Wilmar has rolled out a new electronic fault reporting system across the Cane Product’s business.

The custom-built app for tablets aims to reduce time and paperwork.

General Manager Operations Mike McLeod said the innovative technology made the fault-reporting process more efficient.

“It’s been designed specifically for our work sites and it’s intuitive to use. It means our employees can report a fault on the spot using one of 25 new iPads,” he said.

“The fault is logged electronically and we can quickly put the appropriate resources on to the job in order to maintain factory reliability.”

Wilmar’s IT teams in Townsville, Sydney and Singapore worked together to design the app.

Project Manager Paul Robson said the new technology meant employees could report any faults simply and quickly.

“Workers at Invicta Mill are now able to use the iPads to take photos and report any issues through a quick four-step process,” he said.

“Previously they would have to print out several pages to report an item needing repairs. It was time consuming and there was a risk that pages could get lost, dirty or damaged.

“Now they just have to take a couple of photos, follow the prompts and log the issue electronically.”

Mike praised the IT professionals behind the successful project.

“All the design, coding and rollout has been done in-house with Wilmar’s own IT crew,” he said.

“This is a unique application for Wilmar, and there wouldn’t be too many other millers in Australia who would have a similar system.

“It isn’t an easy project, and to get it done externally would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Once the project is fully implemented, close to 200 iPads will be in use across Wilmar’s eight sugar mills, Cane Supply and Transport teams and BioEthanol operations.

“This is only the start,” Mike said. “We will continue to roll out more apps for the iPads to further boost productivity and reliability at our mills.”