| Written by Angela Lampl
Mastering Automation: Design, IIOT, and Efficiency
Every product is crafted with a focus on automation, real-time monitoring, and user-friendly interfaces, ensuring they meet the unique demands of the industries we serve. Our products leverage IIoT to gather, analyse, and transmit data in real-time, enabling businesses to make quick, informed decisions. This seamless connectivity between devices and systems enhances operational efficiency and safety across all sectors.
Real-time monitoring is a critical feature of our solutions. For instance, Crew Companion offers visibility into the location of personnel in hazardous environments like the safe energy or mining sector. Similarly, Terminal Tracker provides insights into terminal operations, helping port managers optimise performance and reduce bottlenecks.
Efficiency and safety are at the core of our product development. By automating processes and delivering real-time data, our solutions help eliminate waste, increase productivity, and ensure the visibility of personnel and assets. Products like Asset Agent and Reefer Runner are prime examples of this focus, delivering tangible improvements in operational workflows.
Hardware Design Process
The hardware design process is crucial to our commitment to delivering high-quality, reliable products that meet our customers' needs. A crucial phase is defining a project scope and ensuring that we fully understand the technical specifications, operational conditions, and end-user expectations.
Once the feasibility analysis is verified, we move into the detailed design phase. This stage includes careful component selection, ensuring that every part is chosen based on its performance, reliability, and compatibility with other components. One essential aspect of choosing the right parts is their origin. Almost all our suppliers are from Europe.
This phase is followed by schematic development, where we create diagrams of the electrical circuits. This step is essential for visualising the design and ensuring that all components are correctly interconnected. Next, the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) layout is planned to optimise space, performance, and manufacturability. This phase leads to the creation of a prototype, which allows us to test the hardware. The prototyping process is crucial for verifying that the design meets all functional, safety, and industry standards before moving into production.
Industry Standards
Standards are a fundamental aspect of our operations. Compliance is meeting regulatory requirements and ensuring that our products are safe, reliable, and perform to the highest standards. Our ISO 9001 certification is a testament to our quality management system, demonstrating that we consistently meet our customers' needs through well-defined processes and continuous improvement initiatives.
As a Magnet JQS-qualified supplier, we are recognised for our reliability standards, particularly in the safe energy sector, where the demand for a reliable solution is essential. Additionally, our ATEX and IECEx certifications reflect our company in providing solutions for hazardous environments, ensuring that our products meet both European and international safety standards. Our Profibus certification further demonstrates our commitment to delivering industrial communication solutions that are highly reliable and fully compliant with industry standards, ensuring seamless automation and control across various applications.
Product Improvement and Prototyping
Continuous improvement is a key principle that drives our product development process. We believe that even the best designs can be enhanced, and we actively seek out opportunities to refine our products based on real-world feedback. An excellent example of this is the recent enhancement of our Asset Agent Tag, where we changed its orientation from portrait to landscape. This adjustment, prompted by client feedback and testing, significantly improved the products' usability, making it more intuitive and user-friendly.
Prototyping plays an essential role in our design process. By creating prototypes, we can test our designs in real-world scenarios, identifying and addressing potential issues before the product goes into full-scale production, which not only improves the reliability and usefulness of the final product but also ensures that it meets all technical and user requirements.
Manufacturing, Testing, and Maintenance
Our manufacturing operations, located in the European Union, allow us to produce high-quality products while optimising costs and logistics. Every product undergoes a series of rigorous tests to ensure it meets all technical specifications and regulatory standards. This includes functional testing to verify that the product performs as intended, stress testing to ensure durability under harsh conditions, and environmental testing to confirm reliability in various operating environments.
In addition to manufacturing, we provide comprehensive maintenance and repair services to ensure that our products continue to perform at their best throughout their lifecycle. This includes routine maintenance, such as battery exchanges, as well as more complex repair services. Our commitment to quality extends beyond the production phase, as we provide ongoing support to maintain the performance and certification standards of our products, ensuring they continuously meet our customers' needs in various operational environments.
Firmware and Software Development
Software is as important as hardware in our products. Our software design process begins with understanding the client's needs, followed by iterative development and rigorous testing. This ensures that our software meets functional requirements and integrates seamlessly with existing systems.
From Concept to Implementation
The journey from software conception to implementation is carefully managed. We use agile methodologies like Scrum to ensure continuous improvement and adaptability, allowing us to deliver high-quality software that evolves with our clients' needs.
What is the SRCUM method?
