Communication infrastructure for diverse applications and new business models

Digital fleet management

Modern B2B vehicles can be connected via online interfaces just like private cars for software updates, remote maintenance or for fleet management applications.

Post Production Twin bundles cloud access: In most cases, however, only individual applications are connected via interfaces in order to establish their own communication channels. At Linde Material Handling – and now also at other KION Group brands – a digital twin handles communication with the vehicle. This simplifies and standardizes access to the vehicle for all service, rental and fleet applications from the cloud.?

The challenge: Increase customer loyalty and establish long-lasting relationships

The B2B vehicle market is highly competitive. That's why manufacturers must try to offer ongoing added value in addition to the pure vehicle purchase. This includes the digitalization of all service and repair processes, which improve availability and lower costs for customers.

Ultimately, an ongoing customer relationship is particularly strengthened by new digital business models. This includes, for example, temporarily increasing battery capacity in seasonal business.

The solution: Demand-driven control of standard functions and add-ons

Whether a fleet manager sends a driver passcode to the vehicle instead of a traditional key, a local service company technician performs usage-based maintenance, or a Linde MH engineer finds complex faults via remote access: It all happens through shared access on the vehicle and Post-Production Twin in the cloud.

This Twin infrastructure has made the development of all applications that communicate with the vehicles much easier and more consistent. For example, if a customer wants to increase the available battery capacity, they can do so as a rental model in the Linde MH online store. The e-commerce system writes the purchase to the digital twin with a simple API call. The next time the forklift is charged, the battery will have greater capacity. This allows for overtime during peak hours. After a month, the usable battery capacity drops back down to the original purchased value, which ensures a long service life.

The Digital Twin also provides a uniform security standard for all digital interactions. For this purpose, data is transported via a secure tunnel to a dedicated access point name (APN). This means that while cloud applications such as fleet management or e-commerce are on the public Internet, the vehicles themselves are not accessible to anyone except the Digital Twin itself.

Our project partner: Linde Material Handling

Linde Material Handling is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of forklift trucks and warehouse equipment. In Europe, the company is the market leader with its brands Linde and Fenwick (France). Linde is part of the KION Group. The KION Group is the world’s second largest manufacturer of industrial trucks and one of the leading providers of automation solutions for intralogistics. Its products are based on electric and diesel forklifts, warehouse trucks, pallet trucks, fleet management software, automation solutions and driver assistance systems.

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