Value Chain Awards
The Value Chain Awards honor the most successful corporate adopters of M2M technology and the team of solution providers that made their success possible. The awards highlight the process of combining multiple technologies such as device-connectivity hardware, radio modules, network service and provision, as well as application software and infrastructure, and show how all of the elements of the M2M value chain created a winning solution for the end customer.
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Asset Tracking
Gold
Tools 4 Hire
Boston, Mass.
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Tools 4 Hire rents construction equipment such as bulldozers, excavators, loaders, tractors, and generators. The company wanted to improve its productivity through better management of its equipment assets, and needed a solution that could monitor location and usage while the equipment was being rented.
Machine-to-machine technology has an enormous impact on Tools 4 Hire’s business model, enabling it to accelerate billing via realtime usage monitoring for monthly or weekly billing rather than waiting until the equipment is returned. It also enables improved asset-performance management through accurately determining per-day usage and triggering maintenance based on monitored usage rather than when an asset unexpectedly fails.
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Asset Tracking
Silver
The New Jersey State Police Dept. (NJSP)
Edison, N.J.
www.njsp.org
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The New Jersey State Police Dept. (NJSP) is using M2M for an innovative application that helps it track stolen goods and criminal suspects. Using a combination of GPS (global positioning system) and cellular communications, NJSP officers can keep a safe distance and still move in with precision to disrupt a crime in progress, make arrests, and recover stolen goods.
The system works in a few circumstances. First, it can enhance surveillance involving a cooperating informant, such as when the informant accompanies suspects during the commission of a crime. Second, M2M lets NJSP follow a suspect by affixing a tracking device to a target’s vehicle or person. Third, rather than have detectives sit and watch for a targeted vehicle to move, a fence can be set up using GPS technology.
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Asset Tracking
Bronze
Volkswagen Brazil
So Paulo, Brazil
www.vw.com.br
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Volkswagen Brazil is the most popular car manufacturer in the South American nation. However, theft and lack of recovery of Volkswagen Golf and Parati vehicles is so pervasive in the country that insurance costs have skyrocketed. To find a solution, the company enlisted an M2M technology solution that uses GPS (global positioning system) and cellular communications.
So far, the vehicle location and recovery solution has shown a 100% recovery rate, which translates into a business case so strong that Volkswagen and the national insurance companies will pay for the cost of the locator hardware and the first year of location services, which provides the respective car owners with up to 40% discounts on their car insurance premiums.
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Energy Services
Gold
Ampla Energia e Servicos
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
www.ampla.com
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Ampla Energia e Servicos is an energy-distribution company, and is using machine-to-machine technology to help prevent energy theft. Theft occurs in three different ways: for residential clients, energy is stolen through illegal connections or bypassing a meter; for corporate clients, theft occurs through energy meter fraud or through meter reading process fraud, which includes bribery of the meter reader.
M2M helps reduce energy theft by creating wireless communication between meters and Ampla’s operations center. The system results in a revenue increase due to fraudulent customers paying, and also introducing peak/off-peak billing.
Genscape Inc. provides an information delivery system to utilities, distributors, regulators, power marketers, and other energy market participants. The company is responsible for keeping energy companies informed about power supply. M2M is a key enabler for such a data-intense business model, and the company is a clear thought leader in the space.
By using M2M to deliver information to utilities, Genscape can help its clients develop short-term strategies and optimization based on supply data, minimizing risk associated with fluctuations in the power-grid supply. Data is acquired through a remote-monitoring device that measures electromagnetic fields surround transmission lines, which is used to calculate output.
Vulcain Inc. makes health and environmental protection devices, such as sensing technology for refrigerants and electromechanical sensors used in buildings. The company is a very aggressive adopter of M2M technology, using the electromagnetic sensors to create a gas-detection system that can be custom designed to meet the specifics needs of an equipment owner.
Since Vulcain sells to building owners, system integrators, and installers, its system needs to be extremely flexible and configurable. For this, the company is using an M2M system that allows for configuration through a Web browser. The result is a solution that can work as part of an integrated system or as a standalone solution designed specifically for an end user.
The Chicago Transit Authority operates the second-largest public transportation system in the U.S., including a fleet of approximately 2,000 buses and 1,200 transit cars. The agency knows remote-data acquisition and vehicle monitoring are crucial to its business.
