The Challenge
The client needed access to production data from a Chinese concrete batching plant, locked inside a local Microsoft Access database on a workstation at the production line. The database contained tables and columns labeled entirely in Chinese with no documentation whatsoever — every structure had to be deciphered through reverse engineering. The data needed to reach a central PostgreSQL instance in the cloud for use by other company systems.
The Solution
I designed a desktop application in C#/.NET that runs silently in the system tray and periodically synchronizes data from the local Access database to PostgreSQL. The critical phase was reverse engineering the Chinese database — analyzing tables, data types, and relationships without any documentation. The application maps the Access structure to a PostgreSQL schema, handles type conversion and character encoding, while the main window dashboard displays synchronization status and any errors.
Tech stack
Overview
Production data from the concrete batching plant is automatically available in the cloud without manual intervention. The application runs reliably in the background on the workstation at the line, and the entire project was delivered within one week — from analyzing the Chinese database to a working solution.