Keeping track of work equipment at construction sites can become a major challenge when you have an entire fleet of vehicles and technology in use. Anyone who works with industrial or construction equipment understands this. A sudden mechanical breakdown can ultimately bring major downtime and significant financial losses.
Advancing technology enables situations like this to become less common. What's making it happen is a more connected world, namely The Internet of Things.
A company called eTrack Tech took IoT and applied it as a better monitoring system for work equipment. Led by CEO Barbara Timm-Brock, the company is a graduate of our San Francisco Founder Institute.
Take a look at what they do and how bright their future looks in their industry.
eTrack Tech's Spotlight at Disrupt Berlin
This month, eTrack Tech managed to become a finalist at TechCrunch's Disrupt Berlin's Startup Battlefield Competition. It's a significant development for the company considering they only began earlier this year. Plus, TechCrunch's event selects only fifteen finalists, making this a very prestigious designation.
As Barbara Timm-Brock notes about this new spotlight:
We are excited to debut eTrack and launch our forklift solution at TechCrunch Startup Battlefield at Disrupt Berlin, along with other disruptive startups.
Fortunately, eTrack presented at the two-day event as well, giving them an opportunity to demonstrate their IoT technology. These demonstrations took place in front of various global investors, giving the company a major shot to take themselves to the next plateau.
So how does their IoT technology work on industrial equipment? While their website is still nascent, they give a good rundown of how they prevent equipment breakdowns.
Helping Managers Focus More on Customers
The main goal of eTrack is to prevent equipment malfunctions so managers can focus on what's most important. They also note fixing broken equipment costs four to ten times more than if catching a problem early. It's a statistic holding up to scrutiny, including the cost of excessive downtime.
Using IoT technology, eTracks provide maintenance data in real-time on all equipment, no matter the industry category.
You'll be able to make the real-time data work even more effectively with the eTrack app. As a manager, you'll receive word about any equipment showing signs of failure. An alert goes out to service technicians to take care of the problem before it gets worse.
Overall, they've designed the company to help businesses of all budget levels. No more do you have to worry about paying a fortune for an IoT platform just to enjoy receiving relevant maintenance data.
Background on Barbara Timm-Brock
To get a better idea of where the idea for eTrack Tech came from, you can look to the background of the company's co-founder.
Barbara Timm-Brock has had quite an eventful past that led to her becoming an expert in IoT changing how companies use data on equipment.
TechCrunch recently did a profile and mentioned she's gone through one near-death experience and three career changes before leading to eTrack. The profile better describes what her company's IoT technology does, specifically in what the device looks like.
You can best describe it as a router with multi-functional sensors, plus easy attachment to things like generators, HVAC systems, and forklifts.
Growing up working in her dad's gunsmith shop, Barbara's exposure to working with chemicals led to her awareness of workplace safety and equipment working optimally. She parlayed this into past jobs, including working as a process engineer at Pillsbury.
The above near-death experience came from her almost dying from carbon monoxide poisoning at home as a result of a malfunctioning heating and cooling system.
The Future of eTrack Tech
Still a small company at only 1-10 employees, eTrack's exposure at the Disrupt Berlin event is already pushing them forward. They don't have considerable competition, though other companies continue designing similar systems, like Machine Monitor from C-Labs.
As real-time analytics become more valuable in all companies to stay competitive, you can expect eTrack to take off in 2018. Their attention to simplifying equipment maintenance alerts makes it all the more attractive to companies who don't want steep learning curves.
Keep reading us at Founder Institute as we profile more of our top graduates slowly changing the world with their startups.
