Development of mobile applications for metal depots

The mobile application allows employees of the metal depot to solve any work issues literally “on the go” – to control metal processing processes, storage conditions, warehouse workload, and even manage orders. Such process optimization will make the company more efficient and competitive, and also open up new development paths for it.

Most often, the mobile application is integrated into the overall management system of the metal base. In practice, this means that all user manipulations that are performed on a PC in the office and on a smartphone are synchronized and linked to a single database.

The mobile application is created individually for each company and takes into account its business needs. The functionality of such solutions usually includes the following modules:

• Inventory control. Allows you to track stock balances in warehouses in real time and helps prevent surpluses or shortages.
• Logistics management. A set of tools for organizing transport in the company’s fleet and tracking deliveries.
• Production optimization. Automates and provides control over the processes of cutting and processing metal products.

• Work with clients. Tools for tracking order statuses and automating customer interactions.
• Financial Accounting. Allows you to track all financial transactions: receipts from customers, payments to suppliers, taxes, salary payments to employees, and more.

The functionality of a mobile application can be quite extensive, and in this case we have only considered the main features that can be implemented.

When developing a mobile application, native technologies can be used – individual for each operating system, or cross-platform, with the help of which one application is created that works on both IOS and Android.

Most often, the second option is more preferable, as it allows you to significantly save the budget and speed up the production of software.

The technology stack might look like this:

• For IOS, the Swift programming language.
• For Android – Java / Kotlin languages.
• For cross platform development – the Dart language and the Flutter framework.

The development of an application for metal depots is carried out sequentially, and includes six main stages. Let’s consider them in more detail.

Stage 1. Study of the client’s business

The implementation of an effective and functional mobile application requires the team to be completely immersed in the client’s business. Therefore, development always begins with research, during which specialists will have to study the work processes at the metal base, the requirements of the customer and his experience in using similar solutions.

Stage 2. Design and technical documentation

A well-thought-out prototype is the key to a successful project. It helps to save time and money, as well as to implement a good technical solution that fully meets the customer’s requirements.

At the design stage, the team solves several important tasks at once:

• Testing new ideas.
• Creates schematic renderings of pages and screens.
• Describes the functionality of the application and determines its viability.
• Forms the mathematics of the project – formulas that will be included in the code for calculating certain indicators.
• Plans and optimizes the development process.
• Performs financial planning.

The finished prototype is presented to the client and helps him understand how his application will work even before technical development begins.

Stage 3. Design development

The screens of smartphones and tablets have a rather limited space, so designers face a difficult task – to provide the user with the most convenient and quick access to the functionality.

To achieve the best result, the design of mobile applications is most often developed individually. With this approach, all graphic elements are designed and drawn manually, taking into account the functionality of the project, and interact with each other as harmoniously as possible.

Stage 4. Programming

This is the most time-consuming and lengthy development stage, which includes two components:

• Frontend development. This is the client part of the application, which is created on the basis of previously approved design layouts and provides comfortable user interaction with the server.
• Backend development. Unlike the frontend, this part of the application is hosted on the server side and is responsible for all computing processes. During its development, specialists design the database architecture, work with the API, configure the servers and write the code that ensures the stable operation of the functionality.

Stage 5. Testing

After the technical development is completed, the project moves to the testing stage, during which QA engineers check the correctness of the implemented functions.

Stage 6. Technical support and development

Even with the most thorough testing, after starting to use the application in real conditions, users may encounter various unexpected errors.

When such situations arise, developers reconnect to the project and fix the problems that have arisen within the framework of technical support.

The peculiarity of an individual control system is that you can continue to develop it at any time – for example, add new functionality, change an existing one, and even make adjustments to the design. To implement such changes, patches with updates are created, which are subsequently installed on an existing system.

Using a mobile application, your employees will be able to more effectively manage processes at the metal depot and will not be tied to a specific workplace. This will improve inventory control, optimize production and organize better work with customers, which is extremely important for business development.

AVADA MEDIA has a staff of experienced developers and specializes in creating high-load systems for warehouse management. While working, we use innovative technologies and maintain close communication with the client, which allows us to create the most effective solutions for any business.