EIT Smart and Weha-Therm: Asset Management
Weha-Therm: The German glass specialist
Weha-Therm Isolierglas GmbH & co. KG is a leading German glass manufacturer specializing in the production of high-quality glass, with a range of over 8,000 products. Weha-Therm uses special supports (racks) for the handling and delivery of its fragile and high value products. Once the goods are received and unloaded, customers return the empty racks to the company.
Ensuring the availability of the right number of racks, in the right place at the right time, is essential to ensure optimal production, efficient operations and a good customer experience. Moreover, ensuring the correct daily management of the supports is challenging because the racks are often returned late, and sometimes are lost.
The solution: trackers connected thanks to Sigfox 0G network
Weha-Therm’s vision was to overcome these issues in order to increase operational efficiency with an IoT-enabled solution for the localization and tracking of the entire rack fleet. The challenge was to find the right solution that combined reliable devices, with multi-year battery life, communicating on an efficient network and a platform capable of providing the right insight to support decision-making process.
After an in-depth evaluation, Weha-Therm chose a LPWA-based tracking solution. All transport racks were fitted with IoT tracking devices that record the current location and all rack movements, transmitting the data via the global Sigfox 0G Network.
The battery-powered trackers require no maintenance, have a multi-year lifespan (up to seven years) and were easily installed on existing racks requiring only a couple of screws for fixing.
The we-based BOX ID platform allows data visualization and real-time traceability of the racks, and provides useful insights, transforming localization data into useful information for the business. Among the extra functions that simplify the asset management there are, for example, the automatic creation of a continuous fleet inventory showing each asset’s location and status and the highlighting of supports stationary for too long.
Weha-Term, thanks to the Box-Id solution, obtained many benefits:
The benefits obtained
Weha-Term, thanks to the Box-Id solution, obtained many benefits:
- Reduction of the overall loss rate of racks
- Promptly identification of anomalous behaviour, such as racks used incorrectly or racks outside of standard flows
- Automation of asset control and management processes
- Higher rack utilisation rates and faster rotations
The Challenge
Glass and window manufacturers, such as German industry leader Weha-Therm, use special supports (racks) to handle and deliver fragile and high-value products to customers. Once shipment are received and unloaded, customers return the empty racks. Maintaining a precise and up-to-date view of the entire asset fleet is a key activity to optimize operations but challeging as racks may be misplaced or lost.
Weha-Therm’s aim was to solve this problem with real-time location information on all its asset fleet.
The Solution
Weha-Therm implemented a LPWA solution, enabled by global Sigfox 0G Network, for the remote and real-time localization of its racks.
The end-to-end solution, provided by Box-Id, includes asset tracking devices, characterized by low impact and long battery life, and a specialized data analytics platform for data analysis and visualization.
The solution guarantees full transparency on the status of assets anywhere and at any time across Europe.
The installation of the trackers, which require no maintenance and guarantee a multi-year battery life, was easy.
The Results
Weha-Therm obtained real-time visibility on the status and position of its racks within the logistics processes. The data collected made it possible to increase the overall efficiency thanks to:
- Reduction of loss rate and thefts
- Higher rack utilisation rates and faster rotations
- Reduction of asset recovery lead times
- Reduction of manual activities and bottlenecks in racks management
- Continuous inventory for optimal planning and control
EIT Smart takes to the track at the Visione Sicurezza event
EIT Smart, a company controlled by EI Towers S.p.A., a reference partner for the development of innovative IoT projects based on Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology, participated in the 4th edition of “Visione Sicurezza” held last 19 October in the “MWC Misano World Circuit” location.
The 2023 edition of Visione Sicurezza
Over 500 top managers, institutions, managers, and designers involved in the infrastructure and transport sector participated at the 2023 edition of the “community event”. They gathered in a structure that simulated and recalled a “city of infrastructures”, including high-visibility geodesic domes, customized with panels and spaces dedicated to practical demonstrations, where visitors had the opportunity to participate in interactive workshops.
The participation of authoritative representatives of the National Agency for the Safety of Railways and Road and Motorway Infrastructures, of TID Spoke & Digital Rail Infrastructure Development Department Italferr – Gruppo FS Italiane, of Autostrada Pedemontana Lombarda as well as of the Electronics, Computer Science and Bioengineering Department of the Polytechnic of Milan, provided evidence of the importance of “connections” within the infrastructural system.
A panel discussion that offered the opportunity to discuss operating methods, regulations, visions, and materials and technologies aimed at promoting ever greater safety and quality within road and rail networks and, in general, of large infrastructures.
The experience of EIT Smart at the service of monitoring infrastructures
The corporate vision of EIT Smart perfectly fit in this event, involving partners and guests of the community with their experience in the field of data transfer networks and integrated solutions, aimed at remote monitoring and control of bridges and viaducts, with the aim of increasing their safety.
EIT Smart manages a national network infrastructure dedicated to LPWA IoT solutions designed for the efficient and sustainable collection of data from sensors distributed in the field.
The event in Romagna further convinced EIT Smart of the importance of offering, to the world of infrastructures, an LPWAN data transfer network (in Sigfox and Lorawan technologies) and highlighted the strategic role of the company which, as leader of an innovative ecosystem of companies, is able to provide, also through the support of partners such as Welog and Roadlink, battery-powered wireless IoT solutions, capable of collecting, processing and exchanging data remotely in order to make our infrastructures, roads and cities connected and safe.
Ever more convinced that IoT solutions represent a great opportunity to effectively manage even the most complex and decentralized processes, EIT Smart is the number one partner for monitoring infrastructures.
EIT Smart and sustainability
The Visione Sicurezza 2023 event was organized entirely from a sustainable perspective, having offset 20 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
EIT Smart also promotes a sustainable culture. In particular, the EI Towers Group Sustainability Policy establishes a formal commitment to the adoption of sustainable behaviors and actions in relation to ESG issues, integrating and strengthening what has already been stated in the Code of Ethics adopted by the EI Towers Group.
