DIMAS, an Austrian concrete drilling and sawing contractor, replaced a patchwork of Excel lists, index cards, and Word documents with ToolSense, giving its workshop and field crews one simple, vendor-neutral system for managing every machine.
DIMAS Betonbohr- und -sägedienst GmbH performs concrete drilling and sawing work on construction sites from two locations, in Vienna and in Kalsdorf near Graz. Georg Lahofer has been managing director since 2005. Because the company runs machines from several different manufacturers rather than a single brand, it needed a way to manage its whole fleet in one place, and that requirement led it to ToolSense via one of its suppliers, Tyrolit.
The starting point
Classically, DIMAS worked with Excel lists, index cards, and Word documents, and had been searching for some time for a system to unify it all. When a machine broke down, the failure was noted on a slip of paper that could get lost or be poorly communicated, often triggering follow-up questions between the field and the workshop. The overview of which devices existed and where they stood was hard to keep current.
Why ToolSense
DIMAS chose ToolSense because the solution is simple, practical, and above all easy for the crew to use. That mattered: Lahofer did not want to overwhelm his staff, and on that count the rollout succeeded. Just as decisive was independence. DIMAS uses several manufacturers and suppliers, each offering its own software, but the company needed a vendor-neutral tool so it could manage all machines and equipment without being locked to one manufacturer's system. With ToolSense, data ownership sits clearly with DIMAS, and everything from a fuel card to a van can be managed in one place using QR codes.
We're now faster, especially with repairs. When a machine breaks, the worker scans the QR code and the person in the workshop immediately has the fault description. That's much better than a slip of paper that might get lost.
Georg Lahofer · CEO, DIMAS Betonbohr- und -sägedienst GmbH
Operational impact
The biggest change is in repairs. A QR-code scan puts the fault description straight in front of the workshop, cutting out the back-and-forth questions and the lost paper slips of the old process. The listing of devices and equipment has become far clearer and more organized. The large Excel list that previously held all the vehicles and inventory was migrated into the system, which the team now uses well for both damage reports and inspections, with positive feedback from the workshop staff. Asked whether he would ever go back to Excel for this, Lahofer's answer was unequivocal: it doesn't have to be.
This kind of vendor-neutral asset management and digital damage reporting via field service is exactly what a multi-brand fleet on construction sites needs.
What's next
Lahofer sees more digitalization coming to construction broadly, though concrete drilling and sawing remains a small, less advanced corner of the industry. DIMAS itself is considering digitizing delivery notes and time tracking next. His advice to others starting out: don't be afraid, it's not as complex as it sounds; agree on a roadmap, assign one or two committed people to drive it, and it can be introduced with relatively little effort.
