Case Study: Wabtec Mining

Kendall Kunz

Thanks to Forms On Fire, Wabtec now has a tool that makes its entire operation more efficient.

Situation: Wabtec needed a faster, more efficient, and more accurate way of gathering data and creating reports.

Wabtec Logo

Wabtec Corporation is a global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions, and value-added services for the freight, transit, mining, industrial, and marine sectors. With approximately 27,000 employees in more than 50 countries around the world, the company leads the way in safety, efficiency, reliability, innovation, and productivity.


“Given the level of technology we work with every day, it may be surprising to hear that we had a paper-based system for gathering the technical information needed to generate customer reports,” said Amber Glover, National Operations Manager, Wabtec Mining. “Whether our technicians were in a workshop or out in the field, they took electrical and mechanical measurements and entered them onto a paper form. It was an entirely manual process.”


Producing customer reports based on the data provided by the technicians was also a manual process. Amber spent hours reading 18-page paper forms containing 355 data points before re-entering the data into a Microsoft Word document that was suitable for presenting to a customer.


Furthermore, “the process became unnecessarily complicated when the technicians either completed the form incorrectly or when they skipped a question,” said Amber. “When that happened, we had to send the technician back to the site to gather the correct information.”


The current process was far from sustainable. According to Amber, “What we needed was a faster, more efficient, and more accurate way of gathering data and creating reports.”

Solution: Thanks to Forms On Fire, Wabtec now has a tool that makes its entire operation more efficient.

"I'm a huge advocate of Forms On Fire. I'm such a fan that I created a 10-page PowerPoint presentation to help others in the company understand the value I get from using the platform." -Amber Glover, National Operation Manager, Wabtec Mining

As soon as Wabtec had access to a customized mobile app for data entry and reporting, manual processes were replaced by a streamlined digital process. The mobile app developed by Forms On Fire empowers Wabtec’s technicians to gather detailed information, measurements, and even photos in a way that they couldn’t do before.


“I no longer get forms that are incorrect or missing information,” says Amber. “That’s because the Forms On Fire app checks for completion and accuracy. For instance, if a measurement is incorrect, the app informs the technician, who can then correct the error while still in the field.”


Because the mobile app has critical stop points, it won’t let technicians skip a question. “Every question must be answered—and answered correctly—before the technician can move on to the next question,” said Amber. “That greatly increases the accuracy of our reports and improves our overall level of quality control.”


Ultimately, Wabtec now has a tool that makes its entire operation more efficient. “Forms On Fire has been a huge game-changer for us,” said Amber. 

Results + Benefits

Improved Accuracy Increased Efficiency Impressive Return on Investment
“Not only did our technicians make data entry errors in the field, I used to make errors when transferring data to produce reports,” said Amber. “With Forms On Fire, there are no more errors. The entire process is automated and that eliminates room for errors.” Thanks to Forms On Fire, Amber no longer spends hours poring over data points to create presentable customer reports. Instead, she simply presses a button to generate the reports she needs. “Forms On Fire is a valuable asset to have,” said Amber. “We’ve experienced a complete return on our investment within 18 months. We saved money that we would have otherwise spent on an administrative person to handle reporting.”
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