Logistics automation and diagnostic software

LOGISTICS AUTOMATION
AND DIAGNOSTIC SOFTWARE

The software solution allows you to identify, diagnose, and solve problems while processing large-scale logistics operations, more than a million per day, such as: sorting, scanning, or sizing equipment, and so on.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCEERPLOGISTIC & SUPPLY CHAINSAP

PROJECT
DESCRIPTION

Product company from the USA that specializes in software for the largest Fortune 500 logistics and retail operators.

to determine and collect a large quantity of data on the physical parameters of the cargo that moves along the production line;
to monitor the status of sorting equipment and conveyor belts in real time at all parts of the chain;
to analyze, to visualize, and to provide users with the collected information in the form of customizable reports, in accordance with access rights;
to optimize the work of logistics hubs and the used equipment, based on the collected data.

BUSINESS
CONTEXT

Project timeline: STRICT

Selection process: TENDER

The customer company has created its own product that covers the needs for automatic cargo tracking of large logistics companies. The product is wider in functionality, lower in cost, and easily customizable compared to similar systems offered to the market by global operators.

The main pain points of logistics companies:

speed and safety of processing large amounts of cargo data;
low speed of calculation of the delivery costs;
using human labor to recognize bar-codes (noreads) previously unrecognized by scanners;
loss of operational efficiency of thousands pieces of equipment due to the lack of a system for monitoring their performance in real time;
limited capabilities of the systems used in the analysis, visualization of reports on the operation of equipment, tracking the location and integrity of cargo;

Our specialists were involved in the recommendation for the project from its first stage, as previously, they had successful experience with a similar project in a relevant domain with bigger data and the Splunk analytical system, which was used for the development of the first version of the product.

Goals of
the project

We were required to develop a software solution with a wide range of capabilities. Using it, client companies will be able to: quickly receive accurate data on cargo in logistics tunnels, quickly process large amounts of information with subsequent sorting of parcels. The entire array of data is deposited in a secure storage (at the final stage of the project, all information was transferred to cloud servers), which ensures the uninterrupted execution of the client’s software functions. An important part of the solution was the ability to collect and analyze data on loading and breakdowns of hardware and logistics equipment in order to keep them up and running in an ever-increasing operational load.

For the effective implementation of the tasks:

Business goals:

To increase the financial, operational, and service efficiency of customer's logistics client companies.
To increase the speed and accuracy of the processing and recognition of cargo by existing equipment in the clients` logistics hubs.
To reduce the financial and time costs of using human labor to recognize the types of parcels and to determine damage to the cargo.
To determine the optimal set of hardware in terms of cost / power / wear resistance to maintain the most efficient and uninterrupted operation of the system at high loads.
To integrate the Splunk system with the Google Cloud storage and transfer data to cloud servers. Create a single base of 2000 tunnels

Technical goals:

A remote center for testing hardware and software load has been created, where the work of the system and logistics equipment is simulated without their direct participation.
Round-the-clock software support was provided for all elements of the system of client companies.
The process of automated remote installation and updating of OS and software was implemented without the participation of the staff of the client companies.
To find ways to increase productivity and optimize the use of logistics equipment.

SOLUTIONS ARCHITECTURE

CHALLENGES

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

A LARGE NUMBER OF HUBS AND TUNNELS

ABSENCE OF DIRECT ACCESS TO THE CUSTOMER'S SYSTEM

CLIENT COMPANY HAS WIDE GEOGRAPHY

HIGH PACE OF UPDATING EQUIPMENT

INABILITY TO USE EQUIPMENT

REMOTE INSTALLATION OF SOFTWARE

UPDATING THE STACK FOR ML

OUTCOMES

Technical Outcomes:

The ability of the system to collect, analyze and store millions of terabytes of information according to the security standards of the client-customer.
Access to system data was provided in accordance with the functional staff hierarchy.
Automated synchronization and acceleration of the process of installing and updating OS and software on existing equipment in the logistics hubs of the client companies.
Automation of the process of the cargo type recognition.
Maintaining system performance by backing up and storing data on servers located on different continents.

Impact on business:

Reducing failures, increasing uptime and efficiency, and predicting equipment breakdowns through continuous monitoring and analysis.
Increasing the overall efficiency of the logistics hubs by predicting the workload and redistributing the load.
Increasing the efficiency of staff work due to the rapid response of the system to receiving data on the cargo.
Reducing the involvement of the human resources by automating the system of monitoring and recognition of noreads (unreadable barcode).
Reducing the period and amount of equipment downtime due to the work of the support service.
Reducing downtime of the logistics hubs through synchronized automatic installation and software updates.

PROJECT TIMELINE

Timing: 2 years

Development of a system for analytics and visualization of large amounts of data:

Timing: 11 months

Development of an algorithm for the support service and its launch:

development of a software solution and the formation of a system support department with the function of diagnosing the operability of the system and equipment, identifying congestion, errors in the operation of logistics hubs and consulting local staff to eliminate them.
development and transition to a new version of the software solution in order to increase the speed of data processing and increase the accuracy of recognition.

