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Car service center

The software and hardware platform kSense can be used to assess the performance of car service centers (CSC). The platform will enable owners and managers of CSCs to have automatic control over:

  • Employee arrival times;
  • Exact arrival times of vehicles;
  • The amount of time a vehicle spends at the CSC and how this time corresponds with the respective job order (i.e. whether the number of standard hours actually spent on repairing the vehicle is in line with that of the job order);
  • Time spent by each employee in the maintenance zone;
  • Time spent by each employee in back rooms;
  • The time a specific employee spends servicing a vehicle;
  • The optimum climate conditions on CSC premises.

This list may be extended upon the customer's request.

The platform comprises the following equipment:

For the platform to work, the above mentioned units need to be installed on the CSC premises first, after which data collection can commence, followed by its transmission to the kBrain module hosted on the server. In the absence of a local server, the data can be processed in Microsoft Azure or a similar cloud service. This requires that the facility be equipped with a communication channel that transfers data at a rate of at least 512 Mbps.
Video cameras for the required control areas (maintenance zones, back rooms, waiting rooms, customer admission room, entrance zone, and outdoor video surveillance). If a video surveillance system is already in place, kSense will integrate with it and process the video stream with H.263, H.264, H.265, MPEG codecs
The kHUB subsystem which collects data and connects with on-site management systems
Temperature sensors (outside buildings and within the monitored areas)
Meter interface unit for monitoring electricity and water consumption
Humidity sensors
Light intensity sensors (these come as a set with motion sensors)

The on-premise kHUB subsystem accumulates sensor data and video stream data and exchanges the data with the platform's cloud components. The data is encrypted and transferred to the platform's server/cloud subsystem. A mathematical model is used to process the data and to produce a set of reference parameters, thereby finding an efficient way to improve the surveyed facility's performance.

After the data has been processed and analyzed, kHub receives the reports required for analysis and, if necessary, a set of instructions to automatically optimize the center's systems.

Solution architecture:

  • kFace
  • kBrain
  • kHUB
    • Utility infrastructure
    • CSC software systems
    • Actuating devices
    • Sensors
    • Video cameras
    • Display

Defining CSC efficiency and further development options

The facility's performance is assessed by kBrain, the platform's compute kernel which processes the data it receives from kHUB. Two embedded systems – a predictive analytics system and an expert system – carry out real-time data analysis and time series statistical analysis. Having analyzed the data, the movement patterns of personnel, the resources consumed, measured against the number of vehicles attended to and the time spent on each vehicle, the platform automatically performs as follows:

  • Identifies factors that prevent the CSC from reaching its peak performance;
  • Generates a set of recommendations on how to improve personnel and system efficiency;
  • Maintains the optimum operating conditions for utility systems and the maintenance zone, i.e. the temperature, lighting and humidity;
  • Controls employees' operational discipline and adherence to compliance standards;

To optimize staff work, the platform generates individual recommendations. The recommendations and other background information is displayed on an additional monitor in the servicing zone.

CSC efficiency can be further improved by integrating its installed kSense platform with the telematics systems of insurance companies. Data provided by insurance companies helps the platform to forecast vehicle failures and initiate the storing of the necessary components in advance, thereby increasing the workload of the maintenance area by an additional 3-5%.

Presenting results

kFace is the platform's interface subsystem. The results of the data processing are displayed via dashboards pre-grouped in kFace. The results can be easily uploaded to the CSC software-based accounting systems.

Summary

The kSense platform will help boost CSC efficiency by 20-30%.