Robert Signer

COO

Tracker.ch AG

We have found the perfect development partner in the Swisscom IoT ecosystem.

Facts & Figures

May 2020

Company Facts:

Company name: Tracker.ch AG

Industry: Medicine and emergency management

Employees: 15

Projekt Facts:

  • Schwizerland-wide coverage
  • Low energy consumption
  • Comprehensive partner ecosystem

Optimal use of investments via LPN

Construction machinery that stands around idle costs money. That’s particularly true when, for instance, an excavator is hired simply because it isn’t evident that another belonging to the company is parked up unused on a different building site. “For large construction companies, unnecessary costs amounting to over a million Swiss francs can arise each year,” says Robert Signer, COO of Swiss location pioneer Tracker.ch. Alongside construction machinery, the same applies to all other mobile capital goods.

Challenge

In practice, locating construction machinery and logging activity are demanding tasks. The technology must be extremely robust and work in a manufacturer-independent manner throughout the entire country without the need for constant battery changes. Previous attempts using mobile telecommunications have failed due to problems including excessive power consumption. In the shape of LPN (Low Power Network), however, a technology is now available that is specifically geared towards energy efficiency. Yet to create a solution suitable for the construction industry, it was necessary to develop a device in-house. Signer explains: “As a location and remote monitoring specialist, we know exactly what is required for the task. But for the development of a marketable hardware solution, we were reliant on a competent partner.”

Solution

In Swisscom’s IoT ecosystem, Tracker.ch found the ideal engineering and production partner. The jointly developed LPN tracker has a movement sensor and a microphone. The data from these is used to determine operating times. A GPS module ensures real-time location, and enough memory for 1,500 events guarantees seamless logging, even if an excavator is used abroad for several months. The battery lasts for up to three years thanks to the energy-saving design. Swisscom’s LoRa (Long Range) network is chiefly responsible for this. It is the only Swiss LPN covering the entire country, reaching over 97% of the population.

 

Tracker.ch can offer its customers a great deal of added value thanks to the solution. Optimised machinery use enables them to save on operating costs and investment capital. The automatic recording of usage time allows more efficient processes. Expenditure can be billed for much more transparently with respect to external and internal customers. Geofencing also equips machinery with a theft alarm.

Benefits

Optimal use of machinery and equipment fleet

Using the location and activity data, both deployment planning and investments in new machinery can be effectively optimised.

Minimal maintenance thanks to energy-efficient LPN technology

Thanks to extremely energy-efficient LPN technology, a battery lasts for up to three years. This means that battery changes can be integrated into normal machine maintenance cycles.

More efficient business processes and detailed cost transparency

The automatic transfer of data into the ERP system enables systematic process optimisations. Machinery deployment is billed for in a transparent and detailed manner with respect to both external and internal customers.

High-performance solution thanks to competent partners

In the unique Swisscom partner ecosystem, competent specialists are available along the entire IoT process chain to develop extremely high-performance solutions.

These products are used by Tracker.ch

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