Industrial
JR Automation: Production Launch
Cloud, Digital Interface
Software Upgrade for Industrial Robotic Saw
BACA Systems is a company focused on developing Innovative Fabrication Solutions for the countertop industry, and is known as the leader in Robotic SawJet technology, Robotic Automation, System Integration, WaterJet technology, and Countertop Fabrication systems. The company has developed advanced manufacturing systems for the aerospace, appliance, automotive, composites, construction, consumer goods, marine, and plastics industries.
The Issue(s)
Challenge.
BACA had a ten-year-old software system for an industrial robotic saw. The company realized that regarding software it was outdated. The system was functioning satisfactorily. However, the company wondered what improvements would there be if there was an upgrade to the software.
The company was participating in a trade show in six weeks and wanted to demonstrate the equipment with new software to customers.
Since the system worked well with the current software in place, if there was going to be an upgrade the company wanted to transition from the legacy system to the new system with little downtime and noticeability by the users.
Hundreds of people, a wide range of users, from large factories to small-home users, use the system all day long. A balance between improvements without affecting functionality was required.
The Solve
Solution.
SpinDance first completed a software assessment that included an overall review of the state of the current software and a cost analysis for an upgrade. After working through the assessment together, BACA gained trust and confidence in SpinDance to develop the upgrade.
After the assessment, SpinDance built the initial architecture by identifying the functionalities needed for the trade show demonstration and what features were most widely used by users to prioritize and port those functionalities first to get them tested by users. As with all projects managed by SpinDance, the team created milestones for completion.
Two BACA team members walked side-by-side with the SpinDance development team to learn best practices and gain the knowledge needed to support and sustain the system going forward.
The Success
Result.
The developers completed a complete system upgrade and were able to polish up and fix bugs from the legacy system. BACA was able to demonstrate the new system at the trade show increasing customer confidence in the product.
There were some operational cost savings to maintaining the new system vs. maintaining the legacy system.
Weekly update meetings were conducted with both teams to test system features and get quick feedback.