At Karcher, Brigitte from Vodafone is helping us to deliver innovative cleaning machines

Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtensr | Vice President, Kärcher Brigitte Maar | Account Manager, VodafoneReady Business | M2M Kärcher is defining a new level of efficiency and professionalism in the management, maintenance and control of fleets – thanks to the M2M solution and its Vodafone partner Brigitte Maar. At Kärcher, Brigitte from Vodafone is helping us to deliver innovative cleaning machines. Vodafone Power to you Prof. atthias ehrtens | Vice President IT, Kärcher Brigitte Maar | International Account Manager, VodafoneReady Business | M2M With Vodafone M2M, Kärcher can offer its customers an innovative solution for the optimisation of fleet cleaning solutions. The company Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG, based in Winnenden (Baden-Württemberg) is a leading worldwide provider of cleaning technology for private, commercial and industrial deployment. The product range of the family business founded in 1935 variously includes high-pressure cleaners, vacuum cleaners and steam cleaners, window vacs, sweepers and vacuum scrubbers, car washes, drinking water and wastewater treat- ment plants, dry ice blasters, cleaning supplies, garden and household pumps, irrigation systems and drinking water dispensers. With locations in over 60 countries, Kärcher has more than 11 000 employees in 100 companies. Over 50 000 service centres split over all countries ensure se- amless supply to customers around the world. Innovation is one of the main growth factors for the company: 90 percent of its products have been developed in the past five years or less. The cleaning equipment manufacturer employs more than 900 employees in research and development. Ever since the company‘s foundation in 1935, inno vation has been a key aspect of the company culture. The engineer and passionate inventor Alfred Kärcher examined solutions to technical problems with inexhaustible creative drive and ingenuity, while never overlooking his responsibility for the interests of his employees. Economic success and sustainable development for the company have there fore always constituted a solid unit: Kärcher makes an above-average investment in research and development, in modern production processes and in quality in the education and vocational training of its employees. Over the last 30 years, Kärcher has perfor- med over 100 cleaning tasks on historical monuments worldwide. These included the colonnade of St. Peter‘s Square in Rome, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Christ statue in Rio de Janeiro, the 3300- year old Colossi of Memnon at Luxor in Upper Egypt, and the presidents’ heads at Mount Rushmore. The cleaners always work in cooperation with preservationists, conservators and art historians. The task For the task of the professional cleaning of offices, hospitals and factory buildings, Kärcher offers sweepers, driers and much more. These devices can be ad- ministered by the customer using an extensive fleet management service known as “Kärcher Fleet”. Kärcher Fleet provides building service contractors as well as other customers with the relevant information for a seamless overview of all machinery, its present deployment and status. Fleet managers can obtain access to this information via a web based portal. It provides an overview of operating conditions, charging cycles, runtimes, deployment locations and service needs. Here, alarms, warnings and notes can be individually set and displayed. This better machine co ordi nation can signifi- cantly increase the reliability of cleaning processes, provides protection from abuse and theft and ensures increased operatio nal availability. All significant events and the state of the fleet are displayed on a clear dash- board in accordance with user rights. The local assignment of machines to opera- tional locations can be displayed on a map and the current fleet status is communi- cated via clear indicators. Kärcher Fleet transmits the data in virtual real time to smartphones or mobile applications. Reference customer Company Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG Alfred Kärcher-Straße 28-40 D-71364 Winnenden Telephone: + 49 (0) 7195 / 14-0 Email: [email protected] www.kaercher.de Sector Cleaning technology Employees 11,138 employees worldwide (as at end of 2014) Turnover 2.12 billion euros (as at end of 2014) Vodafone applications Vodafone M2M via Remote Monitoring and Control (RMCS) and the Vodafone Global M2M Platform Are you ready? Dynamic markets, globalisation and technological change generate an ever-increasing competitive pressure. Proven success formulas seem to become obsolete overnight. Even established companies have to constantly face challenges. At the same time, IT and communications technology have a whole new role to play. Companies must be able to respond to these changes quickly and with confidence. Being ready for the future means being a ‘Ready Business’. With innovative solutions, Vodafone helps companies like Kärcher to be flexible, mobile and competitive in the marketplace. With Ready Business solutions in the area of machine-to-machine communications such as Data Communications via Vodafone’s mobile network, Kärcher is already ready for the future. Become a Ready Business yourself! Ready Business | M2M Ready Business | M2M Vodafone helps us to realise an important differentiator with Kärcher Fleet. The substantial expertise of Vodafone in the M2M sector was crucial for Kärcher in deciding upon this partner. Prof. Matthias Mehrtens, Vice President Information Systems at Kärcher In addition to Kärcher machines, fleet management can also administer other manufacturers’ machines and products to a certain extent. The solution To realise its fleet management solution, Kärcher uses the Vodafone full range of M2M services. Global Vodafone SIM cards that are permanently installed in the machines transmit all relevant informa- tion such as condition, type of operation, maintenance state or the logged-in user to the Vodafone Remote Monitoring and Control (RMCS) platform. This in turn prepares the data for dis- play on customer dashboards. SIM card management, cost control and data access are performed via the the Voda- fone Global M2M Platform. Not least, this ensures that Kärcher fleet manage- ment can be offered and used in many countries. Vodafone has adapted its M2M solution package individually for Kärcher Fleet. The communication with the machines is bidirectional, so that machine settings can be made via the M2M solution if necessary. Vodafone implemented the individualisation together with Kärcher over a very short period of time. The benefits With Kärcher Fleet, the machine manu- facturer offers its customers a powerful tool with which they can view the use of their fleets of cleaning machines and have them continually monitored and optimised. With Kärcher Fleet, the utilisation of machines can be increased significantly. The improved detection of service requirements and the planning of pre- ventive maintenance can reduce machine ser vicing. At the same time, this improves the operational readiness of the equip- ment inasmuch as downtime is signifi- cantly reduced. Vodafone offers Kärcher a powerful and internationally designed M2M platform and since it provides extensive customi- sation options, Kärcher can adapt its fleet management for clients from various sectors. “Vodafone helps us to realise an im- portant differentiator with Kärcher Fleet. The substantial expertise of Vodafone in the M2M sector was crucial for Kärcher in deciding upon this partner,” says Prof. Matthias Mehrtens, Vice President Information Systems at Kärcher. Brigitte Maar, the Vodafone Account Manager responsible for Kärcher adds: “The joint solution development took place over a very short time – and led to a very convincing result.” Benefits of the solution • Differentiator for Kärcher over its competitors • Powerful and flexible M2M platform • A single source solution • Individual adaptation of the web interfaces (RMCS dashboard) depending upon customer demand • International availability and globally consistent, transparent pricing • World‘s best network coverage • Comprehensive service and support Ready Business | M2M For more information on Vodafone’s global solutions, please visit m2m.vodafone.com