Extrusion International 3-2026-USA

25 Extrusion International 4/2025 “By combining real production en- vironments, practical software, and the people who run our plants ev- ery day, we’re building a model for how industrial companies can scale technology in a way that actually works.” Teknor Apex: From Co-Builder to Co-Investor This partnership started on the factory floor. Teknor Apex and OSS Ventures began working to- gether on venture building and investment activities across the U.S. and Europe. As that relation- ship deepened, Teknor Apex – a 100-year-old material science com- pany that’s continually evolving – did something most corporate investors don’t: they ran the soft- ware themselves. The company launched a multi- site digital transformation pro- gram across its own manufactur- ing operations – deploying OSS portfolio software to strengthen workforce enablement, opera- tional visibility, and cross-site col- laboration. What Teknor Apex found confirmed what OSS Ven- tures had built its model around: software designed on the factory floor performs differently than software designed for it. Teknor Apex deployed three of OSS Ventures’ portfolio companies in their Rhode Island and Tennessee sites. The impact was immediate: • Oplit allows Teknor Apex to set their plants up for success through a reduction in changeovers, improved yield, and a stronger foundation for more automated planning over time. • Fabriq helps to strengthen a cul- ture of continuous improvement, with problem-solving embedded at every level of the manufacturing or- ganization. • Mercateam supports operators, mechanics, and lab technicians in building critical skills and advanc- ing their careers - helping Teknor Apex better invest in and make the most of its most valuable resource: its people. This momentum has now led to a deeper, dual-track partnership. Teknor Apex and OSS Ventures are aligned as both core business part- ners and venture partners - with Teknor Apex joining as a founding partner in the €75M ampli cation fund alongside Decathlon PULSE and Groupe Peugeot Frères. The aim: help manufacturers scale ef- fectively, accelerate reshoring and American manufacturing competi- tiveness, and digitize legacy op- erations with practical, deployable software. “As we shape our next 100 years of manufacturing, digital trans- formation is the sole viable path to not only short-term efficiency, but long-term competitiveness,” said Michael Roberts, CIO, Teknor Apex. “By giving industrial soft- ware companies access to live production environments – with all the complexity and constraint that entails – this partnership cre- ates the conditions for software that actually scales and empowers our people and our plants to work even more efficiently.” The Mandate for U.S. Manufacturing Teknor Apex recognizes that man- ufacturers in the U.S. face a clear mandate to modernize in order to reshore production and rebuild a resilient domestic supply chain. Up- grading plants and digital systems is essential to producing competi- tively, and safeguarding against the volatility that has de ned global manufacturing. At the same time, industrial software companies can only scale credibly when they work with real plants that expose them to the complexity and constraints of actual production. Across its own manufacturing network, Teknor Apex has seen that the right software can do more than enhance operations - it can broaden what a manufacturer is able to achieve. The company views this initiative as an important step in advancing its own digital ca- pabilities and helping shape a clear- er path for manufacturers seeking to become more connected, agile, and capable industrial partners. For Teknor Apex, this kind of progress is accelerated by partnering with OSS Ventures – an organization that shares its values, understands the realities of production, and is committed to delivering practical, long-term solutions. A company that has advanced through a century of industrial shifts is now betting on software as the next one – and building the in- frastructure to prove it. Teknor Apex Company www.teknorapex.com OSS Ventures www.oss.ventures From co-builders to co-investors: OSS Ventures’ Founder/CEO Renan Devillieres and Michael Roberts, CIO of Teknor Apex