About
TRAX is a facilities management solution provider based in Georgia. In 2019 they developed an analytics platform that tracks the movements of people and assets throughout an enabled space and have successfully adapted it to a very particular but often overlooked application—restroom maintenance.
The degree of cleanliness in restrooms in large public spaces may not be the first use case that comes to mind when considering how to leverage location data, but that’s exactly what created the opportunity for TRAX. They recognized that, while restroom cleanliness is consistently ranked highly among the factors that patrons consider when evaluating their visit, tools for applying business intelligence to this aspect of facility management were lacking.
Enhancing the customer experience is more than a buzz-phrase, it’s a real challenge for, to pick an example, airports that want to use their small window of opportunity to impress visitors. Realizing that restrooms were a pivotal point in that window of opportunity, TRAX created their Smart Restroom platform to make it easier for management to remotely track the status of these areas spread throughout very large buildings. Creating a generally favorable impression and a willingness to return to any venue is often achieved through doing the small but important things right.
When creating the platform, the goal was to use location data to provide real-time visibility into the status of restrooms and general custodial operations along with historical data to inform deeper analyses of patterns, needs and resource allocation. The data tracking visitor traffic would be gathered through the use of smart hand-washing dispensers, throughput monitoring, staff location and more.
If every other aspect of the complex operations of a venue like an airport could be optimized through data-driven insights, then why not custodial performance too?
To complete their vision of Smart Restroom, TRAX turned to Kontakt.io for our Smart Beacons and Card Tags. Together, they created digital twins of tracked assets and used access to an Infrastructure Management subscription to be able to securely and efficiently manage the entire beacon infrastructure that is the backbone of the TRAX solution.
“Just like Kontakt.io, TRAX Analytics is committed to providing quality products,” said Pat Trevino, director of business development for TRAX Analytics. “Our use of Kontakt.io beacons, badges and Infrastructure Management allows our clients to monitor staff activity and performance while using real-time information to make better, data-driven decisions.”
How The Solution Works
Kontakt.io beacons track staff locations through the venue and are installed in various configurations in restrooms, depending on the size and layout.
The beacons register when custodial staff are in or near a restroom and that data is collected and accessible in a single interface. Alerts can be sent to supervisory staff when the cleaning process has begun and, depending on the dwell time registered, completed and uncompleted servicing of restrooms also catalogued.
With Smart Restroom, facility management can respond to cleaning requests immediately and assign the nearest staff, all remotely. Scheduled cleanings can be verified and supplemented as needed with on-demand assignments.
TRAX has found an enthusiastic reception for their Smart Restroom platform across a number of venue types. The Houston Airport System, which includes George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and its 30m+ yearly passengers, was an early adopter. Now, a combined seventy-eight restroom facilities are better maintained and staff is more easily utilized and adapted to heavy traffic times.
It didn’t take long for the news of the success of the implementation of Smart Restroom to circulate among those in the industry. Projects are already in various stages of completion at airports in Dallas (DFW) and in the busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic in the world, Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in TRAX’s backyard of Atlanta, Georgia.
These projects are scheduled to go online by May 1, 2020.
Want to know more about beacons and their use cases? Download our free Beacon Buyer’s Gude now or contact us today.