Lyka is an Australian scale-up that delivers gently cooked dog food made with real ingredients for healthier pups. The company has been on a remarkable growth path, targeting 5x expansion in just three years. But with that scale came growing pains: scattered processes, disconnected tools, and an over-reliance on tribal knowledge made it difficult to build repeatable operations across their production sites.
The Challenge
Maintenance workflows were reactive and inconsistent. Information was buried in binders or spread across spreadsheets and whiteboards. Finding the right document, let alone identifying a problem before it escalates, could take hours.
Their team needed a centralized system to standardize SOPs, keep assets healthy, and enable technicians to act with speed and confidence.
And with strict internal IT requirements, Lyka knew they needed a modern, adaptable platform that wouldn’t just tick boxes; it had to truly fit how they worked.
The Solution
Lyka’s Director of Manufacturing was searching for a CMMS that could go beyond just digitizing paperwork, something built for real-world operations, intuitive for frontline teams, and flexible enough to grow with them.
Phase 1: Laying the Groundwork with CMMS
Tractian CMMS became the single source of truth for Lyka’s maintenance operations. The team used it to:
- Centralize equipment manuals, SOPs, drawings, and PM checklists
- Digitize work orders and track technician workloads
- Assign tasks and generate purchase orders, all from the floor
- Eliminate time-consuming paper trails
- Seamlessly integrate with Oracle NetSuite to sync asset and maintenance data with financials
Lyka didn’t just assume things were better with Tractian, they timed it. Tracking down a part in the warehouse used to take 22 minutes. With Tractian CMMS on their iPads? Just 22 seconds. That kind of speed made the value a no-brainer.
Part 2: Expanding with Condition Monitoring Sensors
Encouraged by early CMMS success, Lyka expanded into Tractian condition monitoring sensors. The sensors were installed by Tractian’s customer success team on site, despite timezone differences and the distance from the US., Support was hands-on, responsive, and deeply invested.
Within the first week, two critical equipment issues were detected, before the AI had even finished training. A temperature spike flagged by the sensors revealed that fans on two key motors had failed. Left unchecked, this could’ve escalated into full motor replacements or even spoiled goods. Instead, Lyka made quick swaps and avoided costly downtime.
Impact
With Tractian in place, Lyka now runs a tighter, more consistent operation:
- Centralized SOPs make it easier to onboard new staff and replicate best practices across sites
- Technicians work faster, with everything they need in one place, no more digging through binders
- Condition monitoring catches early failures before they turn into expensive breakdowns
- Faster issue resolution and smarter scheduling free up time for proactive improvements
- Connected data from Tractian to NetSuite streamlines reporting and asset-related cost tracking, giving leadership better financial visibility and control
But the real impact has been cultural: a shift from reactive firefighting to proactive control. The Lyka team feels empowered, equipped, and ready to support the company’s ambitious growth trajectory.
What's Next
As Lyka scales production and expands its footprint, Tractian is helping them lay the operational groundwork to match.
With a rock-solid CMMS foundation and real-time asset visibility through Smart Trac sensors, the team is focused on long-term reliability, proactive maintenance, and repeatable success. Their story shows that you don’t need to choose between speed and structure when scaling; you just need the right partners.
