Asset Security Case Study
Access Control
Remote immobilization and activation of equipment to enforce desired behaviors.
Overview
Improper, unsanctioned, and unscheduled use of equipment, machinery, and vehicles is difficult to monitor and prevent at the best of times. It is even more difficult when equipment is widely dispersed across a job site, a city, a state, a country, or even worldwide. These difficulties result in costly administrative overhead, increased risk, and expensive organizational inefficiencies.
The Problem
For Maintenance Managers, the use of physical lockouts is not always effective, efficient, or desirable.
- The use of lockouts to prevent use is excellent practice to prevent accidents, as well as use when equipment needs repairs.
- Tagout tags are the simplest and most common form of physical lockout, but susceptible to circumvention, allowing operators to keep using equipment that should be out of service causing incremental damage.
- Lockout padlocks and steering-wheel lockouts are effective, but need staff present to install them, leaving a window between equipment falling below serviceable standard, and it being locked out, when operators can continue to use equipment.
For Occupational Safety and Health Officers, ensuring that only certified/licenced operators use equipment requires constant supervision, and detailed administration.
- Details of operators’ certifications and licences are reviewed and updated centrally, while managing physical access to equipment is decentralized.
- Changes to certifications and licences as they are issued, renewed, revoked, or lapse are constant, and difficult to communicate and act on, with equipment widely dispersed.
- It is all too common for operators without the required credentials to use equipment, exposing organizations to undue contractual, insurance, occupational safety, regulatory, and reputational risks.
For Equipment Leasing/Rental Agents, the market is demanding new payment models that are impossible to facilitate without technology. Leading OEMs are already capturing market share as they shift their business models.
- Equipment-as-a-Service (EaaS), Power-by -the-Hour, Pay-per-Use, and Outcome-Based contracts, require both hardware (e.g. IoT devices), and software layers.
- Navigating the transition from traditional business models to EaaS without a partner is fraught with risk, and unforeseen costs.
- But not transitioning to EaaS business models, or similar, leaves leasing/rental agents at risk of being left behind.
The Solution
Blackhawk’s Access Control solutions allow equipment, machinery, and/or vehicles to be immobilized and activated seamlessly, allowing organizations to carefully control when, where, why, how long for, and by whom, assets are operated.
Blackhawk’s solutions combine IoT devices installed on equipment, machinery, and/or vehicles, and our proprietary SaaS platform, delivering decentralized control of assets, through a centralized platform.
Blackhawk’s solution is highly configurable allowing organizations to control access by multiple means, including by asset, by operator, by asset-class, and by operator organization, or in combinations. All controls are centrally maintained using Blackhawk’s SaaS platform, making the continuous update of access rights efficient and painless.
Blackhawk’s platform can be integrated with innumerable enterprise systems, allowing data that’s used and/or collected by Blackhawk’s access control solutions to move easily between enterprise systems. Operator credentials and licences can be drawn in from Human Resource Management systems to ensure that only appropriate operators can use assets. Equipment usage data can be served up to enterprise finance and billing systems to enable the billing of EaaS solutions.
The Opportunity
Maintenance Managers can immobilize assets remotely using Blackhawk’s SaaS platform, and reactivate them when they are ready to go back into service.
- No more operators bypassing tagouts and lockouts. Equipment won’t be useable by anyone but maintenance crews until maintenance teams sign it off.
- No more operators using equipment until it breaks. Operation of equipment can be restricted to maintenance crews as engine warnings arise.
- No more need to be physically present to lockout equipment. It can be done using Blackhawk’s SaaS platform, from anywhere with an internet connection.
Occupational Safety and Health Officers can restrict the use of equipment, machinery, vehicles, so only those that are certified, licensed, qualified to use assets can do so.
- No more equipment being operated by unqualified operators. Lower insurance premiums, reduce litigation risk.
- Reduced supervision requirements, as operating equipment is no longer as simple as having the keys, being able to flip a switch, or press a button. Not a qualified operator, they won’t be using the equipment.
- Reduce administration. Keep certifications, licences and qualification update to date in a central location, and the ability of operators to use equipment will automatically update across each connected asset.
Equipment Leasing/Rental Agents can facilitate EaaS business models with ease, working with a partner that knows IoT and remote asset control intimately.
- Make client use of EaaS assets simple. Enter a PIN, swipe an encoded card, carry Bluetooth-enabled card, and as a authorized operator of the equipment, I can get to work.
- Make billing EaaS solutions easy. Blackhawk’s platform can be integrated with enterprise systems using its data-rich API, allowing runtime data to be seamless brought into billing platforms for on-charging to clients.
- Manage the complexity and cost of transitioning to EaaS business models. The shift is substantial, requiring new business strategy, managing personnel changes, and implementing new technology. Blackhawk alleviates the burden of technological change, allowing organizations to focus more on strategy implementation, and change management for their personnel.