Aim News

To further foster innovation, collaboration and professional growth for Aim’s award-winning software development team, Aim Transportation Solutions held its annual Development Summit.

Led by Aim’s Vice President of Software Development, Dan Kellgren, the two-day initiative was to get the team away from their day-to-day tasks to spend time learning and dreaming up big-picture ideas to better support Aim’s employees and customers.

The value Aim’s in-house software development team delivers to the customer experience cannot be overstated. Not only does the group develop technologies that address the challenges inherent in the transportation industry, but they also address the unique challenges inherent in a wide range of industries that Aim’s customers operate within.

To create these unique solutions, it’s important for the development team to understand what operations in the field look like. That’s why, on the first day of of the Development Summit, Aim’s Executive Vice President of Maintenance, Chris Disantis, and Aim’s Director of Maintenance (West), Steve Shacklock, gave the development group a first-hand look at how a live Aim shop operates.

Touring Aim’s truck maintenance shop at its headquarters in Girard, OH, Dan Kellgren’s team looked at how (and why) the shop is laid out, how vehicles are worked on, what tools are used and how some of the latest technology is factoring into the shop’s day-to-day operation.  Chris and Steve also gave them an up-close look at a tractor, and they gave them a behind-the-scenes look at some of the work the techs are doing on modern diesel trucks.

Pictured front, L to R: Dan Kellgren, VP of Software Development; Jon Brown, Progress Developer; Gabriel Hodges, .NET Developer II; Quintin Stearns, .NET Developer I; Freddy Solis, Software Security Architect; and Seth Martin, Web Platform Engineer.

Back row, L to R: Jamie Cretella, Software Developer Intern; Joe Hodges, Mobile Applications Engineer; Kevin Fleming, Progress Developer II; John Reed, Chief Information Officer; Alexander Smith, Mobile Applications Engineer; Mary Zigarevich, Quality Assurance Manager; and Alanna McBride, Quality Assurance Specialist.

“It’s one thing to dream up new ideas from behind a desk, but it’s a whole other thing to implement those ideas in a real-world application that makes sense for and truly benefits the user,” said Dan Kellgren. “Getting an up-close look at the shop’s day-to-day operations gives us that much needed user perspective, and I want to thank Chris and Steve for the invaluable insights they provided to the team.”

Next, Aim’s Vice President of Marketing, Jessica Deane, joined the group to talk about Aim’s branding standards. From a software development standpoint, it’s important that Aim-developed software—especially customer-facing tools and applications—looks and feels like an Aim product. Additionally, there’s a lot of collaboration between Aim’s software development and marketing teams, so it’s crucial that everyone shares a unified vision.

The first day concluded with Aim President, Scott Fleming, joining the team for lunch, where he congratulated everyone for recently earning CCJ’s Innovator of the Year achievement. Under the direction of Dan Kellgren and Aim’s Chief Information Officer, John Reed, the team received this coveted award for the development of a state-of-the-art Aim Navigator (Aim’s official smartphone app) add-on that streamlines and enhances the way Aim customer drivers request roadside service and how Aim’s Road Rescue team manages and responds to over-the-road maintenance calls.

Day two got into the heart of the Development Summit, covering a wide range of topics led by members of the team:

• Cyber warfare (Freddy Solis, Aim Software Security Architect)
• Using DNA to store data (Kevin Fleming, Aim Progress Developer II)
• Smart Homes (Alexander Smith, Aim Mobile Applications Engineer)
• Virtual reality devices (Quintin Stearns, Aim .NET Developer I)
• 3D printing (Seth Martin, Aim Web Platform Engineer)
• Color wheel color pallet generation (Alanna McBride, Aim Quality Assurance Specialist)
• Brain-to-computer interfaces (Jon Brown, Aim Progress Developer II)
• Operating systems of the past (Dan Kellgren, Aim Vice President of Software Development)
• Autonomous vehicles (Mary Zigarevich, Aim Quality Assurance Manager)
• Smart city, roads, and street design (Jamie Cretella, Aim Software Developer Intern)

After the discussion, the group, joined by Aim’s IT department, went out for a fun excursion at Past Times Arcade, in Girard, OH, where they had dinner, played classic arcade games and had a team-building competition.

“Aim’s ability to think outside the box and to remain proactive—rather than reactive—when it comes to harnessing new technologies has always been a huge competitive advantage for us,” said Dan Kellgren. “That’s why these Development Summits prove so valuable: They’re a breeding ground for new ideas, new perspectives and new initiatives that we can put into action for the betterment of Aim, our customers and the industry at large.”