Fire departments are organized differently across the world. While Germany’s units operate in a decentralized, regional manner, fire vehicles in Spain and Italy are centrally managed. However, one common need unites them all: the ability to act quickly and efficiently, with total reliance on their equipment. With digital fleet management, the readiness of fire departments is reaching a new level. Management and maintenance are not only faster and more comprehensive but also proactive for the first time. The German manufacturer Magirus has taken steps to combine its expertise in firefighting equipment with the advantages of a data-driven, digitized system. How? Check out our new case study.
In emergencies, firefighters need to rely entirely on their vehicles and equipment – anywhere, anytime. As an industry pioneer, Magirus developed an intelligent tool that consolidates various fleet management features into an online customer portal: Magirus FleetConnect. In the backend, the solution runs on Device Insight’s central IoT platform, offering real-time data overview and information exchange – whether for a single vehicle or an entire fleet.
The foundation for this technological leap was provided by the CENTERSIGHT scale framework. This application framework integrates natively into public clouds and offers ready-made software modules for IoT and data analytics applications. Including features for dashboarding, alerting, asset and user management, reporting, and trend analysis. A key factor was the solution’s ability to scale efficiently: thanks to the integration with Microsoft Azure services, new functionalities can be added rapidly.
The basic implementation of the FleetConnect pilot was finished in just four months, with the full portal development finalized within 12 months. Starting in 2025, the intelligent software will be standard in all new Magirus vehicles. While existing fleets can be retrofitted, too.
Marcel Kessler, Product Manager for Connectivity at Magirus, reflects on the project’s collaboration: “The speed and maturity of the IoT solution developed by Device Insight, on which we built FleetConnect, are truly impressive. While similar projects take years, we went live with our fleet management tool after just 12 months. Our focus was on providing more transparency, efficiency, and remote assistance for our customers – and we achieved that.”
Once vehicles were connected to the cloud, FleetConnect’s data truly came to life. The user-friendly dashboard displays the fleet’s status in real-time, distinguishing between individual vehicles, units, and the entire fleet. Fleet operators and service managers now have a full overview of their fleet, knowing which vehicles are ready for action and which require maintenance. Automated service reminders and the option to schedule appointments directly via the portal simplify the management. Additionally, detailed insights into vehicle status allow for rapid and targeted resolution of malfunctions and damages. At the same time, the workload for customer support – Magirus’ “Flying Doctors” – is minimized, thanks to the ability to perform remote diagnostics and assistance for the first time. Even more: the vehicle’s error history is tracked throughout its entire lifecycle, enabling continuous improvements to the “hardware.”
From the start, Magirus placed a strong focus on data security for storing and processing vehicle data. Device Insight’s role- and permission-based system ensures secure access to FleetConnect. With individual licenses defining which users and services can access which vehicles and features. For remote assist services, customer approval is needed in advance. The onboarding of vehicles and data management between the edge and cloud are secured by Device Insight’s public key infrastructure (PKI) service. Only vehicles with valid client certificates are connected to the Azure IoT Hub. Additionally, MQTT servers and TLS protocols ensure encrypted communication between vehicles and the IoT Hub.
To sum up: This is what digital fleet management made in Germany looks like: data-driven, efficient, and secure.
Our case study provides deeper insights into the benefits of Magirus’ fleet management solution and sheds light on the key components of its technological implementation.
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