The CTA previously used a wired telemetry system for transmitting data from devices located at railroad tracks, and recently upgraded to a cellular wireless system. The move to wireless creates enormous benefits and opportunities for the agency, beginning with the reduced cost of not having to incur the cost of wired network installations. The CTA is also using M2M for monitoring its fleet of police vehicles using a similar technology infrastructure.
Big Eagle Oil is an oil-well servicing company that serves western Canada. The company maintains a very large fleet of hydro-vac, vacuum, water, and steam trucks, making fleet management an extremely important part of its business. With the fleet nearing 300 vehicles, Big Eagle turned to M2M in order to monitor the activity and use of its assets.
Today, Big Eagle is using a custom M2M solution that integrates GPS (global positioning system) and cellular technology for capturing specific vehicle equipment conditions and requirements. By setting the capture frequency to every five seconds, the company can see equipment function in realtime and respond immediately to manage events as they occur.
GE Industrial manufactures home appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines. The division operates a fleet of more than 1,200 service vehicles and responds to more than 10,000 calls daily. To manage its fleet, GE Industrial uses an M2M solution that combines GPS and cellular connectivity.
After deployment, GE was able to consolidate dispatch centers from 17 to two, improved customer service ratings by 3%, and increased productivity by 16%. In all, the company estimates the improvements have resulted in a total cost savings of $14 million.
Lindsay Manufacturing Co. is a provider of irrigation systems, including pivots and lateral-move systems. The industry is ripe for M2M technology, and Lindsay is one of the sector’s most advanced adopters. The company uses a wireless remote-management system that helps farmers reduce maintenance costs and improve control.
In the process of adding M2M capability, Lindsay is also adding value to its products and providing significant business value to its customers. In 2005 alone, nearly 2,000 of the remote-monitoring devices were sold, which exceeded expectations and showed there is a viable market for the technology and a need for M2M in the industry.
Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. is a manufacturer of paperboard and paper-based packaging materials with annual revenue exceeding $8 billion. To stay at the top of its industry and provide optimal customer service, maintaining top machine performance is critical for Smurfit-Stone, so the company implemented an M2M system that helps maintain OEE (operational equipment effectiveness).
Smurfit-Stone’s M2M solution enables the OEE to be calculated automatically and the information to be accessible via a Web browser. For the manufacturer, the end result is greater production efficiencies for certain products, driving up output and adding value to the machines.
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OEM Services
Bronze
DEWALT Industrial Tool Co.
Baltimore, Md.
www.dewalt.com
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DEWALT Industrial Tool Co. makes more than 300 power tools and 800 accessories, and has one of the most respected brands in its industry. However, product value has a price—the manufacturer conducted a survey and found that 77% of construction professionals had experienced jobsite theft up to five times each year. To address the rampant theft of its products from the jobsite, DEWALT introduced a wireless alarm system using M2M technology.
The portable system monitors equipment, areas on the jobsite, or storage buildings. It includes a portable base unit, which is stationed in an indoor location that interacts with five different types of wireless sensors. By introducing the alarm system, DEWALT adds value to its products and provides a valuable service to its customers.
The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command serve as the Marine Corps’ principal agent for acquisition of systems and equipment. The MCSC is using portable deployability kits, which are made up of rugged handhelds and laptops, a satellite modem with GPS (global positioning system), portable readers, a barcode reader, and portable printers.
Among other applications, the kits are being used for improving asset visibility, particularly at the last tactical mile after equipment and supplies are delivered. The system lets logisticians locate, order, and transport the right supply-chain asset to the right area of operation.
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Supply-Chain Management
Silver
Air Products and Chemicals Inc.
Chicago, Ill.
www.airproducts.com
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Air Products and Chemicals Inc. is one of the world’s largest industrial gas and chemical companies, with more than $8 billion in annual revenue. The company is known as a very influential adopter of information technology, and it has made bold moves with M2M as well. The company began using machine-to-machine in 1993, and has expanded its deployment ever since.
Air Products’ M2M initiatives cover a broad range of businesses within the company. Particularly impressive is its supply-chain management initiative for chemicals and fuels. The solution remotely gathers tank-level data from customer sites and integrates the data to show usage patterns and forecasting metrics, creating an automatic reorder point. The system improves service levels and reduces stock-out occurrences.
