Ergonomic & Workplace Safely Analysis System  

Yahara Software & Blankenheim Services Work Together to Reduce Healthcare Costs and Improve Employee Safety and Productivity

Eric Blankenheim and the staff of Blankenheim Services, LLC offer a proactive approach to reducing worker's compensation costs and improving employee productivity. Workplace problems like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or strain/sprain injuries are addressed through preventative employment screening, on-the-job therapy and case management, as well as through direct ergonomic interventions and employee/management training. Clients who have successfully implemented and benefited from Blankenheim’s Industrial Therapy programs include Rockwell Automation and Oshkosh Truck, as well as McCain Snack Foods and Fleetguard-Nelson.

"I’ve found Yahara Software LLC to be extremely knowledgeable and capable of designing and implementing a specific solution to meet our needs.  They’ve also been remarkably responsive in resolving issues identified during development and testing.  We’ve consistently had these issues resolved within a day if not earlier.”

—Chris Nehrbass, Manufacturing Systems Engineering Manager
    Blankenheim Services, LLC

Challenge

Blankenheim Services wanted to provide a higher level of service to their customers by ensuring their ergonomic analysis application was running on a solid foundation, converting the existing application to a web-based system and adding new functionality. Blankenheim Services was seeking to add new features to enhance the application in the areas of:

Security
Reporting
Auditing
User interface
New Sections (for services such as Personal Protective Equipment)

Solution

Yahara delivered a custom application for Blankenheim Services called “Ergo Factor”. Yahara Software successfully migrated the existing version to a web-based system, added the desired enhanced functionality, and continues to host and support the application through their partnership with SupraNet Communications. Ergo Factor gives customers the ability to analyze their own industrial employee positions for Workman's Compensation, Return-to-Work, and OSHA compliance purposes. Subscribing customers can examine each employee position for ergonomic recommendations, and enter and edit existing analyses. Printed versions of analyses are available at any time.
Why Yahara Software?
Blankenheim Services selected Yahara Software because of the highly-skilled developers on staff and Yahara’s specific depth of experience within the Microsoft .NET environment. Yahara’s methodology, based on the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) and the Iterative Life Cycle development approach, ensured that this project would be completed on time, within budget, and with all the required features and functionality.

Business Value

Improved customer service and better collaboration with existing clients. The higher quality of service when providing information to customers ultimately translates to reduced worker’s compensation costs and improved employee productivity, in keeping with Blankenheim Services’ mission.

Key Components

The development for this project was done in the Microsoft ASP .NET environment using the C# programming language. Microsoft SQL Server was used as the primary data repository for the system.

Business Partner

SupraNet Communications (Hosting),
Madison, Wisconsin.