24/7 Support
Our support team of technicians, network administrators, and programmer analysts are here to assist you 24/7.
To help us respond quickly, please submit your request using one of the following methods:
A portal for submitting your service requests and tracking progress.
Talk to one of our technicians for technical support.
For emergencies, please call +1 888-889-4668.
If you prefer to reach out to us by email, write to us at support@kezber.com.
At the request of a technician, you can provide remote access to your computer for live support.
Client profile
Founded in 1999, the Bromont-based company Cogiscan specializes in the development of track, trace and control (TTC) solutions for leading equipment manufacturers and electronics assemblers. Its objective is to optimize the electronic assembly process with a view to minimizing or eliminating all types of human error, in addition to the associated waste and potential product failures.
Cogiscan has earned numerous awards over the years, including 6 Vision Awards from SMT Magazine, as well as the Frost & Sullivan North American SMT Award for Emerging Company of the Year in 2008. Cogiscan also holds a number of international patents.
Cogiscan is:
- The leader in TTC solutions for the electronic assembly industry;
- More than 40 employees;
- A scalable platform that integrates seamlessly with all major equipment types;
- A corporate culture based on respect, innovation, customer service and excellence.
01. Needs
Finding the right programmers
In today’s job market,
finding the right programmers can be a challenge, and Cogiscan instead decided
to find a partner that would be able to handle the programming side of the
project. Kezber was hired for both its expertise and its ability to meet the client’s
deadlines. Kezber experts were able to work in collaboration with a Cogiscan
developer who was integrated directly into the project team.
An exciting pilot project
As part of a pilot project, Cogiscan needed to have a visual interface developed for a solution. This existing solution communicates with tags and radio-frequency identification transmitters in real time, leveraging a GPS-like method to monitor mobile equipment in real time within a defined area. The goal of the visual interface to be developed was to visualize movements of this equipment on a map of a factory’s building(s). The brief was to deliver a turnkey project so that Cogiscan could take charge of and maintain the solution after it was established
02. Challenges
A time challenge
Cogiscan had to
present the proof of concept to potential customers quickly—meaning that the
team had very little development time. The brief, which included analysis,
project management and development, required nearly 300 hours of work in 3
months. Not only did Kezber’s professionals meet the delivery deadlines, they
delivered a week ahead of schedule, and within budget.
Technological requirements and choices
To be able to connect with the existing solution, the visual interface developed by Kezber had to meet certain technological requirements, such as using the Angular 5 app development platform, Bootstrap to make it adaptive (responsive design), and the MQTT library using WebSockets. Because it was impossible to change the format of the data sent by the tags, the Kezber team had to adapt the front-end development to the format of the data received.
The project also raised several other interesting challenges. Among other things, the number of elements to be displayed on the map in the interface in real time caused performance issues. The team had to proceed by trial and error in order to finally find the Leaflet JavaScript library, which was able to do exactly what was required.
03. Results
Anticipated benefits
In its current state, the project is a proof of concept that will
eventually enable real-time monitoring of all types of mobile equipment in one
or more buildings. It is set to be marketed internationally. Kezber’s brief was
only the tip of the iceberg for a major future project that will include
visualizing bottlenecks in a building so as to optimize movements of equipment
or robots. It will even be possible to program launches of autonomous
activities on machinery according to the detected positions of certain pieces
of equipment.
The benefits of such automation for a company are significant. Optimizing the routes of various robots according to the time of day can quickly boost a company’s bottom line. In addition, preventing employees from needing to look for various pieces of equipment in a factory is hugely beneficial for production.
A satisfied customer
The spirit of collaboration, implementation process and delivery times were much appreciated by Cogiscan, which will not hesitate to call on Kezber’s expertise for its future needs.
