MSS Software the next big thing?

(Virginia Beach, Va.) -Mark Banus, executive vice president of the Virginia Beach-based software development and consulting firm Stilwell & Associates of the USA, Inc. , was a featured presenter at the recent National Safety Council (NSC) Congress and Exposition in Orlando, Fla. The annual exposition, the largest of its kind in the country, was attended by over 20,000 safety professionals. Banus' presentation focused on the safety enhancements of his company's flagship Maintenance Safety Software program, TagLink, which was designed to simplify and improve complicated Lockout/Tagout procedures required by OSHA. These procedures are used extensively by the U.S. Navy, chemical manufacturers, nuclear-power plants, refineries and other heavy industries.

TagLink, the only MSS program of its kind, has been recognized and used on Navy ships and has been included in its "SmartShip" program. Banus and his partner, company president Chip Stilwell, are both retired naval officers. "We worked with the tagout process when we were in the Navy and were frustrated by its inefficiency," said Stilwell. "We knew there had to be a better way." After documenting, reviewing and reengineering the Lockout Tagout process, the two were involved in a project to create some prototype software program to automate it. "We saw an opportunity," said Banus, "So we started our own company to develop the commercial version of TagLink. TagLink MMS has been widely used by the US Navy as well as in the education, power generation, manufacturing and chemical industries."

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