Sensory Analytics

Founded in 2004, Sensory Analytics is a specialized provider of coating thickness measurement systems for a variety of industrial markets. The company's core business revolves around its proprietary SpecMetrix® product lines, which utilize non-contact and non-radioactive optical technologies to provide real-time thickness data for coatings and film layers. This technology allows manufacturers to measure the absolute thickness of both wet and dry coatings with sub-micron precision immediately after application, a significant advance over traditional methods that are often destructive or less precise.

Sensory Analytics serves a global client base across diverse sectors, including metal packaging, flexible packaging, aerospace, automotive, electronics, and coil coating. The company's business model focuses on selling these high-precision measurement systems directly to manufacturers. These systems are designed to improve quality control, optimize coating usage, reduce waste, and streamline production processes like line set-ups and changeovers. Clients typically report a full return on investment within an average of six to nine months, driven by cost savings and increased plant profitability.

The company's product offerings include in-line systems for continuous process control, as well as offline lab and mobile systems for quality assurance and sample testing. The in-line solutions can be configured with fixed or scanning probes to measure coatings on moving webs and coils, providing continuous data that can be exported to corporate SPC and data acquisition systems. The user interface is a touch-screen, designed for ease of use by operators without a background in optics. The technology can measure single and dual layers of various coatings, such as adhesives, barrier films, silicones, and UV hard coats, on a wide range of substrates. In August 2024, Sensory Analytics was acquired by Industrial Physics, a portfolio company of KKR, a move intended to leverage Industrial Physics' global infrastructure to meet growing customer demand for process digitalization. Greg Frisby, who served as Global Industry Manager and later CEO, has been a key figure in the company's growth and public communications.

Keywords: coating thickness measurement, film layer measurement, SpecMetrix, non-contact measurement, industrial manufacturing, quality control systems, process optimization, optical measurement, real-time data, sub-micron precision, coil coating, flexible packaging, metal packaging, aerospace coatings, automotive coatings, electronics manufacturing, waste reduction, ROI technology, in-line measurement, offline QA