Bosch at Abstatt cuts costs by making the most of available space

Striking the right balance between comfort and efficiency

Abstatt is a state-of-the-art R&D site of the Bosch Group. Associates from around 50 countries work in this facility, some for the Chassis Systems Control division and others for the subsidiary Bosch Engineering GmbH. This location has a facility management team of its own tasked to make the most of the workspace. Its mission is to create and provide an appealing working environment on a reasonable budget.

Facility management joined forces with Bosch.IO in a project that aims to show how IoT solutions can boost comfort levels for building users and make better use of available space.

Tracking occupancy with sensors

Coordinating closely with the works council, the project team installed 1,350 sensors at 1,000 workstations and in 150 meeting rooms. It also rolled out three Sigfox antennas/routers to provide network coverage for the 17,000 m² facility.

The various floors and rooms are now mapped to a digital floor plan and augmented with sensor data.

A dashboard clearly displays utilization data for the various zones and rooms. Color-coded readouts indicate occupancy levels. The dashboard depicts predefined zones consisting of several workstations. It does not indicate data for individual workstations.

First milestones achieved, more to come

Building managers need to know how space is actually used before they can take effective action. If they find that quiet workspaces are in constant use, they can make more available. If other spaces see very little use, facility managers can figure out why and redress issues such as drafty spots.

The Space Monitoring project at Abstatt has made its mark: The same workspace now accommodates around 50 additional people without compromising on comfort. Given the industry-average cost of setting up and maintaining a workstation, the savings potential comes to around 300,000 euros per year.

More comfort and convenience
on the way

Bosch aims to roll out large screens showing available workstations to visitors and an app that does the same for associates. Satisfaction levels tend to rise when building users are better able to find their way around. Plans are in place to branch out the Space Monitoring project to other buildings and locations.