I think it’s safe to admit that at TenForce we are quite obsessed with getting to know and understand our customers, their day-to-day reality and their struggles. You can see it in the way we built our software, with a high degree of flexibility that allows us to cater to all different scenarios our clients may face.

But on top of this flexibility, we find it important to provide expertise and demonstrate a true understanding of the customer’s industry. This is why, a few months ago, some of our colleagues, from Business Development to Project and Product Management paid a visit to our client – Eval Kuraray – to get some hands-on insights into their daily activity and how they use our software and mobile application. 

Here’s how Tobias, Business Development Specialist at TenForce, experienced the day.

A brave new world… 

I’ll admit, before this visit I had only seen a chemical factory from outside its gates and fences at a great, great distance. Talking on the phone and exchanging emails with our customers is one thing–meeting on-premise is quite another. Now here I was, in the middle of Port of Antwerp’s chemical cluster, about to walk into some unknown factory grounds, not really knowing what to expect. Luckily, I had Jane, Jetro and Bart with me, my brave TenForce colleagues.

What impressed me most, in the end, was the complexity of a chemical site like this. In the past, the production lines were raised as a whole, a process I can scarcely imagine. The result now are pipes and valves everywhere, going up, down, crisscross, underground. Whatever is taught in schools about chemistry, it’s quite different seeing it in full effect. Imagine doing maintenance work on a site like this, I thought. Imagine trying to be safe.

Of course, Eval Kuraray is a safe site. And they go about it in an ingenious way. After a brief meeting and demonstration of the TenForce Mobile App, we put on our safety gear, left behind our cell phones, keys, watches, … Anything that could trigger an unwanted reaction. We were checked, then checked again. With safety goggles, steel-tipped shoes, earplugs, and a hard hat on, we set out.

Into the field, in full battle gear

Not a door ajar, not a tool misplaced. This place was spotless. People walking about in different colored jackets to denote what their function is in a single glance: contractor, safety personnel, management, maintenance. I didn’t realize how necessary these measures are until I saw them in action.

We walked around the facility, stopping in specific locations, and discussed how we would tackle a barcode or QR-code system to link, for example, outstanding actions in TenForce to the machinery and valves that required maintenance work. The site has a history, clearly visible with its high-rise production lines, but also recorded digitally with TenForce. We climbed four flights of stairs in a steep wind (and were instructed to keep hold of the railing at all times–although I wasn’t inclined to let go) and discussed safety issues connected to the maintenance work.

“How do we solve this?”

One of these discussions I will remember for the rest of my life. I’m paraphrasing here:

“How would this happen in high voltage areas?”

“Why, that’s simple. Enlarge the QR-code image. The app can scan it when you zoom in.”

“Ah, right, yeah. At a distance, that would be safe.”

Mind-boggling to me, really. That’s a mental hop for me, one I wouldn’t make instinctively. The company would provide explosion-proof devices on which our App can run natively. The barcodes or QR-codes would replace older, faded stickers showing IDs. Deceptively simple, really.

All in the same boat

It was a treat meeting the people at Eval in Antwerp and it is something we still talk about in the TenForce offices. And we’re excited about our next customer visit! After this visit it’s so clear to me that there’s no other way of doing business than going hands-on, all in the same boat attitude. We want to stand next to the HSEQ managers and operators and see with their eyes. We listen to their ideas and adapt. We offer advice when asked.

After all, the HSEQ manager is the expert. The Operations Managers knows what goes on. Our software’s just a means to a higher goal, keeping people and the environment safe.  Why would we not defer to their expertise?