WISAG replaced branch-by-branch Excel files and scattered PDFs with one central system for its machine fleet, going from first meeting to live in the first branch in roughly a month and then rolling out further on the strength of strong feedback from operations.
WISAG Gebäudereinigung Holding is part of the WISAG group, one of Germany's largest facility-management businesses. The group is divided into WISAG Facility Service, WISAG Industrie and WISAG Aviation, covering everything from building services to industrial halls and airport ground operations. Steven Mollenhauer leads digitalisation projects for the cleaning holding.
The starting point
Before ToolSense, the status quo was a lot of Excel, a lot of offline lists, a lot of PDFs passed around. There was no central management programme; every branch ran its own database separately. DGUV safety inspections made the fragmentation worse: some were done as self-inspections, some with specialist colleagues from building technology such as electrical engineering, and a large share were commissioned to external subcontractors, each arriving with their own solution. The result was high administrative effort just to consolidate and keep all the data consistently updated, across what could otherwise become twenty different tools.
Why ToolSense
The first contact came through WISAG's central digital-transformation team, which gathers cross-cutting requests and routes them to the division that fits best. The cleaning holding picked up the conversation, found the project highly promising, and decided to pilot it with the operational teams. What struck Mollenhauer was the chance to centralise and digitalise everything in one place rather than spreading it across many systems, the single point where ToolSense fits in.
The status quo was really a lot of Excel, a lot of offline lists, a lot of PDF files being passed around. There was no central management programme.
Steven Mollenhauer · Project Manager Digitalization, WISAG
Operational impact
ToolSense makes machine data and machine management transparent: WISAG can see directly where machines are, how heavily they are utilised, and exactly how many units of which makes sit in each location. With direct evaluations and reports, the team can run economic checks with colleagues in the field, are the right machines in the right positions, are bigger or smaller machines needed? The pilot moved fast, from first major meeting to going live in the first branch in about a month, unusually quick for an organisation this size, and feedback came straight from the object leaders and operational staff who knew the old pain points. A workflow that proved itself in one branch was then rolled out to more, and the asset management and field-service processes were adopted because operations felt the everyday relief.
What's next
Mollenhauer's main goal is a long-term partnership. The immediate step is the full rollout across all cleaning branches; beyond that, WISAG also runs machines in its other divisions, in building technology and at the airport, that could dock onto ToolSense in future. Ideas discussed at the Amsterdam trade fair reach further still, towards IoT, big data and digital-twin scenarios, combining where staff and machines are at any point to improve the experience for tenants and owners. His advice to peers: start now, take the operational teams along from the beginning, and look not only at the big players but also at start-ups for fresh approaches.
