It was a single worn washer. And it could have taken down a manufacturing plant for five hours.
Worthington Industries Inc. was among the first customers of Nikola Labs when the startup debuted its system of wireless sensors for flagging heat, vibrations and other maintenance warning signs in manufacturing equipment.
The $3.2 billion public company wanted to support a local startup, but at first the tech seemed like mysterious "black-box stuff," said Jeremie Lieb, who leads maintenance and reliability for its custom steel processing and pressurized cylinder plants. Then Worthington's in-house vibration expert and others observed the sensors in action.
"It turned out to be very beneficial for both of us," Lieb said.
"We were able to see this is going to be a valuable technology," he said. "It helps us be more proactive in our maintenance approach. We were pleasantly surprised."
The 67-year-old Columbus manufacturer is embracing digital and technological transformation overall. Worthington Industries has invested in funds with Rev1 Ventures, and CEO Andy Rose is Rev1's board chairman.
“We’re just scratching the surface on a lot of this technology," Lieb said. "There’s still a lot of gains out there to be had. Our digital strategy is growing and developing."
The ROI on Nikola increased as Worthington spread the system to more locations after the initial pilot. Nikola's sensors are in 13 of the company's facilities.
It's an example of Nikola's "land and expand" sales strategy, CEO Brian Graham said. In nearly every case, a free pilot leads to a paid subscription, and then adoption in more of a customer's facilities.
Fivefold sales growth in 2021 helped Nikola Labs raise its first institutional round – worth $20 million – at a time when VC investment has slowed around the country, Nikola CEO Brian Graham said.
"Worthington is a fantastic customer for us, one of our very first," Graham said.
Worthington is Central Ohio's third-largest manufacturer, with plants around the globe.
In the Westerville plant that makes steel propane cylinders, Lieb said, Nikola's system picked up vibrations in a gear box, so the equipment team scheduled maintenance and made the repair that prevented the gears from failing.
"It was a single point of failure in a washer," Lieb said. "It probably saved us 4-5 hours of downtime, which would have shut the entire facility down. That's five hours of profit."
Founded seven years ago, Nikola pivoted to predictive maintenance in 2018 and launched the product shortly before the pandemic.
Worthington early on gave "a lot of feedback on how to make it better," Lieb said.
"They really excel in the customer service side," Lieb said. "They had very open communication."
