Marcio Miike Jr. / Notes

Five systems, before and after

Most of the systems I built before starting Algoboa did one thing. They shortened a job that an experienced person did by hand. Here are five of them, measured the same way: by the time the job takes.

1 min 10 min 1 hour 1 day 3 days before after A factory layout non-ferrous metals maker A factory layout: 2 to 3 days before, 30 min at best after 30 min at best 2 to 3 days A quote materials maker A quote: more than a day before, 15 min at best after 15 min at best more than a day Finding a document advertising agency Finding a document: 3 hours before, 10 min at best after 10 min at best 3 hours Checking a drawing construction consultancy Checking a drawing: 45 min before, 1 min after 1 min 45 min Cause of a defect auto parts maker Cause of a defect: 25 min before, 9 min after 9 min 25 min 1 min 10 min 1 hour 1 day before after A factory layout non-ferrous metals maker A factory layout: 2 to 3 days before, 30 min at best after 30 min at best 2 to 3 days A quote materials maker A quote: more than a day before, 15 min at best after 15 min at best more than a day Finding a document advertising agency Finding a document: 3 hours before, 10 min at best after 10 min at best 3 hours Checking a drawing construction consultancy Checking a drawing: 45 min before, 1 min after 1 min 45 min Cause of a defect auto parts maker Cause of a defect: 25 min before, 9 min after 9 min 25 min
Five jobs, by the time each took before and after. The scale is compressed, so each step to the left is a large cut: from days to minutes at the top, from 25 minutes to 9 at the bottom.

Reading the picture

Each line is one system. The open circle is how long the job took by hand, and the green dot is how long it took afterwards. “At best” marks a fastest case. The other numbers are averages.

The scale is compressed so that one minute and three days fit on one line. Equal distances mean equal ratios, so a job cut to a tenth moves the same distance wherever it starts. A day is drawn as eight working hours.

The five

  • LayoutWhere to put equipment when a factory is extendedA pilot that read 3D CAD data, turned the constraints into a model, and proposed layouts with a cost estimate
  • QuoteFrom quantity and specification to a printed quoteChooses the materials, then works out the cost and the margin. Three months after launch, adoption was above 90%
  • DocumentSearch across about 25 terabytes of internal documentsProposals, research reports and contracts. How we measured it
  • DrawingChecking a drawing against the design standardHow the check works
  • DefectFinding the cause of a defect on the lineHow a veteran’s knowledge became searchable

What they have in common

In all five, the slow part was not the decision. It was getting to the point where a decision could be made: finding the past case, the clause, the price, the file, or a layout that meets every constraint.

I ran these projects between 2023 and 2025. The times are the results reported for each one.