Built a digital quality control platform for a mining equipment manufacturer

Austin Engineering manufactures heavy mining attachments — buckets, dump bodies, and truck bodies — at its production facility in BATAM, Indonesia. Every asset must pass through a structured 7-stage quality control process before shipment to customers worldwide.

The process was sound, but ran entirely on disconnected Excel templates, manual signature chains, and printed reports physically shipped with each asset — with no centralised tracking or digital audit trail. 

• Seven separate Excel templates managed independently with no centralised QC tracking
• Three-tier approval chain required physical signatures or email back-and-forth
• No real-time visibility into which assets were at which inspection stage
• Third-party NDT and vendor documents collected and filed manually per stage
• QC reports printed and physically shipped with assets — no digital delivery to customers

1. Digitised the workflow

Austin's inspection standards and approval hierarchy were already well-defined. We built the platform around their existing 7-stage structure — replacing the infrastructure, not the process. 

2. Enforced the approval chain digitally

The three-tier sign-off was already the standard. We built it directly into the workflow — Inspector, Coordinator, Manager — with in-app notifications at each stage so approvals happen without chasing. 

3. Eliminated double entry through integration

Production coordinators were re-entering asset and order data into every new QC record. We connected AustinQC to Airtable so all work order details populate automatically from a single entry point. 

4. Built within the same ecosystem

AustinQC shares the same tech stack and UI design as Austin's asset lifecycle platform. The two systems are designed to connect — so manufacturing QC records feed directly into post-delivery asset documentation. 

QC Workflow Engine

• 7-stage sequential inspection workflow with role-based access per stage
• Three-tier digital approval chain: Inspector, Coordinator, QC Manager
• In-app notifications triggered at each stage transition
• Skippable Stage 5 (Second Coat) for customer-specific specifications
• Complete timestamped audit trail from RFI creation to final sign-off 

Inspection & Document Management

• Model-based QC template system reused automatically across RFIs
• Document Controller role managing NDT and vendor documents per stage
• E-signature support with multi-page documents and downloadable signed PDFs
• Stage progression gated on document completeness 

Reporting & Integration

• Per-stage PDF reports auto-generated from completed inspection data
• RFI dashboard showing all open, in-progress, and closed inspections
• Airtable API integration auto-populating asset and order data on RFI creation
• Elapsed time per open RFI visible to surface approval delays 

Austin Engineering's BATAM facility moved from seven disconnected Excel templates and paper-based approvals to a single platform governing the full 7-stage QC process — with digital signatures, real-time tracking, and automated report generation across every manufactured asset.

Business Impact

• Seven disconnected Excel templates replaced by one unified platform
• Digital approval chain eliminated physical signature coordination overhead
• Airtable integration removed manual asset data re-entry on every new job
• Complete audit trail created for every manufactured asset for the first time
• Per-stage PDF reports replaced printed documentation shipped with assets