Voestalpine Railpro: Useful railway inspections in Incontrol

Mike Sertons works in product quality control for voestalpine Railpro. The amount of paper forms he had to deal with, got him thinking whether there wasn’t a better solution. ‘It was a really inefficient way of working,’ says Mike. ‘We did all our inspections on paper, but that was a lot of hassle. Many of the forms had to be filled out on location, in all sorts of weather. Then they would have to be digitized in the office. It was a big waste of time.’

‘There was also no consistency in the way our forms were filled out, even ones we needed regularly,’ he continues. ‘That’s why I went looking for other options. Through a Google search, I found Incontrol. I digitized a few of the forms I work with and started filling them out in the app.’

From pilot project to Incontrol

Mike started with a free trial period and was immediately enthusiastic about the platform. He then submitted a request to integrate the platform within the organization.

‘Management approved of the idea, so we started with a pilot project to test a few different providers. Incontrol came out as the best option. The ease of creating a new form and managing it together with colleagues is a big plus, especially compared to other platforms we tested. For some of those you need to be a software expert to make it work.’

User-friendliness is key

Mike is particularly impressed by Incontrol’s Form Builder. The ease with which he could translate his usual paper forms to a digital version was what tipped the balance towards choosing Incontrol.

‘The Form Builder is really great. Thanks to the clear elements, even someone who has never used the platform before can immediately start using it. A colleague of mine was able to build a form after just a brief explanation.’

Whenever forms proved a little more complex to build, Mike could always count on support from Incontrol.

‘The team behind Incontrol was a big help. Whenever we have a question or aren’t sure what the best option is, we can get in touch. Their close involvement was another factor that made us choose this platform.’

Railway switch inspections

Voestalpine Railpro uses Incontrol especially for product inspections. They also collaborate with voestalpine WBN to inspect railway switches.

‘We notice that both the inspection of the switches and the processing into reports has become easier, both for us and for the external parties who receive those reports. But we mostly use Incontrol internally. Our main win from this is not just time savings, but the fact that it’s an amazing tool to make our workflow more effective. Thanks to Incontrol, there is consistency in form filling, and we can gather precise data.’

Start with the basics

Looking to try out Incontrol after reading this success story? Mike has a good tip for beginners:

‘Start with a basic form. By keeping things simple at the start, you’ll be able to intuitively grow into the options the Form Builder has to offer. That’s how our form for railway switch inspections started: it was very basic, but we were able to expand it bit by bit as needed. This helped us gain in-depth knowledge of the platform.’

Interested in the benefits Incontrol can offer your company? Try all features of Incontrol for free for 14 days with no obligation.