| A few examples of consulting for various clients.
plant operation know-how
Client:
civil engineering,
4000 people,
20 billion yen capital
Activity:
The client needed a plant operation monitoring and advice system
to explicitly capture existing know how and re-use it for
future larger projects.
We did extensive interviews and several structuring cycles,
then designed and implemented the pilot technology.
Result:
The system was 60 times faster than required by the specification.
The company used the technology for research and marketing, and
made a successful bid for the largest project of its kind in the
world.
process economy optimization
Client:
construction company,
8000 employees,
50 billion yen capital
Activity:
The client needed a plannner for the daily operation of construction robots
according to economic requirements.
We provided in a series of workshops
training on resource allocation to R&D staff, and
jointly built a concept for the actual planner.
We implemented a simple planner as starting point
for further in-house development by the clients R&D division.
Result:
The simple planner showed that computer generated plans
and their automated evaluation allows to optimize
robot operation according to otherwise conflicting
economic goals, like "finish until deadline" vs.
"finish with minimal cost", and to quantify the difference.
tax evaluation
Client:
certified accountant office
Activity:
The client wanted a computer program to execute
a specific set of tax regulations.
We designed an end-user-programmable high level computer
language that allowed accountants to convert tax regulations
into executable software, and then run these programs.
Result:
Processing of certain corporate taxation calculations
shrinks from 60 days to less than 1 hour. The profit
for the accountant increases accordingly. Also,
alternative calculations which are normally prohibitively
expensive for both the accountants client and the accountant
become possible. Thus, the accountant can provide
a new quality of service to the client without noticable
extra workload.
on demand fashion design
Client:
fashion retail chain store,
4800 people,
5.9 billion yen capital
Activity:
The client wanted a combined design and manufacturing system
for point-of-sales operation to increase quality of their
service.
We designed in close cooperation with the CTO knowledge based
systems to give head quarter expertise to shop sales staff
with computer based consumer advice, recommendation, design, and
finally POS and CAM integration.
Result:
After introduction of the system the company approximately doubled
sales and profits for several years.
consulting dialog
Client:
electronics manufacturer,
146000 people,
330 billion yen capital
Activity:
The client wanted to have a system to do intelligent
consulting dialogs for internet help applications.
We prototyped in cooperation with the clients research division
dialog solutions for e.g. car navigation systems or
consumer oriented web shops.
Result:
The company used the system to make the leading bid for a
business-to-business
consulting dialog project by one of the leading banks of Japan.
CTO/CIO outsourcing
Client:
financial consulting venture company
11 people
43 million yen capital
Activity:
The client wanted a complete IT solution for their internet presence.
We took care of all IT operations from CTO over software integration
to server care. We designed and implemented the hot box applications
for financial planning.
Result:
The company experienced fault-free operation of the software and servers.
The competing offer by a short listed competitor was reportedly
about 10 times more expensive.
web shop outsourcing
Client:
consumer product wholesales,
7 people,
10 million yen capital
Activity:
The client wanted a simple to operate turn key web shop solution.
We designed and run the web shop on our servers. The company staff uses
their PCs to maintain site contents and
do order fulfillment.
Result:
Although a web shop and direct sales is a new business
channel for them, and although they had no prior internet exposure,
the company now runs a successful
web presence without any investment in hardware or software.
concurrent engineering CAD language
Client:
machine tool manufacturer,
1700 people,
55 billion yen capital
Activity:
The client wanted a high level concept-oriented CAD language
for concurrent engineering.
In cooperation with their software development unit,
we designed and implemented an XML based language to
partially automate CAM processing. We chose XML because we
can now compile drawings to variants, reason about
drawings, and ship the intermediate result between
cooperation partners.
Result:
ongoing research
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