Article Bloovi

One solution for all your technical concerns

Software platform CabinetManager was built to provide maintenance technicians with maximum support when troubleshooting electrical installations, technical sub-installations, mechanical installations, process installations, piping systems and whatnot. Very concretely, the platform does this by offering all necessary information - plans, inspection reports, manuals, emergency contacts, etc. - digitized and clearly arranged to the technicians.

A necessity, because until then just about all the administration around that installation was done on paper. Via digitization, the platform ensures that technicians can perform their tasks quickly, safely and administratively efficiently. CabinetManager is made available by Lightstream as a full service DaaS solution, or Digitalization as a Service. Those who want to take care of further digitization themselves after installation can opt for a White Label license. The license is also available for installation companies.

"Through the license, we can work with other professionals to make as many work environments safer and more efficient. The two drivers why I developed CabinetManager"

Never updated

"At the root of CabinetManager are a number of frustrations," said Dylan Caufrier of engineering firm Lightstream. "Such as wasted time, because maintenance technicians have to search for the right information when an outage occurs: on average, technicians involved waste six minutes each per outage just by searching for the right installation diagrams."

"If you have 10 outages in a day where five technicians are working on them, you have lost 300 minutes orte five hours in one day's time as a company."

The fact that study offices have to work on the basis of incorrect information or a never-updated digital twin also causes frustration.

"But the biggest motivation for starting CabinetManager was, of course, the lack of safety on the shop floor. After all, we don't work in 'cookie factories,' but with large industrial plants with enormous capacities. An accident or incident can have serious consequences."

"In Belgium, an average of 68 electrification accidents occur each year(electrification is being injured by electric shock, electrocution is a fatal accident, ed.), resulting in an average of 1186 work days of work disability. And then to be clear, 68 are reported accidents - this does not include the many near-misses."

"When you then know that 30 percent of these accidents had the partial cause of working with outdated installation diagrams, it was clear that something had to be done. I went looking for a solution in which all the necessary technical information was made available clearly, digitally and in real time."

Impressive capabilities

The idea for such a platform originated in 2012, when Dylan Caufrier, as an electrical designer at ArcelorMittal, was faced with those above frustrations. Indeed, he realized that digitization of technical information could be a crucial and logical answer, but did not yet have the resources to make it a concrete reality. Therefore, he let the idea mature and started as an independent entrepreneur in 2015. He founded Lightstream, also and mainly to be able to raise the necessary capital to develop the platform.

"I felt I could make the world a little better with my idea," he says. "Then, of course, the step to entrepreneurship is quickly made(laughs). Right from the start, as a small company, we were allowed to design and dimension electrical installations for large companies such as ArcelorMittal, Christeyns and Jan De Nul."

"Those assignments confirmed to me that CabinetManager was needed: industry, by its very nature, is always a bit behind on technology and thus is constantly open to improvement and innovation. As mentioned, the lion's share of administration was done on paper, so a digital acceleration was needed. Or, as in our case, a digital twin. When you know that a schematic of an industrial electrical installation can easily amount to several hundred pages, digitization can make a world of difference. Those are almost literally phone books.

When you know that a schematic of an industrial electrical installation can easily amount to several hundred pages, digitization can make a world of difference

"A change to that installation must then be manually added to it. You can imagine the chaos that can cause. Especially since an electrical installation is 'alive' and so adjustment upon adjustment upon adjustment follows, leaving maintenance technicians working almost non-stop on administration. Hours that could be spent much more usefully."

Indispensable against hacking attacks

The launch of the Microsoft Surface 3 with Smartpen Stylus in 2014 was a crucial tipping point. "The capabilities proved impressive and made it possible to use the pen on the spot to draw changes very easily and elegantly on diagrams, which were available digitally on a tablet. This is what we had been waiting for, I realized, and we jumped on that bandwagon immediately."

CabinetManager was developed almost entirely with its own resources - except for VLAIO's innovative start-up grant - and was able to go to market after a few proofs of concept and iterations. "Above all, it had to be a good tool," says Dylan Caufrier. "A platform can look as nice as it is, if the technician on the shop floor cannot use it smoothly, such a tool is worth nothing."

"User-friendliness is key. Especially since it's that technician who maintains the digital twin rather than the engineering firm that does more of the follow-up. So the tool had to be tailored to the digital skills of the technician, who has often worked with pen and paper his entire professional life. Let such a person work with complex software on a tablet when there is a breakdown: he will go crazy," laughs Caufrier.

"So we had to develop a solution that presented information to the user unambiguously, without an intensive search and thus as easily accessible as possible. Everyone had to be able to work with it, and in any language, because the world of industrial installations has become extremely diverse. Anno 2022, seven years after the start of the process, we can say that we have that solution. Making something simple usually takes the most time, because it requires very hard thinking. The biggest difficulty was to make the platform as simple as possible."

Real-time visible

But how, specifically, does the platform work? "One scan, three clicks and a save: that's basically what it comes down to," Dylan Caufrier explains. "If we couldn't deliver on that promise, we went back to the drawing board until we did. Each installation receives a unique QR code that - after personal login - provides access to the information. To avoid information overload and protect confidential company information, you indicate per user which information they may or may not consult, and for how long. Once saved - which is mandatory - those changes are visible to others in real time."

Logging into CabinetManager can be done via smartphone, tablet and desktop. "You also don't have to download and install an app, which increases ease of use," Dylan Caufrier explains. "Because the information is available digitally, CabinetManager enables remote technical support and remote working. Company data is protected via a three-layer backup system. This is indispensable in a world where hacking attacks are increasing significantly."

No accidents with electrification in the workplace: is that the ultimate ambition with CabinetManager? Or is that an illusion? "That's certainly not realistic," Dylan Caufrier answers. "But if we could avoid 20 of those 68 accidents already, I would be satisfied. However, my biggest aspiration is more efficiency on the shop floor: that is also what our survey showed is the need of technicians. They want immediate access to essential information in the event of a breakdown. So that those 300 minutes of lost time we were talking about can be reduced to zero and companies even gain a technician."

Also check out the article on the Bloovi website

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