Connectivity and Tools Make a Great Partnership

Connectivity. It’s a word that seems to be related to every new technology and is now poised to be one of the greatest benefits for the Internet of Things (IoT), too.

We’ve seen how IoT is transforming the construction industry more widely and it’s no secret that smart products are redefining customer experiences, so why do connectivity and tools make a great partnership? And what does this mean for the industry?

Let’s imagine, if we connect all boilers, valves and other equipment to the internet, all this information can be centralised in one place. This means that instead of having to review all the individual logs, a service engineer can get a clear overview of all the essential data. By using this method, it’s then possible to do predictive maintenance (foreseeing when a problem could arise) instead of reactive maintenance or preventive maintenance (regular maintenance to prevent the likelihood of failure).

By identifying these potential breakdowns, enormous amounts of money can be saved, that would otherwise have been spent on replacement costs, downtime and possible future damage. This notion works exactly the same for connected tools.

The concept of IoT for tools makes perfect sense: connected tools result in time savings and increasing productivity, which in turn, could result in higher profits for a business. What’s the catch? There isn’t one. The challenges, as with most innovations, have mostly to do with the price of adoption and changes to embedded working practices, however in the long-run this is likely outweighed by the other gains mentioned.

The recently updated free of charge Hilti Connect App is just one way in which we utilise IoT across Hilti hardware and software. Through having direct relationships with our customers, we can provide instant access to unique tool information to help you make informed decisions at the jobsite, one of which is tool identification. In just a matter of seconds you can find the age, type, history and servicing of an item, even when the identification number has been removed. This is a great example of how IoT, in the form of smart tools, can help to increase productivity and reduce downtime on site.

Finally, connected tools are just one part of the bigger picture of IoT. Disruptive digital technologies are constantly evolving and even though the construction industry in general is often seen as a slow adaptor, the rate of change has meant that it’s moving quickly towards a more digitised future. Construction supplies the residential, social, and economic infrastructure that underwrites so many aspects of our daily lives and so it’s essential to keep up the pace of other industries.

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