Designing manufacturing systems that scale with confidence

Posted on 20 Jan 2026 by The Manufacturer

For manufacturers and new product developers, the challenge is no longer innovation alone – it is how to industrialise reliably, repeatably, and at scale. Moving from pilot production to sustained, high-volume relies upon quality consistency, throughput stability, and long-term capacity planning.

A recent collaboration between Mpac Lambert and GlucoModicum for their innovative needle-free glucose monitoring sensor, Sofio, offers a practical example of how manufacturers can de-risk that transition, by designing scalability and reliability into the production system from the outset.

After successfully demonstrating Sofio at lab scale through manual and semi-automated methods, GlucoModicum needed a repeatable, industrial-scale operation capable of supporting global demand, selecting Mpac Lambert to deliver the high-precision, high-throughput manufacturing platform needed for global roll-out. The collaboration brings together GlucoModicum’s needle-free sensing technology with Mpac Lambert’s expertise in first-of-its-kind automation to enable high-volume production of Sofio’s consumable sensor.

Before construction, the teams ran two years of industrial-scale proof-of-principle (POP) work, producing tens of thousands of pilot units to ensure predictable, reliable and repeatable performance.

The resulting production system delivers an established robust, high-throughput automation platform, designed to support future expansion while maintaining consistent production quality as volumes scale. With sub-second cycle times, an initial annual capacity of approximately 21 million units, the platform also has an option to expand by adding additional modules.

“Taking Sofio to a global scale requires highly capable partners in many areas. Mpac Lambert’s expertise in high-volume and high-precision manufacturing has been a perfect fit for our needs, enabling a manufacturing platform inherently suited for high-volume, efficient production,” stated Harri Palomäki, Manufacturing & Ops Lead at GlucoModicum.

Applicable across industries, Mpac Lambert’s work with GlucoModicum demonstrates the value of POP work and highlights the importance of design for expansion from day one. It ensures automation partners can support long-term growth, not just initial installation, and reduces risk by ensuring that cycle times, quality controls, and precision processes are understood and proven before volume ramps up.

For manufacturers planning expansion, this approach supports the potential for incremental investment aligned with demand growth, faster upscaling without compromising quality and consistent performance across product variants. This is particularly relevant for organisations managing multiple SKUs or anticipating design evolution over time.

As manufacturers face increasing pressure to scale faster while maintaining quality and resilience, supply certainty and operational confidence become competitive differentiators. Projects like this highlight the value of treating manufacturing systems as strategic assets, not just production tools. Investing in scalable, proven automation can be the difference between growth that is sustainable – and growth that stalls when volume appears.

For more articles like this, visit our Innovation channel