Tower cranes automatic inventory
For almost 100 years, Potain, part of the Manitowoc group, has been a leading manufacturer of tower cranes and automatic assembly crane. At the end of the 2000s, the company developed a used crane rental and sales offer to meet the demand of key accounts.Until now, only the upper parts of the cranes were inventoried using RFID technology, but as this was cumbersome to install and maintain, Potain looked for an alternative solution to identify and locate nearly 300 lower parts. In order to have a real-time view of its 35,000m² warehoused fleet, and thus ensure its ability to respond to invitations to tender, Potain has placed its trust in Charlie Solutions and ELA Innovation.
"We launched a full-scale test on our fleet of rental tower cranes, which included around fifteen units. This enabled us to assess the weather and UV resistance of the tags [...] and the integration of the solution."
Xavier RABOURDIN
Second-hand Cranes and Rental Director, Potain
For almost 100 years, Potain, part of the Manitowoc group, has been a leading manufacturer of tower cranes and automatic assembly crane. At the end of the 2000s, the company developed a used crane rental and sales offer to meet the demand of key accounts.Until now, only the upper parts of the cranes were inventoried using RFID technology, but as this was cumbersome to install and maintain, Potain looked for an alternative solution to identify and locate nearly 300 lower parts. In order to have a real-time view of its 35,000m² warehoused fleet, and thus ensure its ability to respond to invitations to tender, Potain has placed its trust in Charlie Solutions and ELA Innovation.
"We launched a full-scale test on our fleet of rental tower cranes, which included around fifteen units. This enabled us to assess the weather and UV resistance of the tags [...] and the integration of the solution."
Xavier RABOURDIN
Second-hand Cranes and Rental Director, Potain
The project's participants
- The client's needs
- Technical Operation
- Results
The client's needs
✓ Real-time inventory of nearly 300 rental crane components
✓ Facilitate management of the equipment maintenance process
✓ Know the flow in and out of the stockyard
✓ Facilitate management of the equipment maintenance process
✓ Know the flow in and out of the stockyard
Technical Operation
From a technical point of view, the automatic inventory IoT solution relies on a set of Bluetooth beacons attached to each of the 300 low crane equipment to be tracked. Each piece of equipment is then assigned a unique identification number.
To track the equipment in the storage area, 10 gateways have been installed, and when the elements are deployed at customer sites, the operators’ smartphones act as trackers, ensuring their location.
Equipment detection is automatic, thanks to the “Charlie Gestion” monitoring application, so no human action is required. The manager can simply control his fleet via the IoT platform (PC), creating dashboards and alerts when a device needs to be checked. In this way, he can find out in real time on which worksite a given piece of equipment is located, as well as its utilization rate and compliance.
Eventually, Potain intends to share this inventory data with carriers, technicians and operators to streamline logistics operations.
To track the equipment in the storage area, 10 gateways have been installed, and when the elements are deployed at customer sites, the operators’ smartphones act as trackers, ensuring their location.
Equipment detection is automatic, thanks to the “Charlie Gestion” monitoring application, so no human action is required. The manager can simply control his fleet via the IoT platform (PC), creating dashboards and alerts when a device needs to be checked. In this way, he can find out in real time on which worksite a given piece of equipment is located, as well as its utilization rate and compliance.
Eventually, Potain intends to share this inventory data with carriers, technicians and operators to streamline logistics operations.
Results
✓ Reduced response time when maintenance is required
✓ Increased machine reliability
✓ Global and detailed view of the position of rental equipment
✓ Saves time in the maintenance process
✓ Simplified inventory management
✓ Increased machine reliability
✓ Global and detailed view of the position of rental equipment
✓ Saves time in the maintenance process
✓ Simplified inventory management
Equipment
- The benefits
- Results
The benefits
✓ Easy to install. No wiring required.
✓ Low maintenance, with a battery life up to 15 years.
✓ Easy for teams to use.
✓ Low maintenance, with a battery life up to 15 years.
✓ Easy for teams to use.
Results
✓ Reduced response time when maintenance is required
✓ Increased machine reliability
✓ Global and detailed view of the position of rental equipment
✓ Saves time in the maintenance process
✓ Simplified inventory management
✓ Increased machine reliability
✓ Global and detailed view of the position of rental equipment
✓ Saves time in the maintenance process
✓ Simplified inventory management
