PTC announced that Bell and Howell has selected the ThingWorx® industrial innovation platform to transform its service organisation by enabling remote monitoring and service of its connected industrial mechatronic machines.
Headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, Bell and Howell delivers innovative service and technology solutions that enrich customer communications and fulfillment for the world’s largest finance, industry and public sector enterprises. The company helps its customers streamline high-volume, high-integrity production of customer communications and product fulfillment; track delivery throughout the supply chain; maximise postal discounts and monetise every customer touchpoint.
Bell and Howell’s service organisation is among the most sophisticated in the world, excelling at production workflow, automation, and industrial mechatronics. The company selected the ThingWorx platform as the foundation of an innovative next-generation IoT-enabled offering designed to further optimise service capabilities for all of its OEM service partners. These partners include companies such as Cleveron, CMC, Fetch, Hewlett-Packard, Packsize, Savioke, Sharp, and Toshiba.
One of the first products to leverage Bell and Howell’s IoT-enabled offering, built on the ThingWorx platform, is the Cleveron PackRobot, a 16-foot autonomous self-service package retrieval system that allows customers to pick up their online orders in a matter of seconds by scanning a code on their smartphone. The PackRobot is currently being deployed by the world’s largest retailer throughout the United States. As the exclusive distributor of Cleveron products in North America, Bell and Howell is providing the installation, service, support, and remote monitoring of these IoT-connected machines.
ThingWorx will enable Bell and Howell to reduce equipment downtime, improve First Time Fixn(FTF), increase overall performance, and boost customer satisfaction.
“At Bell and Howell we are focused on innovation and creating next-generation solutions and services for our customers,” said Ramesh Ratan, Ph.D, CEO, Bell and Howell. “We selected the ThingWorx platform because we needed a complete IoT platform that could handle everything from connecting the device to building applications to analysing data. With the ThingWorx platform, we will be able to not only monitor our machines, but also have the ability to connect and remotely diagnose and service machines, which will enhance our level of service to our customers.”
The ThingWorx platform is a suite of components that enable the deployment of applications that monitor, manage, and control connected devices; remote data collection from connected devices; independent and secure connectivity between devices; and device/sensor management and integration with third party systems.
“By leveraging the IoT for smart, connected service, service organisations can solve problems before the customer knows they exist, adding tremendous value to service operations,” said Jim Heppelmann, president and CEO, PTC. “Leveraging ThingWorx will enable Bell and Howell to deliver high-quality services and more robust IoT-enabled solutions for its customers.”
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