Putzmeister brings movement to special vehicle construction – with IoT tracking from SmartMakers

How a medium-sized global market leader saves 1,200 hours of search time per year – laying the foundation for automated manufacturing.

The construction of a concrete pump begins with a truck chassis – and a very simple question: Where is the chassis right now? What sounds trivial was a real problem for Putzmeister for a long time. On the sprawling factory premises in Aichtal, carrier vehicles regularly got 'lost'. The result: delays, idle times, manual searches, and stalled processes. But that's over now.

Searching for the right truck chassis on Putzmeister's large factory premises took a lot of time before our solution was implemented. The chassis are visually indistinguishable, yet a specific carrier vehicle is always needed for the custom order.

From search problem to smart production

After a particularly laborious inventory, Putzmeister pulled the plug. 'The inventory was a disaster,' recalls Jannik Wörn, Operations Excellence Engineer at Putzmeister. 'We knew: We need a system that gives us back the overview.'

The solution came from SmartMakers: The IoT platform thingsHub now makes every carrier vehicle on the premises visible in real-time. Equipped with small Trackers, the chassis continuously send location data to the platform. There, they are visualized on a digital map – transparent, reliable, and understandable at a glance.

Transparency that works

What sounds simple has an enormous impact in practice: Putzmeister was able to reduce the search effort by over 1,000 hours per year. Processes became noticeably more stable, availabilities can now be reliably planned, and bottlenecks identified early. The newly gained overview pays off especially in final assembly.

'In the past, much was based on gut feeling – today, it's reliable data,' explains Wörn. Team communication has also changed: 'Instead of follow-up questions and discussions, we now have an objective information base.'

By using the SmartMakers solution, employees can quickly and easily locate the right truck chassis via app on their mobile device. This significantly reduces the search effort.

IoT meets production reality

The implementation was surprisingly straightforward: thingsHub operates without complex infrastructure and can be run independently of existing IT systems. This makes the solution particularly attractive for industrial environments – especially where digitization does not start from scratch but must be integrated into ongoing operations.

But it won't stop at mere location tracking. Putzmeister is already planning the next steps: tool and forklift tracking, integrating load carrier-bound material flow, and prospectively also the connection to the ERP system. The goal: A consistently digital, automated production based on robust real-time data.

A model for the industry

Special vehicle construction is complex, individual, and often difficult to plan. The Putzmeister example impressively shows how smart IoT technology can solve concrete problems – and pave the way for greater changes. Knowing where your assets are allows for more efficient work, better resource utilization, and lays the foundation for future-proof manufacturing.

SmartMakers provides the platform for this. Putzmeister uses it as a springboard.

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