Maintaining a railroad locomotive is seriously heavy engineering, but (as is common) all steps in the process must be carefully recorded and signed off on – in part because of business model where the locomotive manufacturer might be doing (or overseeing) the maintenance and where there might well be financial penalties for faulty of incomplete repairs.
With a goal of bringing data analytics and the power of the industrial internet to bear on these problems, it was proposed that a portable device (such as an iPad) could make the process of recording work much more reliable. And it could also provide easier access to the required workflow steps as well.
Thus, we were tasked with observing the work closely, in order to understand what kind of app might be most effective.
The reality turns out to be more complex than first thought. Locomotives are big and dangerous and many tasks require 3 or more people (one on each side of the locomotive and one watching closely for unseen hazards). Furthermore, simply passing from one side of the locomotive to the other can be difficult and hazardous in itself.
The emergent challenge is that most mobile devices are completely design as personal devices and yet this would be a cumbersome solution (for each person to carry a tablet device). Today’s solution is a series of small workstations scattered throughout the workshop, where anyone can walk up and record their actions, or look at documentation.
