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
