Keeping load carriers in sight: Dietzel Univolt relies on IoT tracking from Sensolus

Dietzel Univolt produces millions of meters of cable protection conduit each year at three sites – in Vienna, Pezinok (SK) and Dongguan (CN). The products are shipped on large steel drums measuring up to 2.8 meters in diameter. These load carriers are expensive – each one costs more than 1,500 euros and is therefore worth close to the goods it carries.

Over the years, however, many of these drums were lost on construction sites. They remained there after projects were completed, were moved elsewhere, or simply forgotten. Without systematic tracking, the company lacked an overview of when and where drums could be retrieved. As a result, effort and replacement costs increased.

The search for a suitable solution led Dietzel Univolt to Sensolus. The Belgian company offers battery-powered IoT trackers suitable even for non-powered assets – robust, durable and with a battery life of up to ten years.

“Sensolus convinced us with a well-designed solution that fits our requirements precisely – robust, durable and easy to use,” says Norbert Sivel, Head of Logistics at Dietzel Univolt.

The trackers are mounted inside the steel drums, protected from friction, sunlight and weather. They regularly transmit position data via NB-IoT and are linked to the cloudbased Sensolus platform, which the logistics team can access directly.

After a short test phase, Dietzel Univolt launched the rollout in early 2025. A few trackers were first tested by the field-service team to see how the solution performed in daily operations. Afterwards, all new drums were gradually equipped. Today, more than 100 trackers are active, with more added for every newly delivered drum.

The system automatically reports when a tracker has been outside a defined geozone for more than a month – a clear signal for the sales department to check whether a drum has remained stationary and needs to be retrieved. This enables faster coordination of returns and helps prevent losses.

The effect was immediate: the logistics team now always knows where its load carriers are located and can plan disposition and retrieval more efficiently. Search times and new purchases have dropped significantly. “Had we introduced the system earlier, we could have saved a considerable amount in investments,” says Sivel in retrospect.

In addition to cost savings, internal processes have also improved: greater transparency between the Vienna and Slovak sites, clearly defined responsibilities and a semi-automated flow of information via email notifications to the sales team have made daily work easier.

Currently, Dietzel Univolt uses the Sensolus platform independently; integration into the company’s SAP system is not planned at this stage. For day-to-day operations, however, the platform is fully sufficient – intuitive, reliable and requiring only a few user accounts. “For our purposes, the system is ideal – clearly structured, self-explanatory and precisely tailored to what we need,” says Sivel.

The project was implemented in close cooperation with 7iD Technologies, the Austrian system integrator and Sensolus sales partner. The company has many years of expertise in RFID, BLE and tracking technologies, developing tailor-made solutions for industry and logistics.

“We appreciate the short decision paths and direct communication with Sensolus – it makes joint projects efficient and pleasant for everyone involved,” says Gerhard Gangl, Managing Director of 7iD Technologies.

The collaboration on the Dietzel Univolt project also ran smoothly – from installation training to user onboarding on the platform. Today, the tracking system is firmly anchored in everyday operations. New drums are equipped with trackers as standard, and the project remains open for future expansion – for example through additional sensor functions offered by Sensolus.