What is behind the term employee geolocation?
Breaking down the term employee geolocation into smaller parts, we can conclude that it is related to the earth, location, and employees. In InnerWeb, we therefore deal with information about the location of employees within the area of the plant. This can be compared to video surveillance within the plant, with the difference that in the case of a camera, we have one data stream in the form of an image and can display it in a window on a monitor. Employee and object geolocation gives us hundreds, or even thousands of data streams, which are gathered in one place.
In the case of video surveillance, collected data is transformed into information by watching recordings and drawing conclusions from observations. This can be done personally, or with the help of an advanced program that analyzes the image. This requires dedicating valuable time or financial resources. Thanks to geolocation, there is no such need. Data is processed automatically at the stage of its collection, which allows real-time access to an enormous amount of information such as:
- Current location of a given employee
- Current location of equipment / object in motion
- Total working time broken down by locations
- Time an employee spends moving around
- Printout or preview of employee / group movement over time
- Information about Current Risks that the employee is exposed to at a given location
Geolocation therefore enables the generation of:
- Automatic Employee Risk Assessment Card
- Notifications of entry into a dangerous zone
- Alarms concerning dangerous events (including PRE-fire protection)
- Map of the industrial plant with the "living tissue" of employees plotted on it
- Location of employee whereabouts for evacuation / fire department needs
- Reduction of the number of phone calls
- Gains resulting from efficient work coordination
- Benefits of quick access to location information
- Savings from analysis of production processes taking into account employees
- Efficient management of external companies and guests
- Higher level of safety for employees and the production plant
- Report on potential witnesses in case of an accident event
In principle, the list of information and possible reports that can be generated with geolocation data is endless. This is entirely new knowledge and an area for analysis under many aspects of the organization, starting from the OHS Department, Logistics, Purchasing, Maintenance, Production, Technical Department, Managers, and ending with HR, PR, and presentations for Investors.
The most valuable values appear at the very bottom of the plant's organizational structure – among the employees. They know how far away the person they are looking for is. Instead of calling – it's better to walk over and take care of the matter right away. We need to find specialized equipment, an injection mold, a forklift, a ladder, a tool cart and other tools – just use the equipment location list. There you will find information about the last position of the equipment, as well as a scanner that will track down the sought object. There is a possibility that the employee will receive a notification. It is enough for one of the conditions that was supposed to trigger an ALARM in case of such a situation to be met. Thanks to this, you can receive information that the boss or manager is on the floor. A notification that someone has stopped using certain equipment and it is now available, or that our partner has already returned to the workplace. Access to real-time information thanks to geolocation is the most powerful work tool.
This tool is currently available on the Internet of Things market in Industry 4.0
Access to this information should be possible both from a mobile application and any computer.
A large part of the information is available "at hand", and those requiring printouts are available from a computer at work or outside of it. Storing geolocation data is very economical because the recorded data takes up significantly less space compared to high-quality monitoring cameras.
The difference remains on the side of the company and the service that provides employee geolocation.
If a solution offers many possibilities and is not limited to indicating the space in which an employee or object is located, then excellent. Preferred are solutions that do not require the employee to carry something additional or change their existing habits. If it only requires replacing, for example, existing passive cards with active ones or installing an application on a mobile device, then such a solution will be received much more warmly than one that requires carrying additional uncomfortable electronic devices.
The best solution for geolocation of people and objects on the market is currently BLE technology, which requires the installation of a dense network of iBeacon radio beacons. Such an installation has enormous development potential. Information systems can be built on its basis. It serves for: electronic work permits, work planning, work acceptance, reporting failures in the system, storing documentation of machines and equipment, etc. Such a network is based on high system reliability. Damage to BLE radio beacons does not significantly affect the operation of the system, only its accuracy.
It is worth looking at the InnerWeb® service. The company of the same name is a leader on the global market of geolocation and e-Permits, specializing in dense networks of iBeacon radio beacons. It is a Polish innovation with its headquarters in the capital of Podbeskidzie.