Bucher Connect service platform: fleet management via Internet of Things

The Bucher Connect platform enjoys high acceptance among customers. Within a year, monthly active users increased from 300+ to 800+. Bucher Connect not only makes work processes more efficient, but also enables Bucher Municipal to transform from pure vehicle sales to new, tailor-made after-sales offerings.

Connect also actively contributes to social and environmental responsibility, as municipalities and cities can fulfill their core mission – running clean and safe cities – with maximum efficiency and resource conservation using the service platform:

• Reduction of emissions and resources: Optimized resource planning reduces energy consumption and environmental impact.
• Measurable sustainability: CO2 certification can be provided with just a few clicks, as can weekly performance reports.
• Promotion of sustainability goals and cost-optimized operation: Through real-time monitoring of energy consumption and optimization of vehicle use, the platform significantly reduces the ecological footprint of fleets.

Millions of IoT data points are transferred from the cleaning fleet vehicles to the Timeseries database, analyzed and aggregated, and then transmitted to the front end, where they are displayed in a user-friendly manner in the Bucher Connect Dashboard. Due to the diversity of hardware in Bucher Municipal vehicles – such as sweepers, flushing vehicles, and sewer cleaning vehicles – it was necessary to take into account different sensors, drive types, operating modes, etc. The sensor data collected in real time ensures optimal fleet efficiency before, during, and after cleaning work. The dashboard shows whether all vehicles are operational, whether maintenance work is due, or whether additional vehicles need to be rented during the preparation of an assignment. During the assignment, the exact location and charge status are available live, and after an assignment, detailed reports provide an overview of the routes traveled, the areas cleaned, consumption, and the fleet's carbon footprint.

The main task in developing the Bucher Connect service platform was to efficiently process and structure IoT data and create a user-friendly interface for customer-specific KPIs.

Another focus was on integrating customer requirements and, in particular, the various user roles involved into the new platform. Today, Bucher Connect enables real business relationships to be efficiently mapped digitally. All participating organizations are networked in an innovative ecosystem, and data flows between the organizations can be precisely controlled. Specific vehicle relationships ensure that each organization can only access the (operational) data that is relevant and approved for it.

Live data transmissions improve insight into vehicle status and work performance, and customers are proactively informed about fleet malfunctions or upcoming maintenance via email notifications. The ability to monitor vehicle positions and work modes in real time creates a new dimension of fleet control and optimization.

The various user groups of the Bucher Connect service platform – from workshop managers and fleet managers at Bucher customers to Bucher service teams and rental organizations – meant that complex authorization situations had to be resolved. Accordingly, data protection and data security were at the heart of development from the outset, and a comprehensive security concept was developed using threat modeling. Specific vehicle relationships now ensure that each organization can only access data that is relevant and approved for the corresponding users and roles. In addition, data access can be restricted in terms of time, which is crucial in cases such as a change of ownership or the rental of vehicles.

With its technical excellence, the Bucher Connect Service Platform sets new benchmarks in the field of IoT-based platforms:

• Powerful IoT architecture: The platform processes millions of position and performance data points every day, ensuring highly accurate data aggregation and visualization.
• Performance: Vehicle data is processed and made available in near real time. Evaluations covering longer periods can be performed in less than a second.
• Optimized data transmission on the IoT gateway through edge processing: Each vehicle produces around 1 million data points per month. Thanks to efficient and optimized data processing, only 5-10 MB per month are transmitted. Comparable solutions on the market require data volumes in the range of 1+ GB per month.
• Flexible system design: The MACH architecture enables easy expansion and integration of new functions.
• Advanced system integration: With a time series database, data can be used flexibly and seamlessly integrated into different contexts, which increases the scalability of the platform.
• Extensive analysis options: The modules used enable versatile and precise evaluation of vehicle performance. Changes in ownership over time can be taken into account, as can different license types and vehicle types.

Bucher Connect improves business processes and increases efficiency for customers and the company itself. Bucher Connect digitizes work processes and ensures smooth operations. The platform enables customers to measure and optimize their productivity – with KPIs for hours driven (transfer mode, i.e., travel to the job site) vs. effective working hours (work mode at the job site). Specific examples of customer benefits include:

• Optimized vehicle availability and reduced downtime through warnings and alarms
• Lower fuel consumption: Efficient route planning reduces fleet consumption
• Optimized customer journey: From vehicle overview to detailed reporting, users are efficiently guided through the process
• Automated customer service: Customers are proactively informed about malfunctions or upcoming maintenance via email notifications. Depending on the license, the necessary service kits are delivered directly in advance

The user experience of Bucher Connect sets new standards in user-friendliness and efficiency in the B2B sector. Every day, the platform processes millions of position data from over 4,000 vehicles in a matter of seconds and prepares it in such a way that users can immediately assess the status and deployment of individual vehicles. A consistently customer-centric design with intuitive navigation and clear structures facilitates access to important functions and provides each user with the relevant fleet data according to their needs – almost in real time. The most important advantages for users include:

• Optimized performance: Reduction of data processing time from 8 hours to near real time.
• Real-time monitoring: Vehicles are connected via IoT and continuously transmit live data. This allows detailed performance data, such as current error messages, to be viewed. Fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, and fleet performance can be evaluated on a daily and annual basis.
• Geographic overview: The integration of various map features makes it possible, for example in the event of a service call, to view the current locations of fleet vehicles and the detailed route of a job with information about working mode and utilization.
• Role-based data access: Depending on the role and vehicle relationship, data is displayed according to access rights and calculated in the report. A rented vehicle therefore only displays data for the rental period.
• Comprehensive vehicle documentation: Product documentation is where it is needed – directly at the vehicle in question, available at the click of a button.
• Overall increased productivity: Fully digital and optimized processes