David Zamarin
Founder, Impermea Materials
THE CHALLENGE
Impermea Materials is solving one of the hardest problems in chemical manufacturing: replacing toxic PFAS chemicals with high-performance, sustainable alternatives. Their coatings protect food packaging, textiles, and healthcare materials - without poisoning people or the planet.
The science is hard. The operations? Complex.
David and his team had just relocated from Boston to North Carolina, opening a new production facility to meet surging demand for PFAS-free solutions. New building. New equipment. New supply relationships. Everything had to work - at scale - immediately.
Then a critical material supplier dropped the news: what was supposed to be a 2-week lead time was now 8+ weeks. No warning. No alternatives offered. Just "sorry, we're backed up."
For a chemical manufacturer ramping a new facility, this put business and decade long relationships at risk:
Production planning in freefall - couldn't package finished product, couldn't fulfill orders
No supplier alternatives mapped - they'd relied on established relationships from Boston
Cash flow squeeze - new facility expenses while unable to ship finished goods
Customer commitments at risk - B2B customers don't wait; they find other suppliers
Zero visibility into when it would resolve - supplier kept pushing the date back
Impermea had the technology, the facility, and the demand. What they didn't have was the operational infrastructure to see problems coming and pivot fast when suppliers failed.
THE SOLUTION
Impermea deployed Tenkara mid-crisis and immediately put multiple agents to work:
Delay Detection Agent: Started continuously monitoring the problematic supplier's communications and lead time trends. Within days, flagged that the "8-week" estimate was actually trending toward 10+ weeks based on supplier behavior patterns. This early warning let David start planning around an even worse scenario.
Alternative Supplier Agent: Immediately began sourcing and vetting alternative packaging suppliers who could meet Impermea's specialized requirements (chemical compatibility, FDA compliance, sustainable sourcing). Within 72 hours, Tenkara had identified three qualified alternatives - two of whom could deliver in 4 weeks.
Quote Acceleration Agent: Coordinated simultaneous outreach to all three alternatives with detailed specs. What would normally take David two weeks of back-and-forth emails happened in three days. Competitive quotes in hand, real options to evaluate.
Credit Terms Agent: While David was focused on solving the immediate delay, Tenkara's credit agent was working in the background - identifying suppliers willing to offer extended payment terms and automatically applying for 60-day terms on David's behalf.
The credit terms play was crucial: New facility meant capital was tight. Being able to receive materials now and pay in 60 days instead of net-30 gave Impermea breathing room to ramp production without a cash crunch.
Compliance Validation Agent: Cross-checked all alternative suppliers against Impermea's stringent requirements - FDA compliance, chemical compatibility testing, sustainability certifications. Eliminated suppliers who looked good on paper but would fail in practice.
STRATEGIC EXECUTION
Cut the 8-week delay in half by pivoting to alternative supplier
Unlocked 60-day payment terms, improving cash flow during facility scale-up
Built redundancy into the supply chain so one supplier failure never threatens production again
Gave David his time back to focus on chemistry and customer relationships, not vendor crisis management
THE RESULTS
Since implementing Tenkara during their facility launch, Impermea transformed a near-disaster into a competitive advantage:
8-week delay cut to 4 weeks - alternative supplier sourced and qualified in 72 hours
60-day payment terms unlocked - $10K in improved working capital during critical ramp period
3 backup suppliers mapped for every critical material - redundancy built into the system
Zero production delays since initial crisis - early warning system prevents surprises
12+ hours weekly saved - David's time redirected from procurement firefighting to R&D and sales
Four weeks into the original 8-week delay, David's primary supplier called with more bad news: actually going to be 10-12 weeks. But David wasn't panicking anymore.
Impermea had gone from captive customer to operating with leverage. The new supplier delivered in 4 weeks from initial contact. The original supplier? They came back with a proposal for shorter lead times and better pricing.
Impermea now operates with built-in redundancy. For every critical material, Tenkara maintains relationships with several qualified alternatives - pre-vetted, pre-quoted, ready to activate.
The credit terms agent delivered an unexpected win. While solving the packaging crisis, Tenkara identified that several of Impermea's raw material suppliers were willing to extend payment terms - they'd just never been asked properly.
Tenkara's agent automatically applied on David's behalf, using Impermea's strong business fundamentals and the fact that they were a growing account. Result: 60-day terms with four key suppliers, dramatically improving working capital during the facility scale-up.
Impermea is now expanding into new product lines and additional customer verticals.
Pre-Tenkara:
Each expansion would mean months of supplier development and relationship building.
After Tenkara:
Tenkara's agents are continuously mapping the supply chain for future needs. When Impermea decides to launch a new coating formulation, they already know which suppliers can provide the raw materials, at what lead tims to: alongside the cost and lead times.
