How LOTAMS tracks 600+ GSE units across 72 countries and saves 2 hours daily

LOTAMS is a company that operates in a demanding, highly dynamic and process complex environment. Maintaining narrow-body and wide-body aircraft for three of Europe’s largest and four of the world’s largest airlines on the tarmac of the country’s largest airport, where an average of one new flight is scheduled every four minutes, is a major logistical challenge.

As a leader in the Polish MRO (Maintenance Repair and Overhaul) market, LOTAMS is distinguished by its staff of outstanding professionals (engineers, mechanics, aircraft engineers, designers), its own infrastructure – with almost 20,000 m² of hangar space – and services whose high quality is appreciated by airlines from several continents.

The efficient service provided by the excellent LOTAMS specialists requires specialised equipment, the fleet of which consists of more than 1,200 units spread over an area of more than 100,000 m2.  And sometimes beyond the borders of this designated area, as LOTAMS maintenance services can be provided worldwide.

Accurately locating equipment on the tarmac of the country’s largest airport is only part of the challenge LOTAMS presented to Sigfox Poland.  Inside the airport, LOTAMS has over 20,000 square metres of hangar space, which had to be divided into clearly defined zones using GeoBeacon wireless markers to facilitate the location of individual fleet devices within the hangars. This accuracy saves time and money.

Fast, error-free, real-time asset location is critical to the efficiency of our processes. At Chopin Airport, an operation takes place every four minutes, so our equipment can change location several times in an hour. Operating in such a dynamic environment with many security procedures, we need to know exactly what is happening with our equipment. Who, when and what is being transported, how the various pieces of equipment are being used and where they are being left. And all of this within a defined area of around 100,000 m2 and beyond. It is not unusual for our equipment and experts to be flown to the other side of the world to get the job done. – says Agnieszka Michalak from LOTAMS’ Special Projects Department, adding: LOTAMS’ motto is: We take care of every detail, even the smallest! The Sigfox solution helps us do that!

Before we implemented the Sigfox solution, my people were spending up to two hours a day searching for the equipment they needed. Now, using a mobile phone application, we can locate the equipment we need and plan the best route to transport it within seconds. We get the job done faster and leave a smaller carbon footprint,” said Grzegorz Strąk, Head of the Transport Department at LOTAMS.

In accordance with the customer’s requirements, special alerts have been defined in the Sensolus platform, which is used to monitor the location of fleet equipment on a daily basis. Thus, if a piece of equipment is not used for too long, has an invalid inspection, leaves certain zones or is left outside the designated area, the appointed users of the system receive a notification allowing them to quickly check the situation and resolve the possible problem. The speed of the information flow is crucial.

We have added an alert function to our equipment tracking solution so that customers such as LOTAMS can manage their GSE fleet with consideration and visibility of non-standard situations. Our priority is to give peace of mind to the users of our platform. They can rest assured that if something goes wrong, they will be notified. We are very happy to integrate with the Sigfox solution and look forward to being part of the added value.  – Stéphane Pâris from Sensolus.

Before the system was introduced, there were stories circulating among the mechanics about unauthorised loans of equipment from other companies operating at the airport. Now that our equipment is monitored, we can be sure that such situations do not occur. – says Marcin Gucejma, adding: In exceptional situations, we can now accurately reconstruct the history of equipment use. In the event of damage to equipment, whether our own or that of another company operating in the same area, or in the event of an accident involving our fleet, we can determine exactly how and when the incident occurred and who was involved. This limits our losses and makes our work in such a dynamic and diverse environment much easier.

A specific set of Sigfox trackers from Sensolus also have the ability to automatically shut down during flight and restart after landing, in accordance with IATA (International Air Transport Association) guidelines, making air transport of assets completely safe and allowing the location of fleet devices to be monitored worldwide. The 0G network is available in more than 70 countries and covers more than a billion people, allowing devices to transmit data anywhere, anytime.

Compliance with the IATA guidelines is crucial to the development and implementation of IoT solutions for many industries. It means that devices equipped with our trackers can move freely, including intermodal transport, and we can provide customers with information about their location or the transport conditions of their cargo. – said Michał Kowalski, Partner at Sigfox Poland, adding: Implementing IoT solutions for LOTAMS was a challenge for us. There were many variables to take into account: the requirement not to build any infrastructure inside the airport, incredible precision in defining the zones inside the hangar area, but also security issues that the solution we provided had to meet. We never doubted for a moment that the solution we were offering was the best on the market and would deliver tangible results for LOTAMS. Less than a year after the pilot, we are talking about the development of the system, the implementation of further functions and we are hearing about the measurable savings that our implementation has brought. This is the best recommendation and indicator of success.

For the end user: for our mechanics, service technicians and transport department employees, the ease of use of the Sigfox system, the long battery life, the maintenance-free operation and, above all, the time saved in locating equipment, which enables them to carry out their tasks more quickly and with less stress, are the benefits of the IoT implementation that they experience on a daily basis. After a period of 12 months, LOTAMS managers also see the translation of these daily benefits into other indicators, which is why we want to talk about the development of the system, said Agnieszka Michalak from the Special Projects Section of LOTAMS.