German scaffolding maker Peri is using IoT technology from Deutsche Telekom to locate and manage formwork anywhere.

Digital technology is catching on at construction sites. Peri, a manufacturer of formwork and scaffolding, is supplementing its digital offering with IoT technology from Deutsche Telekom.

The formwork is equipped with a tracker. Deutsche Telekom and Syfit supply the digitally recorded data to Peri. In this way, the formwork can be located anywhere and managed digitally.

On a construction site, formwork serves as surrounds for the concrete that will later form the building wall. Coordinating formwork for construction sites can be difficult: it is erected according to requirements, filled with flowing concrete, dismantled again after the concrete has hardened and used elsewhere.

Until now, Peri recorded and processed these data in a cumbersome way via a human-machine interface. In the future, the management of the formwork will be largely fully automated via IoT technology from German software company Syfit and Deutsche Telekom.

In accordance with the harsh conditions of a construction site, the tracker is shockproof, waterproof and resistant to chemical substances. Shutterings on the construction or storage sites can be found by the digital technology with up to one metre accuracy.

Syfit uses Bluetooth Low Energy for this. The device from the telecom partner retrieves its tracking data via existing wifi networks on the construction sites, for example. If the formwork is shipped over further distances, Deutsche Telekom’s low-cost tracker predicts the delivery time or sends the storage location.

In addition to NB-IoT, Deutsche Telekom’s LTE-M and 2G networks are also used. Depending on the application, the data are stored in Deutsche Telekom’s Open Telekom Cloud and the Aye-OT-Box of Syfit. Peri accesses this via a service interface and administers the data on a customer-specific basis.

Peri sells and rents formwork. The tracking system simplifies inventory and warehouse management. Due to the better overview of free resources and their locations, deliveries can be coordinated more easily. Even delivery routes are shortened to some extent. In addition, it helps protect against theft.

“Finding components in the construction yards, on the transport routes and across construction sites is difficult and is like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said Wolfgang Span, responsible for digital technology at Peri. “Our goal was to solve this problem. Right from the start, we were convinced by the comprehensive and coherent concept, which we were able to tailor and optimise even better to our products through targeted further development measures. The almost collegial, cross-company collaboration has led us to a result that we can offer our customers without reservations.”

Dennis Nikles, CEO of Deutsche Telekom IoT, added: “Digitisation in companies can often start on a small scale and still have an enormous impact. Peri is the best example of this. By combining two tracking solutions on our NB-IoT machine and sensor network, Peri is sustainably improving its service to its end customers and can thus achieve a significant competitive advantage.”