South Side-based
InspectTech may be the right technology for the times.
With a rekindled interest in the nation’s aging infrastructure dominating the national news, InspectTech’s custom inspection and asset management tools are perfectly positioned to keep inspectors where they should be, out with bridges, retaining walls, guardrails and other transportation structures.
The company was founded by two
Carnegie Mellon grads in 2003. “We heard about the problems that inspectors face at a research symposium and we saw it was a field where we could really make a difference,” says Mike Schellhase, CEO.
With the help of
Idea Foundry, Schel lhase and Jeremy Shaffer launched the company and the flagship product, BridgeInspect, a powerful software tool that improves data collection, tracking and analysis in multiple industries and offers a centralized method of collecting and storing the rich data set.
In addition to enhancing profitability, the tool eliminates the mounds of paperwork and supports digital photographs, GIS location positioning, mobile scanning of documents and on-site sensor readings.
“Often inspectors spend twice as much time in the office preparing inspections reports as they do actually at the bridge site doing the inspection,” Schellhase says. “By giving them better tools, inspectors can spend more time at the bridge rather than pushing paper around.”
The company, with offices in the Terminal Building, recently grew to 10 employees this year and hopes to hire several more in 2009 in software engineering and IT support.
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Writer:
Deb SmitSource: Mike Schellhase, InspectTech
Image courtesy InspectTech