Sparkling Water for the Office- Droople Case Study

Future of water coolers

Die Kaffeemeister, a newly launched brand by Soennecken, DE, turned to  Droople technology to leverage the power of data insights to optimize its operations, monitor the usage and ensure the highest levels of service. After the first pilot phase, Die Kaffeemeister is now able to offer the first global system that combines automated management of both water filters and CO₂ bottles – while passersby can view real-time sustainability statistics on an Awareness Screen at the bar.

‍

Office Coffee Service - now enhanced with best-in-class water supply

Die Kaffeemeister, a newly launched brand by Soennecken, was built using many synergies around professional and inspiring work environments. Soennecken, located in the German town of Overath near Cologne, is a market leader in german-speaking countries specialized in supplying office spaces with a broad range of products and services. With the launch of Die Kaffeemeister, the company is entering new territory in drinking solutions for the workplace, making the most out of break-time. The newly founded Office Coffee Service (OCS) franchise concept provides beverage as a service to offices with advanced equipment, consumables and technical service. Their pay-per-use business model has rapidly evolved to successfully extend improved drinking water supply with filtration systems and sparkling water.

The three-month pilot project proved to be a brilliant idea. Indeed Die Kaffeemeister stands for best-in-class service quality with seamless equipment operations. As Droople’s fountainOS was integrated in three test water dispensers, the technical challenge required precise automated procurement for all consumables including water filters and food grade CO₂ cylinders. To guarantee both optimal logistics and best beverage quality, Droople used 2 different smart sensors: a water sensor and a gas pressure sensor, combined with specific algorithms to monitor a water dispenser’s health remotely and in real-time.

Innovation: Automating procurement for CO₂ cylinders

To broaden the consumables management range and include the automatic re-ordering of gas cylinders for water dispenser/HoReCa applications, Droople entered a collaboration with Unterbichler, a large subsidiary of Linde, Germany, supplying restaurants, catering companies and many other customers with dispensing gases used in the food industry.

The automatic gas re-ordering procurement solution was built using Unterbichler’s webshop capabilities allowing automatic e-mail notifications reading. Droople’s software was upgraded with new protocols for issuing alarms and notifications in the format matching exactly the Unterbichler requirements.

How does it work?

The fountainOS relies on the precise monitoring of the CO₂ canister’s pressure drop, enabling the prediction and ideal moment to exchange the gas bottle guaranteeing service continuity. Indeed, the gas bottle pressure deviates very little from the nominal pressure of 60 bar during its lifespan. Whereas the pressure dropping to about 40 bar announces a rapid end-of-life where the remainder bottle volume is then only 10%! This roughly equals to 30 to 90 liters of sparkling water available, depending on the gas canister size.

To avoid any service interruption, the Droople software implements automatic re-ordering of a new CO₂ cylinder when this threshold is met. Customers can even opt for the exchange service of CO₂ cylinders when the new one is delivered. An additional friendly reminder is sent when the gas cylinder is detected empty – this is very useful in case the service contract only includes delivery, with the actual exchange performed by the customer themselves.

Currently, the automatic ordering and exchange of CO2 cylinders is only available in Germany where Droople is closely collaborating with Unterbichler, a German and sister company of the Linde Group, specialied in gas supply for gastronomy.

‍

‍

‍

‍

State-of-art water dispenser fleet management

Managing a customer’s large water dispenser fleet across a country such as Germany is a major challenge for large service providers such as Die Kaffeemeister. The Droople software platform makes fleet operations child’s play: on top of real-time monitoring, operators can also optimize planned interventions for maintenance visits.

The Droople monitoring solution features several advanced functionalities such as precise prediction of filter swap, detection of possible leakage, all based on sensor data collection and analysis.

‍

Real-time water consumption footprint

The solution also supplies a display for consumers that features real-time calculations of water fountain usage and its positive impact towards environmental contribution and climate change. A great add-on for both office employees, employers and partners – how we all contribute to building a more sustainable future together!

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

"The Droople solution rids of unnecessary inspections by service operators, enabling all-remote monitoring and putting IoT at the service of office solution providers. It allows for logistic optimization, whilst bringing the capabilities of the best possible service levels, without any physical intrusion often linked to service interruption. The whole system is operating “behind the scenes” – giving our customers the pleasure to enjoy exactly what they want: the perfect quality beverage at any time." Tobias Wiebe, Expansion Manager, Die Kaffeemeister

"Data exchange between both Unterbichler and Droople platforms has been adapted seamlessly to ensure a perfect integration of this new feature. The project outcomes are very promising. Advantages are obvious as gas is becoming a convenient product comparable to current and water: No need to interfere anymore  – always there, when needed. We are currently evaluating the potential of integration of automated cylinder procurement into our products." Tobias Rapp, Head of Sales and Services, Unterbichler Gase GmbH

‍