Case Studies

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A Small Tool that Saved Millions

Our Client:
A small industrial engineering consulting business.

Their Challenge:
Our client needed a very specific solution to a very specific problem. They did time and motion studies on assembly line floors, recording the types of activities involved in completing a task (e.g. tightening a bolt, hooking up a radiator, dropping in an engine) and how long each of these activities took. Before they became our client, all of their observations were recorded in shorthand on paper. Then they manually transferred all of the data to a spreadsheet in order to complete their analysis.

They thought that there must be a way for technology to help them be more efficient and to provide more value for less money. So they came to us and asked for our help.

frogware’s Solution:
We built a small software program that allowed our client to capture their observations and make calculations on laptop computers, right on the shop floor. Using the program, they could determine at a glance the workload of each operator along an assembly line. As soon as they changed any of the variables (e.g. the line speed), the workload for each station was recalculated instantly.

The result:
It was a small, inexpensive product, but it did everything the client needed it to do and more. They ended up saving their clients millions of dollars and became very competitive in their field. In fact, not only did the software make their consulting business more efficient, but they were able to use the product as an additional source of revenue. One of their clients, Ford, liked the product so much that they bought it from them. Ford had previously run batch jobs overnight on their plant mainframe to judge the effect of changes to the plant assembly line. It could take them weeks before they were satisfied with their proposed changes. Using our software, they could get the same results in a few minutes.

Companies using the tool include Fisher Price, Ford Motor Company, Johnson & Johnson Medical, Mack Truck, and Mattel.

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