How Merck Reduced Converter Development by 85% with ZONTAL Converter Factory
This workshop-based case study shows how Merck and ZONTAL compressed a historically 14-week converter-development cycle to 2 weeks or less, delivered a Release Candidate to DEV within 1 week, and proved the Factory across medium-complexity, high-complexity, and novel-schema instrument classes.
A Practical Proof Point for Integration Industrialization
The Converter Factory workshop moved beyond theory. It demonstrated that governed, AI-assisted converter production can work across real instrument data, real review cycles, and real validation expectations inside a pharmaceutical environment.
What changed
Before the Factory, Merck estimated roughly 14 weeks for manual converter development, with additional time required for ASM indexing, testing, release, and deployment. During the workshop, the teams delivered a qPCR Release Candidate to DEV within 1 week and established high confidence that future Release Candidates can be produced in 2 weeks or less under normal operating conditions.
The Factory generates more than code. It produces field mappings, traceability artifacts, and test-oriented outputs that align directly with Merck's SDLC expectations—reducing manual documentation overhead while improving repeatability.
Converter development reduced from 14 weeks to 2 weeks or less, with 1 week achieved during the workshop for the qPCR Release Candidate.
Merck reduced intake, dataset preparation, and context-building effort before Factory execution even began.
Three instrument classes were covered: qPCR, SoloVPE, and Softmax Pro, spanning validated schema, novel schema, and high-complexity binary decoding.
Five Steps from Raw Files to Release Candidate
The workshop confirmed a structured lifecycle that is faster than bespoke converter work while remaining compatible with controlled validation and release practices.
Upload Representative Data
Training datasets, manuals, SOPs, and analysis examples establish the starting context.
Add Context & Conventions
Schema choices, organization conventions, and special requirements shape the Factory run.
Execute the Factory
Schema mapping, parsing, binary decoding, and converter generation run autonomously and produce code, field mappings, and traceability artifacts.
Expert Review & Feedback
Scientists validate outputs against source data, flag issues, and provide domain-expert corrections that feed back into the next Factory run.
Promote to Release
Once expert review converges, the Release Candidate enters SDLC validation and deployment. Validation artifacts and traceability are already generated.
The Factory is not a one-shot code generator. It formalizes an iterative cycle of generation, expert review, and refinement into a governed sequence. Each iteration incorporates domain-expert feedback, converging on a Release Candidate that reflects real scientific judgment, not just automated output.
Three Instruments, Three Different Complexity Profiles
The pilot was intentionally scoped to test the Factory across a realistic spread of converter challenges rather than a single easy win.
7500 Fast qPCR
The qPCR converter reached Release Candidate status in 3 iterations. Schema validation succeeded, binaries were decoded, 4 out of 4 datasets converted successfully, and the converter was deployed to DEV during the workshop window.
SoloVPE
The Factory produced a working draft converter and a newly generated ASM-like schema inspired by the Electronic Spectroscopy schema. This changed the path forward from waiting on schema availability to running schema proposal and converter work in parallel.
Softmax Pro
The Factory generated more than 12,000 lines of ASM code in 2 iterations. Human review identified roughly 0.1% of fields requiring adjustment, demonstrating that even high-complexity outputs can enter a focused defect-resolution cycle rather than a full manual rebuild.
What the Workshop Proved
Two conclusions from the readout that speak directly to the value demonstrated during the pilot.
“Speed to RCWe are now confident we can deliver Release Candidate converters in 2 weeks or less.
Merck + ZONTAL workshop readout, May 15, 2026
“Factory ConfidenceWe successfully built a converter for each of the instruments in scope.
Merck + ZONTAL workshop readout, May 15, 2026
From Manual, Sequential Work to a Governed Factory Model
The most compelling shift is not just speed. It is the move from a long, manual project sequence to a shorter, governed production flow that gets high-quality outputs into validation much sooner.
Long manual sequence
Every converter behaves like its own project, with handoffs, rework, and manual documentation slowing the path to a usable release.
Governed delivery flow
Structured intake, iterative execution, and auto-generated traceability move teams faster without losing control or repeatability.
ASM indexing, testing, release, and deployment still remain downstream activities. The workshop proved that the biggest pre-validation bottleneck can now be compressed dramatically.
What This Changes Operationally
The Factory shifts converter delivery from a fragile, expert-dependent project into a governed production process that compounds with every instrument onboarded.
Near-Term Roadmap After the Workshop
The pilot closed with a clear next-step agenda spanning converter completion, validation acceleration, and broader Factory adoption.
Move qPCR through full validation
Use the deployed 7500 Fast qPCR Release Candidate as the reference case for Merck's validation process, including binary input validation and proposed schema-fix incorporation.
Improve review cycles and source support
Add more interactive human-in-the-loop touchpoints, support PDF source files, provide sharper executive summaries, and incorporate requested feature feedback into future Factory versions.
Apply the workflow to the next wave
Continue iterating on the workshop converters, engage on SoloVPE schema extension, and expand the Factory-enhanced workflow to additional instruments such as Magellan, BioRad, and QuantStudio.
Turn Converter Delivery into a Factory, Not a Project Queue
See how ZONTAL can help your team standardize instrument data faster, reduce manual traceability work, and build an AI-ready scientific data foundation.