Desktop Application
Coal storage
My role: Senior Product Designer
Team: Product manager, UX/UI designer (me), front-end developers, back-end developers, testers
Digitization of coal yard management for a large steel company
Before
After
About project
The goal is to optimize the storage and logistics of coal in the storage of a company producing steel products.
Create a clear and user-friendly interface for factory workers.
Task
Build a transparent reporting system for workers and management.
Remote management of coal movements in the warehouse.
Digitize all coal flows (outgoing, incoming, coal grades, their location in the warehouse, and how much and what grade of coal is shipped to which furnace).
Introduce an electronic document for warehouse operations with mandatory accountability of responsible persons.
Problem
Documentation of the company's coal warehouse was kept on paper only. Because of this, there was quite a large unaccounted consumption of coal, which led to excessive losses.
It was a big pain for the warehouse workers to travel to the warehouse to monitor the movement of coal in the warehouse.
t was also difficult to trace on paper the people responsible for certain events that occurred during shifts and over-shifts.
Research
The research was conducted directly at the NLMK plant, at the coal storage facility.
CusDev
First, I conducted quantitative and then qualitative interviews with managers and workers in warehouses and hot shops to understand exactly what software they needed and what problems it should solve.
How they currently solve their problems.
Personas research
Pain points
Job stories
User map
I’ve created a concise and organized product structure, ensuring information is logically arranged for optimal user experience.
Photo of the warehouse (taken from a drone) with preliminary stack locations (the stacks were drawn in Paint by the shift supervisor).
These photos were needed to develop prototypes.
Wareframes
UI
The user interface was designed to accommodate a diverse audience — from older coal warehouse workers with conservative attitudes toward digital tools to younger specialists familiar with modern interfaces.
I optimized the UI for different physical interaction patterns as well, ensuring comfortable touch targets and clear visual hierarchy for users with large hands or working in gloves.
Design System
I used the main components from the company's general design system, but I also developed custom components.
Interface
Each stack is interactive and can be dragged from place to place with the mouse.
The data in the table is pulled up automatically, reading data from video recorders and data received from loading and unloading sensors, as well as from drivers who deliver or transport coal.
All data is pulled from Excel spreadsheets, a custom application in the domain workshop (readings), and video cameras in the warehouse. Data can also be entered manually, but each manual entry is recorded via two-factor authentication to prevent fraud.
Mesh for convenient stacking in warehouses.
Result
54 people participated in testing:
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Warehouse workers
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Train drivers
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Shift supervisors
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Engineers
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Blast furnace operators
99%
Eliminated the issue of shifting responsibility between plant employees
20%
Reduced coal consumption
89%
Positive feedback from employees
It became possible to work remotely with the warehouse — to monitor coal inflow and outflow directly from the office.
Management gained the ability to track coal movement in the warehouse and in the blast furnace shop: which coal was loaded into which furnace and when, generating short reports instead of sorting through piles of paperwork.
