ZF connecting emergency services
ZF has received a major order for its digital connectivity solution ‘ZF Rescue Connect’ from Albert Ziegler GmbH, one of the leading manufacturers of firefighting vehicles.
The deal, which ZF says is worth “several million euros”, is one of the largest framework contracts for digital services ever awarded to the technology company.
Ziegler will now equip new vehicles with ZF Rescue Connect as an option and offer digital services to its end customers.
In addition, both companies have agreed a strategic partnership for the digitalisation and networking of Ziegler firefighting vehicles.
ZF Rescue Connect digitally connects rescue services with one another during operations and provides them with all important status information relating to the vehicles and equipment deployed in real time.
The digital connectivity solution is based on an Internet of Things (IoT) cloud platform driven by technology group ZF. This is where all data from the relevant emergency vehicles converge and can be accessed by the operations centre via a digital dashboard.
Using this overall view, the incident commander and the services involved can see, for example, whether heavy equipment such as spreaders and rescue shears are on site for rescuing accident victims from vehicles, how much of which extinguishing agent is available to the fire department at the scene, whether the emergency physician and ambulance have already arrived or to which hospital the injured have been taken.
Small electronic transmitters and receivers network accident victims and the rescue forces deployed, and provide essential information from other rescue equipment via mobile communications and the IoT cloud.
The real-time availability of such data is said to give emergency response leaders unprecedented access to the information required to successfully and quickly complete operations with the best possible outcomes.
“This major order from Ziegler affirms that with ZF Rescue Connect we have created a convincing solution for networking rescue services,” said Florian Freund, responsible for ZF Rescue Connect. “At the same time, ZF Rescue Connect is an example of ZF’s innovative strength as a developer of new digital services.”
“The strategic partnership with ZF is an important building block for us in the ongoing digitalisation of our firefighting vehicles, and enables us to offer our customers cloud-based services with high added value,” said Bernd Geiselmann, CFO at Ziegler. “In addition, we can make over-the-air software updates to firefighting appliances throughout their entire service life, regardless of location.”
