How Intertech Helped Oak Ridge Build an Application for Factory Efficiency
From time to time, we like to share case studies of what we’ve been working on here at Intertech. It gives insight into the type of work we do, what you can expect if you work with Intertech to solve your software needs, and what it’s like to work as a consultant for Intertech on challenging projects.
In our newest case study, we take a look at the work Intertech has been doing with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the famous U.S. Department of Energy research contractor. ORNL has been building a calculator that helps manufacturers make smart decisions about upgrading equipment and creating efficiencies. The payback calculator helps factory owners decide how long an improvement will take to become profitable.
Optimizing & Streamlining a Solution
ORNL is home to some of the most brilliant minds in engineering, physics, and industrial design. However, they didn’t have strong coding capacity or technical expertise to implement a full application themselves. Intertech’s relationship with ORNL began in 2016 and has included updating a whole suite of factory efficiency tools that date to the 1990s in their original versions.
Intertech helped ORNL imagine a new structure for these tools, bringing seven tools under the umbrella of a single application, deployed with cross-browser online/offline capabilities in an Electron wrapper. Additionally, Intertech helped ORNL explore and make the transition to agile development for this project, making this application one of the first Department of Energy contracts to use an agile scrum approach.
Major Results
Agile methodology increased the cost effectiveness and responsiveness of the project, two important factors given this is a federally-funded contract. The all-in-one application that Intertech developed to bring disparate tools under one roof also consolidated and tied together the project in a cohesive way, making for a more streamlined development process and user experience.
In addition, Intertech consultants’ technical expertise provided valuable leadership and initiative on this project. Since the consultants work remotely, ORNL avoids the overhead of hiring and providing office space and resources for in-house developers or contractors. Ultimately, this open-source application will help manufacturers across the country improve efficiency and output with meaningful, cost effective equipment upgrades.
Learn More
To find out more about our project with ORNL, check out our newly released case study. To hear about other solutions we’ve implemented for past clients in wide-ranging industries, dive into our past case studies.
Find out how Intertech’s consulting services can help your business. Get in touch today to learn more.
Originally published at Intertech Blog.
