"Our precast concrete parts have to be produced with the right timing and delivered to the construction sites in the right order," says Florian Dietrich, Head of IT at ABI, explaining the challenges. "As neither we nor most construction sites have large storage capacities, we need to have a good command of the logistics processes for our delivery-oriented production. However, in the past, as soon as the loaded inloaders left our premises with the freight forwarder, we lacked precise information about their location and status in order to plan the next logistics processes precisely - we wanted to change that with the tracking project with Sensolus."

Sensolus impresses with battery life and management platform
ABI got to know Sensolus in 2022 through a recommendation from a freight forwarder and defined its requirements during the initial discussions with the provider of tracking solutions. The aim was to optimize the planning and scheduling processes and eliminate the need for time-consuming telephone inquiries. In order to withstand the harsh conditions on construction sites and function efficiently, the trackers needed to be robust and have a long battery life. It was also important for ABI that the trackers - and therefore its own inloaders - could be tracked not only in Germany, but also in the Benelux countries. It was also important to the company that the tracking data could be integrated into its own systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), to enable consistent working.

"Sensolus provided us with excellent support right from these initial discussions and showed us how their tracking solution could make our processes more transparent," recalls Florian Dietrich. "We were not only impressed by the tracker features and the entire product package, including the management platform, but also by the excellent partnership. We then ordered the trackers at the beginning of 2023." In January, 250 trackers were ordered, followed by an order for a further 300 in March. To date, over 500 trackers have been successfully activated. Parallel to the first order, the Sensolus web-based management platform was set up for the ABI users and the ERP data integration was carried out via APIs. "The Sensolus solution was up and running smoothly within a few weeks," continues Dietrich. "What took the most time in the end was the step-by-step installation of the trackers as part of the normal usage cycles of the racks - whenever the inloaders in circulation were back on our site." Within just a few months, the concrete paver was already controlling over 90 percent of its tracker-equipped inloaders via the management platform, and all transport racks are to be equipped with Sensolus trackers by the end of 2023 at the latest.

Inner loader tracking with IoT solution from Sensolus
Sensolus' tracking solution consists of two key components: the robust trackers, which can be localized via an IoT network, and the cloud-based management platform, which displays the localized trackers on a map and is integrated with other company systems such as ABI's ERP solution so that important status information can be shared with all systems involved:

- The trackers, which were gradually attached to each individual indoor loader rack, are robust and can withstand harsh outdoor conditions. They were designed for non-powered load carriers and are equipped with a powerful battery that enables a service life of over five years. The Sensolus trackers not only communicate in encrypted form for localization, but also via NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) to save energy.

- ABI uses the Sensolus cloud-based management platform to manage and track its inloader racks. It enables easy commissioning and configuration of the trackers and always remains up to date via over-the-air updates. At ABI, all inloader racks were given a unique reference number as well as the asset tags "short" or "long" so that they can be reliably and efficiently scheduled for ABI's logistics processes depending on their location and characteristics. Sensolus provided the necessary API (Application Programming Interface) for integration with ABI's ERP system. This means that the precise location information of a delivery can now also be accessed from there.

Up-to-date location information for scheduling and invoicing
The real-time location information of the ABI transport racks makes the work of scheduling easier. The concrete paver plans a total of 60-100 truck tours every day - spread across Germany and Benelux - and uses around 30-35 of its inloader racks. With the latest location information, ABI no longer has to rely on phone calls with employees from construction sites and haulage companies to reliably plan deliveries and returns, but can find all relevant data in the Sensolus management platform or directly in the ERP system.

"Real-time tracking has not only provided us with a secure basis for planning our own processes," explains Kai Thierolf from the scheduling department. "We have also been able to significantly optimize our collaboration with the haulage companies: Thanks to precise location information, we have discovered, for example, that some have temporarily stored our transport racks somewhere for their own route optimization, which of course takes them away from our use. Thanks to the Sensolus solution, we were able to prevent this, which means that our collaboration with the transport companies now runs more smoothly."

In addition to the classic inloader racks, ABI also uses a total of eight expensive tipping devices for oversized precast concrete parts, for which the company charges its customers a deposit and a rental price on a weekly basis. They were also equipped with Sensolus trackers. "For this scarce resource, the current location information gives us a reliable and verifiable basis for billing," continues Kai Thierolf. "This eliminates the need for discussions with customers about the time the racks are on their construction sites and the precise rental period to be calculated - as such discussions have occasionally taken place in the past. Sensolus tracking creates transparency and reliability for both sides."

End-to-end optimization of logistics processes
"We benefit from this newly created transparency in many areas," says Florian Dietrich, summarizing the advantages of the Sensolus tracking solution: "Whether from the ERP system, for route planning or scheduling - everyone can now find the information they need at the touch of a button, which previously would have required additional research or phone calls." The new transparency creates consistency and efficiency: both in the company's own processes and in coordination with the contracted forwarding companies. Excess capacity in the inloader stock, which was created as a buffer for uncertainties in planning, can also be reduced. Tracking also reduces the likelihood of load carrier losses. "Thanks to more efficient planning and tracking, we need fewer racks and can save costs," concludes the IT manager. "So not only do we benefit from optimized processes, the new solution also pays for itself quite quickly financially."