Timing: 2 years

Expansion of the information collection and analytics system, improvement of the functions of existing applications:

adaptation and implementation of the existing analytics system for new customers;
reconfiguration from the CentOS operating system to Red Hat for integration with the custom architecture;
development and implementation of a software solution for remote installation and updating of software on all customer equipment connected to the system;
introduction of new logistics models, measuring and recognition equipment in the logistics tunnels;
development of a system for analyzing existing equipment and recommendations for its optimization and replacement.

Timing: 2 years

Expansion of the information collection and analytics system, improvement of the functions of existing applications:

adaptation and implementation of the existing analytics system for new customers;
reconfiguration from the CentOS operating system to Red Hat for integration with the custom architecture;
development and implementation of a software solution for remote installation and updating of software on all customer equipment connected to the system;
introduction of new logistics models, measuring and recognition equipment in the logistics tunnels;
development of a system for analyzing existing equipment and recommendations for its optimization and replacement.

TEAM

Engineering team spent 2 month in the production facilities to learn about the production processes and coordinate with engineering team.

Analytical stage:

Project manager, Data analyst

Development stage:

Team lead, Splunk Python developer, AI Python + Java developer, Java developer - 1, Java Script + React.js developer, Front End (interface layout), DevOps – 2 person, QA, AQA

Support stage:

Project manager, Team lead, QA

Technological stack

Linux (Ubuntu), Amazon Linux 2, Windows 7,10, Android, iOS

Databases

MongoDB, Amazon Redshift, PostgreSQL 12

Languages/Platforms

Java 11, Kotlin, Swift, JavaScript, Python 3, BASH, Powershell

Frameworks/Libraries

Spring, Java enterprise server, React, Realm, OpenCV, Tensorflow

Servers/Cloud

Java enterprise server, Tomcat, AWS EC2, AWS S3, AWS Lambda, Amazon SageMaker

Technical environment

Jenkins, Docker, Nginx

Cloud standards:

AWS EC2, AWS S3, AWS Lambda, Amazon SageMaker

Machine Learning

Amazon SageMaker, Tensorflow, PyTorch

Integrations

SAP ERP 6.0. SCM/CRM/HRM

SQA standards

ISO 25010, ISO/IEC 12119, ISO/IEC 27000

What our clients say

Constructivo

Soft-Industry has demonstrated a strong trustworthiness with the goals of our company. We have been working with them since the end of 2001 reducing our IT budget to 80% and increasing our time responsiveness to 95%. In our web business, time is very critical. Over 5,000 users in South America are accessing, searching, creating and reading data on our web tool, maintained by Soft-Industry. Several projects with different requirements are requested every month, and Soft-Industry team has an extraordinary commitment with our company. Construtivo.com recommends Soft-Industry as a contractor for software development projects outsourcing and as a reliable and qualified IT partner.

EMSI Burning Glass

Cooperation between EMSI Burning Glass (formerly Burning Glass Technologies) and Soft Industry Alliance has started 7 years ago, when SIA has been selected as a technical partner to strengthen our internal development teams on several projects. As our cooperation progressed, we’ve expanded it to an additional set of projects. Through many years of our partnership, Soft Industry Alliance engineers were able to complete most of their tasks successfully, which helped us to achieve our business goals. Another advantage is their adaptability to our processes and working hours. SIA cooperates successfully with our offices in US, Europe and India. We highly appreciate our productive business relationship and happy to continue working together!

British American Tobacco

We set tasks for SIA to expand and renew the QIS-X system – a new scheme and new calculations of the number of quality, extensions for THP products, tobacco chemistry and safety indicators in cigarette smoke.It has always been a pleasure to cooperate with the SIA team as we worked to expand QIS-X. The most valuable experience for me is the cooperation on the data transfer unit of safety and chemistry indicators of THP for the calculation of the quality indicator. I am grateful to SIA for its prompt attention, desire to understand the problem, ability to work in a team, effective solutions and their quality implementation.

Code-IT

We started to work with Soft industry Alliance when we needed developers for our project strongly. SIA team solved all tasks in time and helped us to reach our business goals. All company employees are very professional and loyal, very easy to work with, and very dedicated to completing all work on time with high quality. They are open and honest, it’s valued.

Nova Solutions LLC

I want to share my experience of cooperation with Soft Industry Alliance. They provide highly qualified technicians within the stipulated time at prices lower than specialists from Europe/USA of a similar level. The company is flexible in making decisions, the cooperation is always comfortable because you can expect to find a win-win solution. They are flexible in communication, their employees are loyal, and they have quite strong soft skills, and are also ready to back up colleagues in the course of completing tasks. Soft Industry Alliance is ready to work in cooperation with other companies to help clients achieve their business goals and be proactive towards the contractor to solve the tasks. And they continued to work even in wartime, keeping the team as productive as possible.

Comocom GmbH

We appreciate Soft Industry as a reliable and trustful partner, we appreciate the flexibility to find solutions to any arising issues. As an ISO-certified company Soft Industry has a huge advantage when having to choose what fits that security requirements.