Case Studies

Sanken Setsubi Kogyo, Ltd.

We are an independent construction and equipment company undertaking work for air conditioning and sanitation, as well as designing/installing/maintaining electrical equipment.

We provide a comfortable and safe environment for clients. We breathe life into buildings by providing access to water and electricity, as well as providing air circulation.

In addition, we lead the way in the construction industry for decreasing environmental impact by implementing “ZEB”.

Overview of the TAMA project

The TAMA system visualizes the company’s workplace environment.

Since Sanken Kogyo is a construction company, the system tracks the office and construction workers employed by us, and visualizes where each employee is working. The system also accounts for back-office workers.

We decided to develop the system ourselves, because not every on-site worker carries a device, and not everybody has a device on hand. We also decided that dispensing a tool or app to every worker would be too difficult.

That’s why we decided that we needed a system where all employees could access it.

We first tried with FileMaker, but we felt we were too limited by that program. There were also requests for cross-device compatibility, so we decided that we needed to create it in the cloud.

After trial and error, we developed the system we have now.

Changing requirements during development

We initially did not mean to incorporate all employees. We had just wanted to track the location and safety of on-site workers.

That plan would have required separate systems for on-site workers and general attendance matters. We decided that developing one universal system was better than two separate systems, with the addition of back-office workers.

The previous method was to gather work data on a piece of paper, then compile all of that on Excel at the end of the month.

At the end of the month, we always receive additional paperwork for stuff like overtime. Our system did not allow us to understand trends in overtime for workers.

We decided to visualize the data by linking Google DataStudio (DataPortal).

In implementing the changes to the workplace environment, we were able to understand how much overtime employees did in realt ime. The system also visualized the monthly overtimes, allowing superiors to understand and solve issues.

Unlike compiling overtime hours at the end of every month, being able to track it in real time was a very useful tool.

If the work environment was the main issue, we risked an accident from excessive overtime. We wanted to avoid that from happening.

Visualizing the data also allowed us to pinpoint the worst cases of overtime, allowing the CEO to see this information directly. The CEO could then point out concerns, and those concerns could be passed down to everybody involved.

For the next step, we would like to add even more value to the work we have put in.

We are now able to accurately assess situations, so our next steps would be verification of ordered unit prices, or verifying costs.

Why we chose to build using GCP

The facts that we were already working with GCP for a different project, that the cloud would allow employees to access information on-site, that processing load would not be too much of a concern, and that we had the ability to deal with any issues, led to us deciding on GCP.

Furthermore, GCP’s VM instance had a live migration function, so we were hopeful that the host machine would not need to be periodically maintained.

Development with Cloud Ace

Feedback from on-site workers came in after implementing the system. They included requests for functions and bugs. We had Cloud Ace deal with these cases.

We had been receiving GCP support from Cloud Ace, but this time we also wanted their help in system development. We knew that they would graciously accept if requested, and we decided on the roadmap through discussions.

For example, the initial idea had only assumed deployment to on-site workers. However, we eventually wanted for all employees to access the system through their smartphones, as well as adding original mascots into the system.

We were also very grateful for Cloud Ace’s quick mock-ups.

Their quick mock-ups allowed us to easily visualize all new ideas, such as moving the location of videos.

We were very grateful for their implementation of Mr. Tominaga’s ideas. They were excellent.

Mr. Kurata was very busy, but he stuck with us and worked through our requests to the very end, which we are grateful for. Mr. Ooki was very understanding of our needs, saying “yes, we can do that!”. They had the skill to accomplish them, but they also had the thoughtfulness to quickly create mockups for us.

Our main focus was to make the system fun. The engineering team would work on any small requests we made.

For example, we wanted the mascots to say “good morning” and “thank you for working hard”, just stuff that might give the system a human aspect. Users are very happy with the result, like when pictures show what they have ordered for lunch.

We felt that in accomplishing these things, it was very important for the developing engineer to fully understand our vision.

The individuals were great, but we trust that Cloud Ace’s other employees can provide similarly excellent treatment.

GCP services used

• Identity Aware Proxy

By using IAP, users are able to easily access GSuite without entering passwords.

• Google Kubernetes Engine

By using GKE, we were able to design a scalable app, as well as roll out updates without interrupting operations.

Developing REST API on GKE was very easy, due to the available Extensive Service Proxy and cloudsql-proxy containerization.

• Cloud SQL

We were able to quickly move on-premise data with the use of PostgreSQL.

• Cloud Endpoints

We were able to easily test REST API thanks to the developer portal, and the endpoint latency and error rate indicators were very helpful during development.

• Cloud Build

Even if all developers did not understand GKE, GCP, related OSS or Cloud Endpoints, Cloud Build allowed us to design a CI/CD pipeline, allowing for automatic updates and deployments.

Future plans

The CEO wants to digitalize, so we will pursue that goal.

The various systems within the company, while partially linked, are not completely linked. Instead of linking all of these systems, we believe there are better ways to utilize company data.

Our biggest goal would be to build an internal data platform, giving us new insight into our business.

Quick visualizations make us anxious to see the results we want. It makes us want more features, even though we can’t take too long on the project.

Through the visualization of the workplace with our TAMA system, we were able to give our employees a feel of the future possibilities.

We were in awe over the fact that we could see information immediately for the numerous workplaces throughout the country. We also believe that this sort of implementation is rare within the construction industry.

We believe that we can lead the industry in digitalization and workplace improvement, all while retaining company data utilization.