Client –   A Global Industrial Equipment Manufacturer                                      

Problem

Our client designs, builds, and maintains large industrial equipment for companies around the globe.

One department, comprised of engineers focused on the design and sales of large conveyor dryer / burners / coolers, was struggling with a legacy application that assisted them with the technical calculations and design of these complex machines. 

Their legacy system had several issues, including:

1. It couldn’t run on modern operating systems. This forced them to use a handful of older / outdated machines that no longer complied with their IT department’s requirements.
2. The aging machines presented data loss risks in the event of equipment failure. 
3. The application caused inefficiencies and user frustration due to its unforgiving command line UI (User Interface) that required the engineers to start the process over if incorrect data was accidentally entered.   
4. The application couldn’t be updated when changes to the formulas were needed due to identified errors or newer equipment specs.

It was clear to our client that they needed to move to an upgraded application. However, migrating to a newer application presented its own challenges.  The application was responsible for complicated engineering calculations that most software development teams were not familiar with.

Solution

Keypress and the client collaborated on the development of a modern application:

• A couple of the client’s team members were familiar with Python coding.  They would develop the Python code to handle the engineering calculations
• Keypress developed the Front End and API to provide a modern UI for the users
• Keypress’ team members would work closely with the client’s engineers to refactor the code to be used in a services architecture in Azure Functions

The services approach allows the client to deploy changes to their engineering calculations when needed without requiring redevelopment of the API or Front End

Capabilities Demonstrated

• Web App Development
• User Interface Design
• Error Alerting

Overview

The application provides:

• A modern, intuitive and forgiving UI
• More data accessibility to team members around the world
• Exports to assist other departments
• The ability for the client’s developers to update the engineering formulas when needed

Software Needs Assessment

We met with our client’s team to understand the process they go through when designing their machines.  The Keypress team did a walkthrough of their lab and facility to understand the processes.  We reviewed the old application and the challenges and concerns it created.

Demo and Scoping

Eager to demonstrate how a modern application could help, our team designed a demo application to present our vision of the new application. We also provided a ballpark estimate of the timeline and cost.

Development

In close collaboration with our client’s developers, our team began refactoring the Python code for use in Azure functions and developed a modern and user-friendly UI.

Testing

Due to the complex and critical nature of the application and its formulas, our team prioritized the functions of the application that required the most testing.  We provided the client’s team a sandbox to test the application as it was developed, and provide feedback along with way.

As the application approached completion, we guided the client through a UAT process, comparing results from the new application to those from the legacy application (accounting for desirable differences resulting from improved functionality).

As we approached Launch our client experienced problems with their legacy application.  They were working on a new project for one of their customers and the legacy application consistently crashed when attempting to build the design.  The new application was actively being tested by their team and had performed very well in accuracy testing.  So the lead stakeholder decided to develop this new project in the new application while also assigning the manual process of building the machine to another engineer.  The new application performed as hoped and allowed the team to design the machine in a fraction of the time the manual process took.

Launch

Once the application was approved for production use, we:

1. deployed the application to the client’s on-prem server and
2. provided go-live support to rapidly assist users with any issues that arose.