About Behr
Founded in 1947, Behr Paint Company is one of the largest manufacturers of paints, primers, decorative finishes, stains, surface preparation and application products for do-it-yourselfers and professionals in North America. The Santa Ana, CA based company, and maker of BEHR®, KILZ® and WHIZZ® brands, is dedicated to meeting the project needs of DIYers, designers and professional paint contractors with an unwavering commitment to quality, innovation, and value. For more information, visit Behr.com. Professional paint contractors and designers can visit Behr.com/Pro to learn about products, color tools and services. Behr Paint Company is a subsidiary of Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS).
The Challenge
Before adopting Uncountable, Behr Paint used multiple systems to manage R&D data, approvals, and manufacturing-related data transfers to ERP. Because these systems were not fully connected, different teams often had to rely on separate tools to access the full product record needed by formulators, product stewards, regulatory teams, and process teams.
Key challenges in the prior workflow included:
- Fragmented product records: R&D information, approvals, and manufacturing release details lived in different places, making it harder to maintain a consistent single record across teams.
- Incomplete experimental context in one system: Formulators recorded recipes, process steps, and specifications in one system, but test and measurement results were not always captured alongside them, limiting historical comparisons and learnings from prior work.
- Approvals outside the formulator workflow: Approval routing took place primarily through email. While it supported process team requirements, it required manual coordination and was not integrated into day-to-day formulation work.
- Raw material documentation stored separately: Raw material reference data, Technical Data Sheets (TDS), and Safety Data Sheets (SDS) were maintained outside the R&D platform, requiring reviewers to cross-reference multiple sources during development and approval.
“Prior to Uncountable, our teams relied on multiple systems to support data management and production related approvals. As our needs evolved, Uncountable helped us create a more connected and scalable foundation that better supports R&D today while positioning us for future innovation and growth,” said Greg Williams, Director of Sustainability & Digital Informatics.
The Implementation
To deploy Uncountable, Uncountable’s team partnered with Behr to understand its workflow requirements. Together, the teams mapped existing processes and consolidated multiple systems into a more unified workflow.
Key requirements included:
- Enable formulation workflows used by Behr’s R&D team
- Support checks required by Behr’s regulatory and manufacturing teams
- Route notifications based on site, product type, and other formulation-specific criteria to support stage-gate reviews
- Enable seamless data transfer to Behr’s production systems
Throughout the process, Uncountable worked closely with Behr as a collaborative implementation partner, not only as a software provider.
"Working with Charmayne [Uncountable's lead implementation manager for the deployment] has been a delight. She works extremely hard to understand our needs, has the science background necessary to work with us, and is always happy to help on issues big or small." said David Chisholm, Scientist.
The Solution
Today's Workflow:
Today, Behr scientists formulate in Uncountable. R&D and production formulas are managed in the platform with appropriate tagging and access controls. Scientists can easily find prior experiments and, with a single click, prepare an experimental formula for approval for production systems.
Why R&D and PLM together matters:
By consolidating key formulation, approval, and production-related workflows in Uncountable, Behr created a more connected R&D process. Scientists can more easily access historical R&D and production formulations, support cross-functional collaboration, and move approved formulations forward with greater visibility and traceability. Configured checks and approval workflows help reduce manual coordination while supporting regulatory and manufacturing requirements.
