In a global sustainable perspective there are some challenges with the forestry industry. Challenges such as not having control of the timber flow, illegal felling of trees, unnecessary use of chemicals and inaccurate prognostics.

Tracy of Sweden aims to create a world standard for ID marking and tracking of all timber harvested worldwide. Each log that is photographed will be given its own ID number. You could say that each log gets its own fingerprint. With Tracy's advanced algorithm technology, the log will be traced throughout the production chain, into the wood industry and used in the best possible way. In other words, tracing trees from felling to finished goods. 

The system is based on a cloud-based solution where all information is collected and stored for recognition worldwide. The collected data will become a knowledge bank that helps actors such as suppliers, timber buyers, sawmills and the wood industry. This will help them optimize everything from logistics to quality work. 

Another great advantage of tracking timber will be stopping illegal felling of trees around the world, which unfortunately has a turnover of over 100 billion dollars yearly. Now with the system the truth can be told as every tree can be identified when and where it has been felled.

A big acknowledgement for Tracy of Sweden being the company developing and aiming to create a world standard for ID marking and tracking of all timber harvested worldwide. We at Softwerk, as technical consultants and partners to Tracy, are very happy to be a part of this amazing journey. Especially for our CEO, Björn Lundsten, who has a big passion for both the forest and digitalization which will be a perfect match in order to take on the upcoming challenges.

Do you want to know more about the Tracy Case? Don’t worry! Keep an eye open for our upcoming technical case study about the Tracy project if you are interested in advanced technical algorithms and image analysis!

From Assessment to Takeoff

Skymap seeks to innovate the land surveying industry by making use of the latest hardware and software developments. Using modern technologies such as 3D-scanning drones, 3D-visualisation tools, and cloud storage services, Skymap offers increased accuracy, higher delivery reliability, and lower land surveying costs. 

To begin with, Skymap asked us to perform a quality assessment of their prototype via our DueDive service. As some key aspects were still missing, we came on board and finished up the development. Under a strict deadline we delivered the technology for inputting, editing, and visualising images, as well as building the user management platform, documentation tools, and integrations with Fortnox.

We were then hired to build their first product version. As a lot of various prototype components had previously been assembled in an unstable manner, we stepped in and completely rewrote the code, forming one stable, coherent, and complete platform that is hosted on Amazon's serverless architecture Lambda. By keeping the API but rewriting the underlying implementation we ensured Skymap is maintainable and scalable for many years to come. 

Trusted Development Partner

Fortnox is Sweden’s leading supplier of cloud-based financial service programs for companies, organisations, and audit firms. Calling themselves the “small entrepreneur’s best friend”, they provide a broad selection of online accounting programs that are easy to learn and use, yet feature-rich and powerful to meet most needs and wishes.

Softwerk has helped powering that success, by developing key components of Fortnox’s platform. 2016, we were asked to build the Time module for their business suite. We outsourced two of Softwerk’s team members as a dedicated Fortnox unit. 

The Time module handles time reporting, employee invoicing, salary calculation, and more. Since all features are cloud-based, they're available both on the web and the mobile app, making it possible to access them from anywhere. The user is given a clear overview of all projects, and can check worked hours through various statistics, graphs, and diagrams. Fortnox Time log makes time reporting easier, more effective, and more fun, and gathers all information into one clear platform.

Throughout the years, we’ve had a reliable development partnership with Fortnox. Our dedicated unit continues to work independently on maintenance and further development of their platform.

Road Safety Powered by Softwerk

Stoneridge is a manufacturer of highly engineered electrical and electronic components, modules, and systems for the automotive market. They approached Softwerk for the development of two free Android mobile apps, which had been heavily requested by truck drivers. 

Our Duo Mobile app syncs the driver’s smartphone with their digital tachograph through a Bluetooth dongle. It turns their phone into a second display, providing a real-time overview of daily, weekly, and monthly drive, break, and rest times. Automatic countdowns to break or daily rest periods help drivers plan their journey ahead, ultimately making fleets more efficient.

The second product was the Tacho Center app, which enables the driver to download their digital data wirelessly from any EU approved digital tachograph, either emailing it to a PC or sending it straight to Stoneridge’s own analysis software. The app also reminds the driver when data is due for download. This not only takes the hassle out of downloading data via cables, but also helps fleets keep track of when driver card and vehicle unit data was last downloaded.

The Duo Mobile and Tacho Center apps have been a global success story, with 75k+ downloads so far. It’s safe to say they’ve helped drivers reduce fuel emissions and increase efficiency. Their usability and accessibility is also sure to have improved traffic safety, for both the truckers and everyone else on the road.

A Healthy Sign

AIMO is a mobile app that uses Artificial Intelligence and camera sensors to scan, analyse, and objectively score human health. By scanning a person doing a deep knee squat, the app gives insights into their musculoskeletal health and potential health risks, such as weak links or muscular imbalances. 

