Modernising Manufacturing Data Infrastructure: LabVIEW Upgrades and Apache Derby Across 20+ Sites

Manufacturing | Industrial IT | OT Data Management

The Challenge

Two precision manufacturing sites were running aging LabVIEW-based test and measurement applications incompatible with modern data management requirements — creating bottlenecks in test data validation, reporting, and traceability. Separately, 20 manufacturing sites lacked a structured local data management layer, relying on ad hoc file-based storage for test records that was difficult to query, audit, or integrate with upstream systems. Both gaps posed growing compliance and quality risks.

Our Approach

• Upgraded LabVIEW applications at both sites, modernizing data acquisition logic, improving instrument interfacing, and aligning outputs to current test data standards

• Implemented Apache Derby as a lightweight embedded relational database across 20 sites for structured test data capture, local validation, and query-ready storage without requiring server infrastructure at each location

• Designed a consistent schema across all Derby deployments, enabling standardized validation logic and audit-ready traceability records

• Integrated Derby data stores with site-level reporting pipelines to eliminate manual data extraction and reduce validation cycle times

Outcomes

• LabVIEW upgrade at 2 sites resolved critical compatibility issues and restored full instrument traceability, eliminating a backlog of unvalidated test records

• Apache Derby deployed across 20 manufacturing sites, replacing unstructured file-based storage with a queryable, auditable local database layer

• Test data validation cycle time reduced by an estimated 50% per site through automated schema-level validation rules

• Compliance audit readiness improved materially — all test records now stored in structured, timestamped, query-accessible format

"Legacy test infrastructure that had been a liability for years became a reliable, auditable data foundation."