Munich, Germany & Zurich, Switzerland. 31 May 2022 – Nexxiot, announced Knorr-Bremse, the global specialist in braking systems and other rail and commercial vehicle systems, as a new customer and strategic investor. In a CHF76 million deal that will shape the future of rail transportation, Knorr-Bremse and its North American subsidiaries New York Air Brake and Knorr Brake Company will integrate Nexxiot’s IoT hardware and software into its future rail products and the systems it produces, proactively driving digital connectivity into its vast railroad customer base.
By connecting Knorr-Bremse‘s rail brakes, doors, HVAC, sanitary and other systems with Nexxiot’s digital ecosystem, Knorr-Bremse’s customers will benefit from increased vehicle availability, optimised lifecycle costs and greater operational efficiency. The company will also further strengthen its position as one of the most innovative rail suppliers, delivering compelling new insights and digital services to its customers.
Knorr-Bremse becomes a strategic minority investor in Nexxiot. Investment management firm QVIDTVM, led by Burak Alici, and existing shareholders have topped their investment.
“As a core element in our strategy, we’re using digitalisation to leverage our already strong position in safety and mission-critical rail vehicle systems, and to generate further growth and strong profitability,” explains Dr. Jurgen Wilder, member of the executive board of Knorr-Bremse AG and responsible for the Rail Vehicle Systems division. “Together with Nexxiot’s dedicated team, we’re now pressing ahead with our ambition to add further value for our customers. By combining our systems technology with Nexxiot’s digital ecosystem, we’re creating a win-win scenario that will boost vehicle availability and lower the total cost of fleet ownership by leveraging a new generation of data-based services.”
Global rail freight activity has steadily increased over the past 20 years, but the rail freight industry lacks the real-time visibility and data needed to accelerate optimisation. Of the five million rail cars globally only approximately 8% are digitised, representing a massive IoT retrofitting and digitisation opportunity for the industry. Based on the real-time analysis of rail data in Nexxiot’s ecosystem, Knorr-Bremse will be able to precisely project systems’ state of health and maintenance needs. In effect, clients will be able to service their fleets more proactively and cost-efficiently by taking advantage of Condition-Based and Predictive Maintenance.
Knorr-Bremse will deploy the Nexxiot Globehopper LINK device that detects the status of some of the most crucial parts of a railcar, including doors and brakes, and sends the data to the cloud. Nexxiot processes this data using proprietary algorithms and Big Data analytics to create new business intelligence and data driven services for all stakeholders across the value network.
This IoT technology will allow operators to automate critical business processes and gain myriad new insights to drive a step change in efficiency, sustainability, customer service and profitability. Train parts that have not been monitored in real-time become digitally visible and accessible.
“This partnership with Knorr-Bremse, a supplier of rail vehicle systems, will help us build the products and services for the industry. Together, we aim to accelerate the digitalisation of key areas like rail freight and automation services. At the same time, we’ll also be able to speed up our own expansion in the rail industry and continue our strong growth,” adds Stefan Kalmund, CEO of Nexxiot. “Specifically, our sensors and scalable cloud-based platform help turn rolling stock assets into connected, data-generating industrial objects. Leveraging rail data in real-time will be a key success factor in helping make rail and rail services fit for the future.”
Cross-modal IoT deployment
Nexxiot is reportedly becoming a dominant IoT provider in the multi-modal global freight transport market. On April 26, 2022, Nexxiot announced another major deal with Hapag-Lloyd, a top five ocean carrier, to equip a significant share of the company’s 3 million TEU ocean container fleet with Nexxiot’s technology. The combination of the deals with Hapag-Lloyd and Knorr-Bremse represent the world’s largest cross-modal IoT deployment for the Maritime and Rail industry to date.
This promises unprecedented visibility into the location and status of cargo as it moves through the global supply chain and brings the innovation required to counteract current global supply chain pressures. Nexxiot is a provider of IoT technology for railcars, with over 200,000 connected vehicles in Europe alone, representing more than 25% of European fleets. Nexxiot expects to digitalise more than 2 million railcars and intermodal containers globally by 2024.
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