In today’s market, especially across Europe, renting machinery rather than purchasing it is becoming increasingly popular. Despite poor reports in 2023, the industry is expected to grow in 2024 and 2025. No wonder—this helps companies minimize capital costs, improve resource management, and stay current with the latest technology. The demand for rental services is rising in construction, agriculture, mining, and logistics, underscoring the need for operational efficiency and flexibility.
B'Smart isn't new to this field. Founded in Switzerland a decade ago, the company specializes in empowering equipment rental firms by digitalizing fleet management. Their IoT and telematics solutions are now used in over eight countries worldwide, serving as a solid foundation for real-time tracking, remote diagnostics, and predictive maintenance. Importantly, their services can be integrated seamlessly with existing ERP systems, providing essential data-driven insights to optimize equipment usage and reduce downtime.
In industries like construction and mining, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. You can extend equipment lifespan, cut maintenance costs, boost asset utilization, and enhance operational efficiency. Specializing in mid- to large-scale rentals, B'Smart delivers on this by offering swift deployment with minimal disruption, leading to average cost reductions of 15-20% and productivity boosts of 25-30% within the first year. ...So, what's the story behind it?
Challenge
Building such a sophisticated software solution needed to be swift, seamlessly integrated, and provide reliability, data security, and flexibility at every level. The team were on the lookout for ways to improve and outpace the competition, so low-cost data processing and global platform visibility were also key factors in their decision.
Solution
That was a combination of cards—from setting up channels to managing the data stored and flowing, and configuring devices via REST calls. With this connecting devices in bulk is a breeze, and splitting them into groups simplifies control based on the task.
Another key feature was the use of plugins that enhanced data with LBS geolocation and reverse geocoding. The list of IoT platforms supported and utilizing streams significantly speeded up the build. Direct communication between developers also reduced the time needed and allowed for adjustments during active work. This setup let the team focus on developing the front end while leaving the behind-the-scenes integration to flespi. Plus, cost predictability is easy to calculate and opens up opportunities for future scaling.
Of course, development didn’t take just a day or two, but now B'Smart tackles a variety of projects for heavy and light machinery. For instance, they’re currently working on a project involving 16 trailers used for track repairs.
These massive vehicles are equipped with both regular and train wheels and feature a TPMS system for monitoring tire pressure and temperature, communicating via CAN OPEN and J1939. We believe this is another great use case for the Success Stories section on your site, guys!
Feedback
"The overall experience is excellent; flespi has become a crucial partner in deploying our state-of-the-art solutions." / Javier Escalante, CTO/CEO at B'Smart.