Technology
There are three important measurement technologies involved in people-tracking for process optimization: video camera, BLE tags, and mobile devices. Digital Mortar’s powerful DM1 Analytics Platform can use (and integrate) all three.
Camera provides the highest positional resolution and accuracy. It allows you to track highly detailed employee movements continuously. It also provides a rich data stream for advanced ML analytics around specific employee behaviors that go beyond basic position/time. But while camera is powerful, it’s also the most expensive measurement technology and it requires clear, unobstructed lines-of-sight. In crowded work environments with lots of obstructions, cameras can easily lose track of Associates. We use machine learning to “stitch” employee tracks together, but if you need to tie tracking to individuals or your work environment is highly cluttered, camera probably isn’t the right solution.
BLE Tags are small self-powered Bluetooth pingers. These small, light, very inexpensive little devices ping every second (or more) and their signals are collected by sensors (also inexpensive) that track their position. The pingers can be easily incorporated into a variety of form-factors including key-cards or thumb-drive like clip-ons. They can also be attached to equipment for tracking key devices. BLE tagging works in almost any environment, can track both people and machines, provides continuous tracking and it can tie measurement down to the individual Associate or item. On the other hand, BLE tracking isn’t as precise as camera, it requires a change to operational procedures (employees must carry a pinger), and it only provides positional data.
Mobile Apps provide similar measurement to BLE Tags. However, if your employees already carry mobile devices as part of their work processes, there are several advantages to App-based measurement. Using existing mobile devices requires NO CHANGE to operational procedures. Mobile devices often provide integratable data that can help you tie the geo-spatial part of the process to the underlying task. If employees already carry mobile devices then there is almost no infrastructure cost involved in this solution. Finally, mobile app tracking is more accurate than BLE (though not as accurate as camera).
In short, each technology has some specific advantages. We use them all and we’ll work with you to figure out the least expensive solution that meets your measurement and analysis needs.
