One single device for a whole range of Industrial IoT solutions

Predictive maintenance, asset and people tracking, cold chain monitoring or in-plant fleet management: The Indian Startup SenseGiz Technologies, which is part of 5-HT’s digital ecosystem, has developed a small sensor device called COIN that is able to deliver the necessary data for all these Industrial IoT solutions. In the current pandemic situation, SenseGiz also supports offices and factories with a social distancing and contact tracing solution. In this interview, Rahul Kednurkar, Head of Business Development, talks about the key applications for chemical and pharma industry and about SenseGiz’s plans to enter the European market.

What does SenseGiz do?

At SenseGiz, we develop Industrial IoT products for various applications like sensor-based condition monitoring, predictive analysis, real-time asset and people tracking, and in-plant fleet analysis. We design, develop and manufacture all our software and hardware in India, but we also have offices in the US, in Japan and South Africa. Up to now, there have been 60+ deployments of our solutions in different use cases.

What is the technology behind your solutions?

At the core of our solutions, there is a network of tiny, low-cost sensor nodes which are called COINs. These COINs are able to collect data on temperature, vibration, humidity, and motion. Since they are connected in a mesh network, they choose the shortest path to transfer their data to a gateway which then delivers it to the cloud. The algorithms behind the SenseGiz platform analyze the data, display the information, and enable our customers to draw valuable conclusions. The users can also be notified via e-mail or SMS as soon as certain thresholds are crossed.

Who are your customers?

Our customers are mainly from manufacturing, automotive, chemical and pharma industry, but supply chain and logistics companies are also important for us. Furthermore, we have worked together with several system integrators. So far, we have had customers in India, Japan, the US and South Africa.

How can especially companies from chemical and pharma industry benefit from using SenseGiz solutions?

For the chemical industry, we can monitor temperature and humidity in critical areas. We have already deployed these solutions in several chemical refineries in India. Furthermore, we offer predictive analysis of mechanical equipment. With a machine learning algorithm, our sensor device learns the pattern in which a machine is running and sends an alert notification to the admin if there are unusual vibrations or any other anomalies. This solution has been deployed and validated with many customers in India and overseas.

For pharma companies, the precise monitoring of temperature and humidity is also a crucial point. With our sensors, we enable our customers to monitor temperature and humidity with very high accuracy. Moreover, we offer asset tracking solutions to let our customers know which of their items are stored at which particular locations. When it comes to supply chain management, we provide cold chain monitoring solutions to detect anomalies in temperature, humidity, motion, and vibration during the transport of goods. This way, we make sure that the quality of sensitive products is not impaired.

What sets you apart from other Industrial IoT solutions on the market?

Other companies usually deploy different hardware for different use cases. With SenseGiz, one single COIN can do temperature and humidity monitoring, predictive analysis and tracking all in one. Since our solutions are based on a proprietary mesh network, there are many possible paths between the nodes. If one connection breaks down, the data is simply transferred via another connection. This makes the system very efficient and reliable. Furthermore, we place high value on data security, with two-factor authentication, encrypted data and all necessary security certifications.

What is the story behind the foundation of SenseGiz?

This is actually a funny story. SenseGiz was started by our CEO Abhishek Latte. Back in 2012, when he was riding the subway and was busy talking on the phone, somebody thought his luggage was unattended and gave it to the lost and found department. This is how he came up with the idea to track bags via smartphone. In 2014, we released our first product called FIND, a B2C product to track valuable assets. By 2016, SenseGiz was an established brand in the IoT market, and we developed and commercialized our second product SAFR, a fitness and safety tracking wristband specifically designed for elderly people. In 2017, we entered the B2B segment by adding sensors to our tracking device and connecting several of these COINs in a mesh network. Today, we are entirely focused on this product which can be applied in various industries.

What are the next milestones for SenseGiz?

We are continuously working together with existing and new customers to deploy our solutions in different environments. At the moment, we are concentrating on our new solution for social distancing and contact tracing which we developed to enable safe business re-opening in times of COVID-19. Furthermore, we are also looking forward to entering the European market.

How do you help companies deal with the current pandemic situation?

When COVID-19 came up, we had already developed our asset and people tracking solution. During the lockdown time, we asked ourselves how we could use this solution to support the industry in this pandemic situation. This is how we came up with our new solution for social distancing and contact tracing which is feasible for factory and office environments. Tracking wearables and COINs help to identify the accurate location of employees. If two people are not following social distancing norms or if there are more people than allowed in a room, the system triggers an alert. In case an employee is tested positive, the admin receives a report telling him which locations this employee has visited and with whom he has been in contact over the last two weeks. This way, the company can take specific measures instead of shutting down the whole factory. We have already deployed this solution in India and in the UK, and we currently experience that a lot of companies are interested in this new product.

How can 5-HT help you to enter the German and European market?

Now that we already have offices in India, Japan, the US and South Africa, we are eager to start our business in Europe and especially in Germany. We would be happy to be connected to potential customers from your network. Since we already have deployments with large companies around the world, we are ready to replicate our validated solutions in the German chemical and pharma industry. However, we are also interested to get to know other startups from your network. Perhaps we can join forces and build a cooperation to provide Industrial IoT solutions to German and European customers.