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What is Pure Sunfarms?

Based in Delta, British Columbia, Pure Sunfarms is one of the largest cannabis operations in the world, with the capacity to produce 112,500 kg of dried flower annually. A wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary of Village Farms International, Pure Sunfarms combines its deep farming roots with a legacy of cannabis cultivation and knowledge of growing at scale to guide its uncompromising approach to quality.

Managing a paper-based quality program

In the early days of its operation, Pure Sunfarms managed its quality program on paper, however, the team knew that, in order to maintain its growth and support the complexity of its operations, it needed to make paperwork efficient through digitization.

Paper-based quality programs can often lead to QA teams becoming weighed down by additional admin work. The senior leadership team at Pure Sunfarms, including Michael Lattimer, VP of Corporate Operations & Tarlyn Campbell, Director of Business Solutions, had previously dealt with similar circumstances in other industries. They, therefore, knew that in order to facilitate future growth, their operations had to be digital-first, data-driven and as efficient as possible. So they began to look for solutions.

The Solution

Pure Sunfarms chooses Elevated Signals cannabis software

In early 2020, Pure Sunfarms engaged the Elevated Signals team to help with the digital transformation of its record-keeping process.

Built specifically for cannabis organizations, Elevated Signals is a manufacturing software platform that digitalizes and automates quality processes, streamlines inventory management and enables access to high-quality operational data. Its software enables businesses to improve the efficiency of their QA teams and release batches much faster, while increasing transparency and communication.

Working in partnership with Pure Sunfarms, the Elevated Signals team created process maps and business requirements documentation, turned SOPs into custom forms and worked with the operations department to create a bespoke software training programme. The team then assisted in training, testing and validation before, spending two weeks onsite to manage the smooth transition to digital record-keeping.

“The power of Elevated Signals is that they have skilled developers who worked with us closely and engaged us in understanding our business processes. Working alongside their team, they made it a priority to deliver the best system they could to fit our business needs, and those of a changing, constantly evolving industry like cannabis,” said Michael Lattimer, VP of Corporate Operations, Pure Sunfarms.

Since February 2020, Pure Sunfarms has used Elevated Signals to run its quality assurance program digitally. All quality documentation is now handled directly within the software, and batch records can be downloaded in an instant.

“Health Canada has a lot of regulatory and documentation requirements – this is table stakes for the industry. So, making paperwork efficient through digitization was very important for our business; not only does it help us keep costs down, but now we’re able to focus on what we do best: produce quality cannabis products at scale for the Canadian market,” said Michael.

With Elevated Signals, Pure Sunfarms has a strategic partner that is able to adapt as its business scales and evolves. According to Tarlyn Campbell, Director of Business Solutions, Pure Sunfarms, “working with Elevated Signals for our Batch Records Management has been positive. The team is eager to support us and improve how the system is working in our day-to-day operations. Elevated Signals is always actively listening and asking great questions to help us continue to grow and succeed in the Canadian cannabis industry.”

GMP-Ready In March 2022, Pure Sunfarms received its EU-GMP certification, enabling it to export cannabis products to the EU and other international markets.Coinciding with this certification Elevated Signals became GMP validated meaning the system complies with pharmaceutical industry requirements, “GMP was a big endeavour, and Elevated Signals worked closely with us to make sure they were able to deliver on what we needed. The team understood the importance of this development for our company and partnered with us to ensure success on our GMP adventure,” said Tarlyn.

The Success

🌿 A partnership approach to support efficiency, productivity & future growth: “The strength of Elevated Signals is their approach to development, partnership, and understanding their client’s business. Thanks to them, we are now guided by a system that provides a strong foundation to support efficiency, productivity, and future growth,” said Michael.

🌿 Fully digitalizing batch records: “Elevated Signals helped us digitize our batch record process. This was an important development as Pure Sunfarms continues to grow, and as the scope and scale of our business evolves,” said Michael.

🌿 Making paperwork efficient & keeping costs down: Thanks to Elevated Signals, quality record keeping is now fully digital helping drive efficiencies and keeping costs down. “To support and maintain our scale, growth, and complexity of operations, making paperwork efficient through digitization was very important for our business. Not only does this help us keep costs down, but it stimulates our productive capabilities, letting us focus on what’s most important: the quality of product we deliver to the market,” said Tarlyn.

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