partnership with Rockwell Automation yields embedded engineering delivery success expanding relationship encompasses staffing and solutions

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Rockwell Automation (RA) is the world’s largest industrial automation and information company, with annual revenues in excess of $5 billion, employing more than 20,000 people globally.

The company was preparing to develop a new line of high-speed control products. To prepare for development, RA needed to augment internal teams with contracted technical expertise in firmware design, application software development and hardware development, specifically in support of complex electronic products.

To address the need, RA needed a strategic partner with experience providing engineering support for highly sophisticated projects. The effort would apply software and hardware development best practices, including Agile software development methodology. The partner would deliver solutions design and guidance to support project team members at both RA’s and the partner’s office locations.

embedded engineering value: keys to successAgile process support:• Randstad Technologies has repeatedly applied the

Agile software delivery process to complete RA’s projects on time and on budget.

Flexible delivery:• A variety of project delivery models – including time

and materials, fixed-fee and Randstad Technologies’ Managed Resource Program – have been tailored for each project and RA’s physical and human resources needs.

Experienced on-demand resources:• RA has access to an array of highly experienced

embedded software engineers on an as-needed basis – several have converted to permanent employees.

building a valued relationshipFor several years, RA used Randstad Technologies for staffing assignments, including the placement of 10 embedded engineers as temporary staff to support various projects. RA went on to hire four of these engineers as permanent employees. As a value-add, one of Randstad Technologies’ embedded engineering senior systems architects led a valuable “Lunch and Learn” workshop for 130 of RA’s managers and engineers to further their working knowledge of partitioned operating systems.

Additionally, when Rockwell Automation was interested in quickly acquiring and deploying additional software development personnel, Randstad Technologies developed a roadmap illustrating how it could augment RA’s development efforts by efficiently implementing Agile Scrum teams. By helping RA address a variety of challenges, Randstad Technologies had become a valuable partner to RA’s engineering group.

addressing the challenge: Agile know-how and embedded software design expertiseRA determined it needed help developing the firmware to handle the file transfer for its High Performance Control (HPC) product. It also needed assistance developing a PC-based application to support the configuration of the HPC. It turned to the Randstad Technologies’ Embedded Engineering practice for these projects.

Randstad Technologies fashioned a six-person Agile Scrum team in its engineering center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to handle the firmware development project. A Managed Resource Program (MRP) service delivery model was utilized. This allows clients access to long-term resources when hiring, contracting or traditional outsourcing isn’t a good fit for its needs. The project was completed on time and under budget.

For the PC-based engineering application, Randstad Technologies deployed an Agile Scrum team of six individuals in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This time and materials project was also completed on time and under budget.

A long-time user of the Agile software development methodology, RA wanted to fine-tune its processes. Recognizing Randstad Technologies’ extensive Scrum experience, RA turned to the company to conduct an internal audit of its Agile environment.

Follow-on projects have been added to the list of Randstad Technologies’ responsibilities:

• An Agile Scrum team of five professionals from the Randstad Technologies Ft. Lauderdale, Florida engineering center is supporting test case development and execution of the embedded HPC software. This work is a fixed fee engagement.

• A hardware engineer is supporting the design and development of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) at RA’s site under the MRP delivery model.

• A team of three software test engineers working under the MRP delivery model is developing test cases, manual test scripts and automated tests for User Access Control as part of the development of the new industrial automation offering.

• An additional team of three software test engineers, working under the MRP delivery model, is developing test cases, manual test scripts and automated tests for the GUI of the software application project.

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ASSIGNED TEMPORARY STAFF

PROVIDED PERMANENT EMPLOYEES

CONDUCTED LUNCH & LEARN SESSIONS

DEVELOPED AGILE ROADMAP

ten embedded engineers placed as temporary staff

130 managers and engineers attended the workshop

illustrated how we could deploy Agile Scrum team to augment development

SUPPORTED HIGH PERFORMANCE CONTROL PRODUCT

SUPPORTED PC-BASED ENGINEERING APPLICATION

project completed on time and under budget with Agile Scrum team through the MRP delivery model

project completed on time and under budget with Agile Scrum team

CONDUCTED INTERNAL AUDIT OF AGILE ENVIRONMENT

SUPPORTED FOLLOW-ON PROJECTS

helped RA fine-tune processes

four addictional projects have been added to our ongoing partnership

four temporary staff were hired as perm employees

overview of the successful relationship with Rockwell Automation

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Randstad Technologies’ embedded software engineering talent, in-depth Agile knowledge and flexible delivery options lead to valuable partnership with Rockwell Automation.