Foodliner ranks among the largest carriers in the bulk-food industry, and has found a way to take fleet management to the next level and improve the supply chain. Foodliner’s M2M system manages to improve customer service by providing shipment updates to customers without forcing drivers to stop and take time away from their driving to call in with status reports.
The company also notifies shippers and receivers automatically when a truck crosses a geographical electronic fence around particular locations. This feature helps Foodliner arrival and departure times so they can enforce detention charges that had previously been disputed by some of the company’s customers.
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Government
Gold
The California Dept. of Transportation
Sacramento, Calif.
www.dot.ca.gov
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The California Dept. of Transportation is the first of the three finalists in this category. The California DOT, or Caltrans for short, is using M2M to gather data about traffic congestion on California highways, helping it better manage congestion and understand the maintenance requirements of the road.
The system uses “traffic cabinets” installed along the side of freeways that monitor traffic volume and flow. The system can trigger messages on road signs to indicate congestion to commuters, and the data is also archived for highway studies. For Caltrans, the M2M system is extremely valuable, providing both immediate and future opportunities for improving the state’s transportation system.
The City of Frankfort, Ky. is hardly a newbie to the world of machine-to-machine. The city’s municipal wastewater utility has used a remote-monitoring system for its pump stations for more than 20 years, but the system was becoming outdated and unreliable. As a result, the utility decided to upgrade to a hosted solution using the latest M2M communications capability.
The system has substantially improved the reliability, quality, and quantity of operational data and alarm information, yet it actually costs less than the leased phone lines it replaced. The system has reduced response time to equipment failure and improved safeguards for protecting the environment as well as public health and safety.
The City of Palo Alto, Calif., www.cityofpaloalto.org, is the third finalist in the Government category. The CPAU (City of Palo Alto Utilities) turned to M2M for a more effective system of reading electrical meters via a dialup modem, and also to add remote meter reading capabilities for gas and water meters.
After conducting a trial at City Hall, CPAU successfully piloted a new channel of data communications. The utility believes it can potentially eliminate common meter-reporting issues that are due to communications errors and problems with phone lines. It also creates timely access to data consumption, improving customer participating in the process.
Respironics Inc. is a medical-device manufacturer with nearly $1 billion in annual revenue, specializing in ventilators and respirators. Recently, the company began using M2M technology for a new maintenance and repair service named Respi-Link. It allows Respironics’ customers to receive remote-software upgrades and options on a schedule they choose.
With the remote-diagnostics and repair capabilities, fewer onsite visits are required. This not only saves the company money, but it also allows the field-service specialists to turn their attention to providing customers with more critical support such as training, repair, and troubleshooting. The service has also enabled Respironics to create a new “first responder” service agreement that gives customers more flexibility in resolving issues on their own.
Omnicell Inc. plays a vital role in the medical-surgical supply chain, providing systems for physician-order management, automated pharmacy retrieval, medication packaging, medication dispensing, and nursing-workflow automation.
Using M2M technology, Omnicell branded a remote-monitoring solution named vDirector, which facilitates automated event reporting, connectivity, and management of system uptime. Nearly 300 hospitals have already deployed the full-production solution, which has resulted in improved support and equipment uptime. Using vDirector, Omnicell monitors its customers’ system performance in realtime and diagnoses and repairs problems as they are discovered.
LifeScan Inc. manufactures blood-glucose monitoring systems for home and hospital use. The company needed the ability to wirelessly connect its meters to manage and report data from various locations within a hospital. Since the devices are battery powered, they also required the ability to power down between each testing to preserve battery life for the large power draw required by the 802.11 wireless local-area networking.
LifeScan’s M2M solution handles the transfer of blood-glucose data between the point of care and the central laboratory information systems. The solution also provides hospitals with the ability to do more with the data and the flexibility to customize glucose testing for individual locations.
Praxair Inc. has one of the more complicated supply chains in all of manufacturing. It supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, and argon to industries such as food and beverage, healthcare, and semiconductor manufacturing. To have an effective distribution system, Praxair needs to link tank-measurement data with its logistics systems, creating the need for a Web-based monitoring system using M2M.
Praxair’s M2M deployment combines smart sensors with cellular communications capability. It plays a vital role in avoiding customer tank outages, and in the process dramatically reduces the logging of thousands of miles from unnecessary bulk product deliveries.
