Transcend: A lot of people think our software takes their work away from them

Sandra Loyd

Péter Bohács, Transcend Engineer and Director of Software Development, leads an innovative and passionate team. As he says, he strives for his leadership to allow his employees to unleash their imagination when it comes to developing the latest technologies, thereby exceeding their customers ’software expectations, making the world more livable and thus better.

Computerworld: What was the motivation for the idea of ​​founding Transcend

Péter Bohács : It is worth starting the history of Transcend at the Hungarian-founded green technology company OrganicaWater (formerly Körte-Organica – ed.), Which has now become an internationally recognized provider of innovative solutions for wastewater treatment and recycling. . Initially, the pre-design of industrial and residential wastewater facilities was accelerated by a software solution that can be used anywhere in the field of construction and investment. The implementer of the idea is the spin-off company of OrganicaWater, a company that has grown internationally from a Hungarian company. OrganicaWater itself was founded by a BME team back in 1998. The then CEO of the company met with Ari Raivetz looking for international investment opportunities. The latter specialist was helped by a Hungarian company that was already showing serious results in the field of “recycled water” in 2008 as an employee of a New York investment company looking for green solutions.

Organica’s managers found themselves facing an interesting problem over time. , according to which the company, as a technology supplier, is not really able to compete with companies present in the international market. More specifically, it was the case that Organica’s engineers did not have time to put in the hundreds of hours of work involved in preparing a quote, as do organizations much larger than them. Recognizing the problem, we tried to find a solution, so automate it with as much detail as possible. Transcend can now be said to have eliminated the most tedious part of engineering work, allowing professionals to focus on innovation and adding value.

CW: How long did it take

Péter Bohács: 200-1500 engineering hours on a traditional basis with a preliminary preparation of a plan. In addition, the cost of this is borne entirely by the bidder, even in the case of a non-winning bid, so the need for planning greatly destroys the company’s profitability. The development began nearly ten years ago and was very complex. At first, few people believed in its operability, which was understandable, as others had tried to find a solution to the problem before, but were unsuccessful, and then suddenly we found ourselves there that we had succeeded. By the end of this process, it was decided that Transcend would spin off from Organica, which was greatly aided by Vespucci Partners ’venture capital fund manager’s $ 3 million investment at the end of 2019.

CW: In addition to that investment, in early October 2020, they received half a million dollars from Elemental Excelerator, an American company focused on environmental-related companies. How do these investments help you

Péter Bohács: Both investments were milestones in the life of Transcend , they support our growth. Our collaborations with companies and organizations, such as the English utility Ut Utilities, do the same. Over the past year, we have also strived to create added value with our solution, support for new technologies, drawings and databases. Of course, development is constant, we are constantly working. Most of our projects so far have been related to greenfield investments, but now we are already integrating brownfield investments into the system, which poses another challenge for us, as we have to adapt to existing infrastructures and artefacts, around which we need to design new artefacts and integrate them. Over the past year, at a very strenuous pace, we have invested many, many hours of work, which has consumed a lot of our resources, but the result speaks for itself, as the solution will soon be available to our customers. For me, the solution is like a magic that our entire team, including engineers, mechanical engineers, architects, software developers, and sewage technologists, had to work together to create. Once again, they faced a challenge that had not been addressed before. I admit, sometimes even we ourselves didn’t believe we could succeed. It should be noted that in the developed world, most wastewater treatment plants operate as brownfield investments. In contrast, there are many greenfields in emerging markets, especially in Southeast Asia. Transcend’s primary market is also the Anglo-Saxon area, but there are also inquiries from the Far East.

CW: What are the benefits of the software solution for users?

Péter Bohács: After a few hours of data entry in the program, which can be mastered by anyone with a little practice, 6-8 hours Five different preliminary plans can be generated during which the entire cost plan can be prepared quickly. In Hungarian, they can be used when making a price offer, so the time for planning can be drastically shortened, even by a hundredth.

I am an electrical engineer, automation is close to my mentality. I also hated myself endlessly to repeat myself, to make quotes. Many times I couldn’t even pay attention to the actual problem. Like others, I used templates, which made the quote less accurate. The software takes out the monotonous, tedious part of the job, in a state-of-the-art way, so that engineers can mentally focus on the most important things. An additional organizational benefit is that if the software design algorithm is modified centrally, everyone within the organization can use the modified algorithm.

The engineering profession has stuck in the past, so far almost untouched in terms of automation. Neither business leaders nor engineers necessarily think in this direction. Many people think our software takes their work away from them, even though we only make it more enjoyable. I confess that using new, innovative solutions is a good thing. Transcend’s mission is to transform the culture of the companies involved.

CW: It has previously been stated that the use of Transcend in industrial investment planning is limitless.

Péter Bohács: The software is far from is able to automate the creation of preliminary plans and budgets for wastewater treatment plants, settlers, membrane tanks. We are also helping to install container test stations with another version of software in the United States that we created because of the epidemic situation since last year. At the same time, we are constantly developing the design of drinking water plants, power plants and more complex industrial facilities.

CW: The company was a milestone in the life of the South African-based multinational company Murray & Roberts, and their cooperation with the international EPC Group. What did they learn during the joint work

Péter Bohács: He gained huge experience in engineering and mining projects company, Murray & Roberts has been operating for more than a century. It usually took a large company 18-24 months to enter a new, emerging market. They wanted to reduce this time without having to hire additional staff. And Transcend’s design generator allowed them to take such a step in just six months. Our program has helped the German-based but international EPC Group, which is present in more than a hundred countries, to save time and significant financial resources. The latter company has an annual turnover of more than three billion dollars. make it better to shape the future.

In addition to large companies, we can also provide solutions for the smallest companies to whom we provide a simple subscription service. Since we work with engineering companies, the pricing is adjusted accordingly. Consider that the software will do the work it would take a complete engineering team in 5-6 days in 1-2 hours. So our solution is expensive, yet even smaller companies can save far more, which can help them grow bigger over time.

CW: What role does innovation play in your life?

Péter Bohács: I am the kind of person who has always considered life to be in the future always, everything will be better. Of course, that doesn’t mean I think everything used to be bad, just maybe less good. I’m not revealing a big secret when I say that engineers are lazy people, nor do I like to spend time with things that can be solved faster and more efficiently today. I used to have to do a lot of reports and there was one that cost me a day and a half every month. After I got bored, I preferred to work for two weeks to automate the process and not have to spend more time with it. I like to find new solutions, which, of course, often require us to question established things, which, of course, can stir up stagnant water, but I think we can’t stay in that state. in what we are in because the world is not in a position to do what we have done so far. Global challenges such as pollution, climate change or COVID all show that we need to change. And what is very important is that we are capable of it, we owe it to the future. Ever since I was a father, I have thought so. Old solutions have led us to where we are now. Let’s find new ones! I can fully experience this mentality at Transcend.

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