Ford Motor Company
Ford set out to build the office of the future at its Dearborn corporate offices. The offices had just been renovated, which set the hardest constraint on the project: every sensor, display and beacon had to fit the design of the space it was measuring.
A newly renovated office, and technology that had to disappear into it.
Ford Motor Company envisioned an office of the future at its corporate offices in Dearborn, Michigan. In June 2021 Ford selected TRAX Analytics as its technology partner for IoT and data analytics, with the goal of a more hygienic space.
Because the offices had been recently renovated, TRAX was tasked with technology that was discreet, easy to install, and consistent with the aesthetics of each restroom and office. In a corporate environment that is not a preference. A visible retrofit in a space that was just finished reads as a mistake.
TRAX deployed Clean+Inspect and SmartRestroom across sixteen restrooms on four levels, and supported cleaning across offices, conference rooms and lobby areas.
The Challenge
The office of the future is a design brief before it is a technology brief. Ford’s corporate offices had just been renovated, so anything TRAX installed had to be discreet, quick to install, and visually consistent with restrooms and offices that were already finished to a corporate standard.
The functional requirement ran alongside it: real-time awareness of when a restroom needed service, across sixteen restrooms on four levels, plus offices, conference rooms and lobby areas. Both had to be true at once. Technology that fits the space but does not report usefully is decoration, and technology that reports well but looks like a retrofit fails the brief.
The Solution
The TRAX project management team installed battery throughput counters, stall occupancy sensors, retrofittable sensors inside universal toilet paper and paper towel dispensers, digital signage displays, touchless feedback and proximity beacons across each of the sixteen restrooms. The dispenser sensors retrofit into the existing units, which is what kept the install discreet and fast.
All of the data collected flows to the TRAX platform and the mobile app, alerting the frontline team in real time when a restroom needs to be serviced. Digital signage tells people in the building when a restroom is being serviced, how many stalls are available, whether it is closed for cleaning, and where the nearest alternative is if it is.
The TRAX Client Success team ran in-depth system-wide training so Ford could use the mobile app and the platform fully. Frontline team members can see the status of each sensor on an individual map of the restroom, so when an alert triggers they can plan the most efficient route through the work.
What TRAX deployed
- Clean+Inspect and SmartRestroom across sixteen restrooms on four levels
- Battery throughput counters and stall occupancy sensors
- Retrofittable sensors inside universal toilet paper and paper towel dispensers
- Digital signage displays and touchless feedback at each restroom
- Proximity beacons across each of the sixteen restrooms
- Coverage extended to offices, conference rooms and lobby areas
- In-depth system-wide TRAX Client Success training on the app and the platform
The Benefits
- Technology that fits a newly renovated corporate space, with dispenser sensors retrofitted into existing units rather than replacing them
- Real-time alerts to the frontline team when a restroom needs service, instead of a fixed round
- Digital signage that tells people in the building what is available, what is closed, and where to go instead
- Sensor status shown on a map of each restroom, so an alert becomes a route rather than a search
- Occupancy, consumable and feedback data on one platform across all four levels
The project began in June 2021 and covers sixteen restrooms across four levels, with coverage extending into offices, conference rooms and lobby areas. The contract runs annually and renews.
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