在 FactoryFour 之前，CPO 的临床医生将患者四肢的石膏模型和粘土印模连同纸质表格一起送到他们的中央制造设施。通常，订购过程涉及多次来回调用以纠正错误或澄清订单提交中的细节。然后手动转录订单数据，并作为文书工作订单发布到现场。在生产过程中，一名工作人员在每个工作中心移动，技术人员参考文书工作订单来生产每个定制产品。每当客户打电话询问订单时，都需要一个繁琐的过程，即前往车间、找到工作出差人员并将订单状态反馈给客户。 CPO 需要一个解决方案，将他们的诊所直接连接到制造车间，为客户和经理提供即时可见性，同时为他们的技术人员简化流程。

ComfortFit Labs, a New Jersey-based packaging manufacturer that designs and manufactures custom orthotics, was facing a challenge with their traditional order processing workflow. The process was tedious, involving significant manual labor and long turnaround times. Customers would send plaster casts of their patients’ limbs along with paper order forms to ComfortFit. The order data was recorded manually, and when a work order was issued to the floor, technicians had to manually measure the cast and find the right mold out of hundreds to manufacture from. This resulted in an average 7–20 day turnaround time with a process that was prone to human error from order entry.

Arnold Packaging, a comprehensive supplier to the packaging industry, faced a significant challenge in their production process. Their process started with the collection of custom specs for an order and communicating them to the production floor. Technicians then worked together to complete various tasks in a workflow before the deliver-by date. However, activity was recorded manually on time sheets, which meant managers lacked real-time visibility on their operations. The company had a tedious, manual process of understanding data that couldn’t keep up with the pace of the production floor. Arnold Packaging needed a solution that would provide advanced production visibility, so that they could enhance technician productivity and gain significant managerial time savings.

Comprehensive Prosthetics & Orthotics (CPO) was facing challenges with their order processing and manufacturing workflow. The company's clinicians were sending plaster casts and clay impressions along with paper forms to their central fabrication facilities. This process often involved back-and-forth calls to rectify errors or clarify details. The order data was then manually transcribed and issued to the floor as a paper work order. During production, a job traveler moved through each work center, and technicians referenced the paper work orders for fabrication. Whenever a customer called with an order inquiry, it required a tedious process of going to the floor, locating the job traveler, and relaying the order status back to the customer. CPO needed a solution that would connect their clinics directly to the manufacturing floor, providing immediate visibility for customers and managers while streamlining the process for their technicians.