Sidel SAS manufactures blow-molding machines for polyethylene bottles and has more than $1 billion in annual revenue. The company sells to companies in the packaging industry and does business in more than 100 countries, which makes servicing its equipment in the field extremely challenging.
Sidel implemented a remote-service platform using M2M technology that helps it provide remote diagnostics of its equipment at customer sites, helping deliver high product performance and creating new revenue streams for the manufacturer. The system handles machines in many different countries, and also includes legacy equipment without Internet protocols-based communications capability.
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Manufacturing
Bronze
Phelps Dodge Mining Co.
Phoenix, Ariz.
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Phelps Dodge Mining Co. is using M2M technology to collect mining data remotely so mine personnel doesn’t have to be put in potentially dangerous situations. The system employs wireless sensor networking technology to alleviate the difficulty of transmitting radio-frequency signals in harsh environments.
The main purpose of collecting the data is to alert the company to problems with mining equipment. The mining industry is very capital intensive, so downtime can costs thousands of dollars a minute. Phelps operates some of the largest mines in the world, and its use of M2M helps reduce equipment downtime and helps ensure safety.
The Kingston Ambassador Conference Resort has 251 guestrooms and eight Coca-Cola vending machines. The resort is known for being an early adopter of technology; for instance, it was the first in Canada for room key card vending, and says it is the first in the world for wireless cashless vending with both room key card and cellphone via wireless local-area network and the Internet.
The cashless vending machines technology trial began in March 2005 and finished four months later, and has continued with it ever since. Ambassador guests can either swipe their hotel room key card through the vending machine’s card reader or use their mobile phone to make a purchase directly. The Ambassador says the trial was a resounding success, resulting in an increase in sales, no instances of attempted vandalism to the machines, and most importantly, an improved guest experience.
Food Lion LLC is a grocery store chain with more than 1,000 stores, and energy is the company’s second-largest expense behind labor. As a result, energy conservation is an enormous priority for Food Lion, and that’s why the company is using M2M technology for monitoring its consumption.
The system lets Food Lion track energy usage in every area of its stores, with an average of 17 energy loads per store being monitored, such as HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), refrigeration, lighting, and deli/bakery. Each load is monitored in 15-minute intervals, and that information is then normalized and reported to Food Lion for review each week. Without the M2M system in place, the company’s energy analysis would be limited to the information provided on each store’s monthly utility bill.
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Utilities
Gold
The Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power
Los Angeles, Calif.
www.ladwp.com
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The Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power (LADWP) the largest municipal utility in the U.S., wanted an AMR (automated meter reading) system that would not only handle the traditional responsibilities of the technology, but also add new services it could offer to customers, such as power-quality monitoring, power-outage and restoration notification, and hourly pricing to its 1,000 largest commercial and industrial customers.
The system is easily one of the most advanced AMR deployments to-date. It has nearly 9,000 smart meters that have resulted in a 5% reduction in total consumption. The system has also led to a reduction in peak demand by 240 Megawatts, which frees enough energy for an additional 240,000 homes. Additionally, the system is estimated to reduce electricity bills for customers using the technology by 15%.
Norse Pipeline LLC owns and operates a 320-mile system of high-pressured steel pipeline spanning 2.1 million acres in western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. The company delivers gas to interstate pipelines and to points of local distribution. In 2004, Norse Pipeline began researching an improved automation solution for capturing meter data, and turned to an M2M solution that has enabled it to deploy across its entire network of gas meters.
Since deploying M2M, the company says it has realized an immediate and significant improvement in operational efficiency and timesavings. Today, approximately 100 metered locations are operational, and the meter reads are flawless, resulting in 100% uptime. They are read every 15 minutes rather than once a day in Norse’s previous system, and the system has helped reduce monthly costs by $8,750.
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Utilities
Bronze
Northeast Utilities
Hartford, Conn.
www.nu.com
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Northeast Utilities is the largest utility in New England and supplies power to more than 1.9 million customers. The company also controls and administers electronic transmission grid access.
Using M2M technology, Northeast Utilities implemented a Web-based energy use data acquisition and reporting solution. Usage data can be collected from any customer location every five minutes, using nearly any type of meter. The data can be transported using a variety of networking technologies, and the end result is the ability to not only measure and verify demand response, but also have timely usage data and analytical tools to monitor and manage electricity consumption.