Where there’s a Will, there’s a way.

Meet Will Sheridan, our resident Scientific Applications Consultant.
To get a better understanding of everyday life at Nix for Will, we chatted with him about his work, his clients (spoiler alert: alpaca farmers!), and the project he’s patiently waiting to tackle…

Will Sheridan, Scientific Applications Consultant at Nix. will.sheridan@nixsensor.com | (289) 724-4274

Nix: Will, not everyone knows the ins-and-outs of the role of a Scientific Applications Consultant. Can you tell us what you do?

Will: To put it simply, I help our customers solve color-related problems in their business. To do this, I work with our customers to gain a deep understanding of their existing color workflow and identify any pain points that they may have. For example, many of our customers are currently using the human eye in their color quality control process – which is obviously time consuming and prone to error. There has to be a better way!

Nix: Lucky for our customers, there is a better way! How do you get businesses to discover what that looks like?

Will: After I’ve learned about a customer’s workflow, I walk our customers through how the Nix QC colorimeter can seamlessly integrate into their existing workflow. Ultimately, it’s my job to ensure the amazing products produced by our customers are up to their strict color standards, while simultaneously making their jobs much, much easier.

Alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer, whiskey, scotch, and tequila are high-margin consumer products where color plays an important role in buying decisions in a store setting. Learn more about how we work with liquids.

Nix: Ensuring products meet the strict color standards set out by our customers is a big task. How do you do it?

Will: You’re right – it is a big task. I manage the development of ground-up custom solutions for some of our biggest clients, so it’s important to make sure that all necessary parties are involved. This means we’re working together with our talented software, engineering, and marketing teams to build white labelled or custom hardware and software for specialized color measurement. We’ve developed solutions for businesses in a variety of industries including paints & coatings, cosmetics, food & agriculture, and medical diagnostics.

Nix: You work with such a variety of industries. What has been the most surprising customer that you’ve worked with to help optimize their color workflow? 

Will: Aside from the alpaca farmer, my most interesting client was an apparel company who needed to ensure the color of their clothing precisely matched the official colors of a major pro sports team. In this case, color was the top priority of the company’s quality control team since color is such an important part of a team’s brand image.


Nix: Okay, Will – your extension is ringing. Who are you really hoping is on the other line? What’s your dream project?

Will: That’s a tough one, because so many industries work with color which means the possibilities for collaboration are endless. But, if I had to choose just one, here’s where my brain goes:

Color is a super important indicator in many chemical tests (think of a pool pH test). Harnessing our color measurement technology for this sort of application has been on my mind for quite a while. In fact, we’ve recently completed a proof-of-concept project with a medical scientist where we created a portable diagnostic test that could be used to rapidly identify a variety of human diseases such as hepatitis.


Nix: This position requires a mix of industry knowledge and curiosity. How do you bring both into your role? 


Will: My educational background is in biochemistry and business. At Nix, we always say that every single product on the market inherently has a color – and this color needs to be measured and controlled in some way. So, this means we receive inquiries from almost every industry out there. This also means that being a bit of a jack-of-all-trades definitely comes in handy, especially when speaking with quality control experts in such a wide variety of industries.

Nix: Speaking of industries, who should reach out to you? 

Will: If there is color in your workflow, reach out! We’ll talk about your business, your work, and what you need to get the job done.

e: will.sheridan@nixsensor.com
t: (289) 724-4274