---
title: "SGMF: safety calculations that took days now take minutes | Fluff Software case study"
description: "A global industry body was running critical marine fuel safety calculations through manual entry and Excel."
url: https://www.fluff.software/work/sgmf-safety-zones/
updated: 2026-10-23
publisher: Fluff Software
---

# SGMF: safety calculations that took days now take minutes

A global industry body was running critical marine fuel safety calculations through manual entry and Excel. We worked out what was really slowing it down, then replaced it with validated, automated software.

95% less processing time

_Image: SGMF_

- **Client:** The Society for Gas as a Marine Fuel, a global non-profit

- **Built:** A modern safety zone calculation tool

- **Key call:** Redesign the workflow before writing any code

- **Result:** 95% reduction in processing time

## The situation

SGMF’s safety zone tool calculates the zones around gas fuel containment from pressure, temperature, LNG quality and local weather. It was a pioneering tool, but it ran on manual data entry and Excel. That meant error risk, days of processing, a heavy admin load and a struggle to keep up as regulation tightened.

## What we questioned first

- **What’s causing the pain?** A discovery workshop with SGMF’s stakeholders to find the real bottlenecks before anything was designed.
- **Fix it, or rethink it?** Rather than rebuilding the spreadsheet in code, we set six goals: automate the data processing, simplify the interface, validate every input, scale with regulation, return results quickly and align with current international standards.
- **How do people trust the answer?** Validation layers check every input against business rules, so a calculation can’t run on bad data.

## What we built

A calculation tool with automated data workflows, an interface designed so complex information goes in quickly and clearly, built-in validation, and an architecture that can take new features and new rules without a redesign.

## What changed

Processing time fell by 95%: calculations that once took days arrive in minutes. Data accuracy improved, adoption across SGMF’s network increased, and the tool is ready for the next round of regulation.

**How we’d work on this today.** Critical work running on a spreadsheet is one of the most common things we’re asked to fix. A single workflow suits an Automation Sprint; a tool that keeps evolving with regulation suits the fractional team, one release at a time. [For engineering and manufacturing](https://www.fluff.software/for/engineering-and-manufacturing/)

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