The SCRUM method is an agile methodology that enhances teamwork, communication, and speed in software development projects. It underlines progress through small, manageable tasks, known as sprints, typically lasting between 2-4 weeks. During these sprints, cross-functional teams work collaboratively to achieve specific goals, delivering a potential product completion or adaption step by the end of each sprint. Key roles within Scrum include the Scrum Master, who facilitates the process and removes barriers; the Product Owner, who represents the stakeholders and ensures the team works on the most valuable tasks; and the Development Team, responsible for delivering the product increments. (1)
Phase 1: Planning and Development
One of our Product Managers (PM) begins by conducting thorough market research to gather insights into customer needs, industry trends, and competitive products, helping to create a product backlog, a prioritised list of features, enhancements, and adaptions. A Product Owner refines this backlog, ensuring it aligns with the overall product vision. Scrum teams in our company typically consist of a few developers each, then engage in a sprint planning meeting to select items from the backlog. Throughout the sprint, they focus on delivering a potentially shippable product, holding a daily stand-up meeting to synchronise efforts and address obstacles.
Phase 2: Testing
Once development within the sprint is complete, the focus shifts to relentless testing. This phase involves the creation and execution of comprehensive test cases to validate functionality, performance, and security. Testing programs, including unit tests, integration tests, and system tests, to identify and correct defects. Automated testing tools and continuous integration practices are used to simplify processes and ensure that we meet consistency. The goal of this phase is to ensure that the product meets all specified requirements and performs reliably under expected conditions.
Phase 3: Verification
After the initial testing phase, validation involves a more in-depth review by a Product Manager and a selected group of customers. One of our Product Managers drives detailed evaluations to ensure that the product meets the business objectives and solves the problem. Selected customers representing the target user base are invited to test the product in real-world scenarios. Their feedback is crucial in identifying usability issues, bugs, or missing features that may not have been detectable during internal testing. This phase ensures our product is aligned with user expectations and ready for deployment.
Phase 4: Implementation and Live Deployment
In the "Go Live" phase, the product is implemented at our customers' site or made available to end-users. This stage involves deploying the product in a production environment, closely monitoring its performance, and providing support to address any problems. Despite careful testing in previous phases, real-world use may reveal unforeseen bugs or performance, necessitating additional retesting and fixes. The focus during this phase is to ensure a smooth transition, eliminate downtime, and promptly address any problems to maintain our customers' satisfaction and trust.
Phase 5: Iteration and Enhancement
The final phase involves continuous improvement of the product's new features and enhancements. Based on ongoing market research and feedback, new requirements are identified and added to the product backlog. The Scrum process begins from the start, with planning, development, testing, validation, and implementation phases repeated as needed. This approach allows the product to evolve and adapt to changing our customers' needs and market conditions, ensuring the products' long-term relevance and success.
FAQs
What role does IIoT play in our products?
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) plays a central role in our products by enabling real-time data collection, analysis, and transmission. This allows businesses to make informed decisions quickly, enhancing operational efficiency across various industries.
How do we at Identec Solutions ensure our products meet high industry standards?
We ensure that our products meet high industry standards by adhering to certifications like ISO 9001, ATEX, IECEx, and Profibus. These certifications confirm the reliability and quality of our products, particularly in challenging and hazardous environments.
What is the significance of prototyping in our hardware design process?
Prototyping is crucial within our hardware design process because it allows us at Identec Solutions to test designs in real-world scenarios, helping to identify and address potential issues before full-scale production. This ensures that the final product is reliable, functional, and meets all our customers' requirements.
How do we at Identec Solutions integrate feedback into our product development?
We at Identec Solutions integrate feedback into our product development by continuously seeking opportunities to refine our products based on real-world usage.
What is the SCRUM method, and how do we at Identec Solutions use it in software development?
The SCRUM method is an agile methodology used to enhance teamwork, communication, and speed in software development. At Identec Solutions, we use SCRUM to manage the software development process, breaking it down into sprints of 2-4 weeks, where cross-functional teams work collaboratively to achieve specific goals and deliver incremental improvements.
Takeaway
In conclusion, at Identec Solutions, we successfully positioned ourselves in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sector by providing innovative, reliable, and highly efficient solutions tailored to meet the needs of various industries. From robust hardware design and strict testing processes to seamless software integration and commitment to strict industry standards, every aspect of our product development is driven by a commitment to enhancing operational efficiency. Through continuous improvement and an agile approach, we at Identec Solutions ensure that our products exceed customer expectations.
Sources:
(1) Scrum Method: https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-scrum-module
Author
Angela Lampl, Media Marketing Manager
Angela Lampl, a 2021 graduate, started from the Digital Pioneers Programme in Vorarlberg and is now a media marketing manager. Her skills for crafting compelling content are across various mediums, including infographics, animated videos, HR topics, and cutting-edge design. Complementing her formal education, Angela meticulously hones her skills through intensive study in online marketing.