To make the idea come true, AIMO joined forces with Softwerk due to our technological expertise. The underlying science rests on advanced deep learning technology developed and validated by us, in close cooperation with our partners at Linnaeus University in Växjö. We developed the core algorithms of AIMO, including the AI-based movement assessment. This constitutes the back-end core engine technology of the AIMO app that makes it possible to derive a health score and pinpoint individual weak-links from the footage.

We provided AIMO with an interim Chief Technology Officer to organise the project and to define and structure the strategic setup for the project's roadmap. We also supported AIMO in the recruitment of a core development team, as well as with staff. As the project went on, we believed in AIMO to such an extent that we decided to invest and become a shareholder. 

Using the AI-based movement assessment, in combination with user-entered information about occupation, sports habits, and overall health profile, the app provides a risk assessment in the form of the AIMO score. In addition, the app gives individual training recommendations for addressing weak-spots, thereby preventing future potential injuries. This scanning technology opens up the possibility for a whole new range of biometric products for the purposes of health evaluation, such as pain detection and even mental health analysis. The project goes hand in hand with our view of always adding sustainable value and using state-of-the-art technology to improve people's lives.

Efficiency Through Automation 

Founded in 2011, Daypay is an online credit loan provider focusing on consumer credits ranging from 30 days to 5 years. It holds the AAA credit rating for performing significantly better than the industry average. What sets Daypay apart from its competitors is its application process and automated business system, which Softwerk developed for them. 

Our modern business system supports and largely automates the application, sales, and administration processes, including integration with external accounting, authentication, encryption, SMS gateways, and an automated credit check system that gives the customer an offer directly when applying. 

For Daypay, the efficiency gains of our IT business system allowed them to double their volume in the first month – without having to hire more staff. For Daypay’s customers, the automated application processes provides the fairest credit assessments, great service, and literally zero waiting time.

Automating the Boring Work

The German car manufacturing colossus Mercedes-Benz asked us to streamline their business practices. Their UK marketing and sales office depended on up-to-date M/S data for tracking changes and meeting goals in order to take informed decisions. They had to consolidate over 40 parameters from over five different sources. Since this process was conducted on paper it was immensely tedious, complicated, and error-prone. The manual data collection, analysis, and reporting took around one work week per month.

Softwerk implemented a collection, analysis, and reporting engine that automated this process. The reports are now to delivered to the sales team’s iPads, just a few minutes after the completed data collection. Mercedes-Benz’ managers and decision makers get immediate access to both current and historical data, available both online and offline. Their analysts now spend their valuable time interpreting the data instead of gathering it.

Technology Saving Lives

Missing People Sweden is a nationwide non-profit volunteer-based organisation with around twenty regional departments. If a person goes missing, they strive to start a search within six hours, regardless of the time of day or place in Sweden. Their mission is to save lives as well as to provide loved ones with support.

Softwerk’s off-the-shelf mobile app infosynk digitalises all of Missing People’s guidelines, policies, and instructions, making them instantly updateable and available to all of their volunteers – all across Sweden. The information is always accessible both offline and online, regardless of geographical location. With infosynk, Missing People’s search efforts can become more precise, efficient and organised, ultimately resulting in a higher success rate.

Making Life Simpler

Riksteatern is Sweden’s largest performing arts organisation. Comprised of over 40.000 members in over 230 local theatre chapters, they are represented in every single county. Riksteatern independently organises shows, sells tickets, and manages their own finances. However, despite being a huge umbrella organisation, they previously had no centralised overview of all the ticket sales.

Softwerk wrapped Fortnox’s API, providing a frequently updated SQL database. This grants Riksteatern flexible access to the latest financial records of all enlisted member organisations. They now have a clear, simple, and streamlined overview of the information and are able to generate reports, insights, and visualisations through various analysis tools. Our Fortnox integration made their business processes more convenient and freed up time for the things that matter.

Advanced Technologies Engineering Tomorrow

The Danish manufacturing giant Danfoss is a leading provider of programmable logic controllers (PLC) for the heavy vehicle industry. Over the years, we have completed many projects for them and consider them one of our main long-term clients.

For PLC programming, Danfoss offers a graphical programming language with a development environment called the Plus+1 Guide. Within this environment, we developed a compiler for Structured Text 2.0 (ST2) to C, which works together with the existing Plus+1 Guide code. This makes it possible to compile existing graphical programs together with new ST2 programs and libraries to more powerful programs, bringing micro controllers to the next level. The key value we brought to Danfoss is the ability for new Plus+1 customers to transition more easily by being able to reuse and integrate their legacy codes.

As PLCs have memory restrictions, we also implemented a number of compiler optimisations, including standard ones like Dead Code Elimination and Constant Propagation, as well as tailored optimisations such as clever Code Selection and Code Movement algorithms. These optimisations greatly improved the compactness of the code, its runtime memory requirements, and performance, allowing for better resource utilisation and more on-chip functionality.