies, one of the leading AI-powered analytics providers for manufacturing companies. It is the fifth company INX has invested in since establishing a USD 50 million venture capital investment program in 2022.

Oden Technologies is led by co-founders Willem Sundblad and Peter Brand. The company’s AI technologies combine data aggregation and organization to deliver prescriptive analytics and automation, helping manufacturers optimize production for throughput, quality, profitability and sustainability.

For INX, Oden’s software is helping improve product quality and consistency across batches while maximizing throughput. INX is also supporting Oden with product roadmap evaluation and piloting new offerings.

‘We view Oden Technologies as a platform for enabling industry 4.0-level efficiencies and quality,’ said Shane Bertsch, INX senior vice president of innovation and strategy. ‘INX believes that machine learning and AI can contribute to several aspects of our business. It will augment our resources to become faster and more efficient in driving innovation and deliver more value to INX customers.’

Sundblad, added: ‘INX has been a great customer and partner to Oden. Our shared vision of empowering the front line to make production improvements through data has helped us improve our offerings in several ways. We are thrilled to have INX on our cap table as an investor, and their support reinforces the value of Oden’s solutions for enterprise manufacturing companies.’

INX is already using new Oden products such as the Data Engine, Process Analytics, and Process AI to increase efficiencies and capacity. Process AI is a live dashboard that line operators use for real-time production setting adjustments that improve business outcomes and consistency. Process AI also delivers predictive quality and adjustment-driven impact on the line to improve operator confidence. Process Analytics is a tool that process engineers use to analyze changeover procedures between orders and make adjustments that maximize uptime.

An Oden Technologies pilot program with INX produced impressive results, including a 13 percent improvement in asset availability, a 71 percent reduction in changeover times, and over a 40 percent increase in line speed. The technology is scalable from a single line to an enterprise-wide deployment.

‘We learned Oden provides significant value in real time manufacturing data visibility,’ said Jim Kochanny, INX chief operating officer. ‘We are enthusiastic to begin testing additional value-added features related to machine learning and AI, which can help INX further improve manufacturing efficiencies. With Oden being an expert and thought leader in this space for manufacturing, we look forward to building our ecosystem and learning more.’