IIoT for smart door systems: How Novoferm and Smartsquare are digitalizing service and maintenance

Imagine you run a large logistics center or production facility and suddenly a gate gets stuck. Operations stop, transport systems jam, and nobody knows exactly what the problem is. A service technician is called, who first has to find out what the problem is on site. This is everyday life for many companies. But what if the door itself could report: “I need maintenance – please until next Friday, my belts are worn out.” Or if a technician could immediately identify what is broken from a distance and bring the right spare part with them? What are the top 5 reasons for downtime, using the example of doors? How can these errors be identified? What solutions and technologies can be used to avoid them? And what urgently needs to be taken into account? I discuss these questions today with Nabil Suita, International Product Manager IoT and Digitalization at Novoferm, a door manufacturer, and Alexander Niemann, CEO of Smartsqaure and IoT partner of Novoferm.

Hello and welcome to the IoT Use Case Podcast. Also a hello to you, Alexander and Nabil. How are you? Alex, how are you and where are you right now?

Alexander

I am here at the Smartsquare headquarters in Bielefeld. I asked a colleague to work from home today to have some peace and quiet for the podcast recording. I’m fine, I’m in good spirits.

Greetings to Bielefeld! How many of you are there on site?

Alexander

When everyone is here, the location is bursting at the seams – then there are 21 of us here in Bielefeld.

Nabil, a warm hello to you too. Glad to have you here.

Are you in the office or working from home?

Nabil

Good morning, Madeleine, good morning, Alex. I’m actually working from home, not far away from you, in Porta Westfalica.

Very cool. Is Novoferm also based there?

Nabil

No, Novoferm’s headquarters are in Haldern on the Lower Rhine. I myself am at the Dortmund location. We are well located throughout Germany and Europe – including in Garbsen near Hanover, which is not that far from here.

I’ve just looked it up on Google – it’s in the area of Essen and Duisburg, isn’t it?

Nabil

Exactly. From Oberhausen, take the A3 towards the Netherlands. Shortly before the border comes Haldern.

Very nice, yes, thank you very much. Perhaps a question to start with: You’re both here on the podcast now – how did that come about? Alex, would you like to tell us? Did you invite Nabil? How did you meet?

Alexander

Sure, of course. We have been working with Novoferm as Smartsquare since 2022. We were involved in the process early on, including in an advisory capacity, when the IoT service platform was being developed. This is not a single project, but a process that takes place over a longer period of time and comprises many phases. There have been some nice milestones and we are constantly developing this further. Next week, for example, we are meeting in Dortmund for a product roadmap workshop. You get to know each other better and there is still a lot to do. We thought this would be a good opportunity to show here in the podcast what we have developed together, what use cases there are. So I asked Nabil if he would like to take part – and managed to convince him to join me today.

Sounds great, I’m curious, especially about the best practices – how you implemented the project, what had to be considered and which solutions were used. Let’s get straight into the topic: What exactly is this project about?

Nabil

Briefly about Novoferm: We are a leading international company for door and gate solutions and loading systems. Our aim is to offer our customers intelligent, smart solutions with innovative technologies and services. There are challenges – for example, the fact that there is no reasonable data flow if a gate system in a logistics center fails – sometimes even several at the same time. A logistics center is a very busy place. I was once in a logistics center in Bielefeld and could see forklifts racing back and forth to load the trucks quickly.

There’s a clear timing behind that, isn’t there?

Nabil

Yes, definitely. It is therefore crucial to keep the downtime as short as possible in the event of a door failure. The door system needs to be put back into operation quickly, ideally with the support of digital solutions that enable the service team to take the right action straight away.

I just had a quick look at your website – you offer a wide range of products. In addition to loading systems, I also see different types of doors: roller shutters, sliding doors and many other variants. So your product range is quite broad, and the doors are presumably used in different areas, right? What kind of doors are those, and what customers do you have there?

Nabil

Exactly, we are very broadly positioned – especially in the DOC sector, i.e. for logistics centers. We offer industrial doors and loading bridges to enable trucks to be loaded and unloaded efficiently with forklifts. But we also have solutions for other sectors, such as the food industry. Doors are used there to close off cold storage rooms, for example. They must open and close quickly to minimize cooling losses. Our areas of application are therefore very diverse.

Sounds exciting. I’m not a door expert, but I imagine that such a door consists of various mechanical components – seals, drive systems, motors and probably also sensors. What are the components?

Nabil

A door consists of many mechanical components – from the sections that form the door itself, to frames, tracks, rollers and spring assemblies. Many doors are weight-balanced so that smaller motors can be used. In addition, there are motors and door control units that act as the “brain” of the system and also enable communication in all directions.

What is currently driving you in your work with customers? Are there new requirements or potentials you’re identifying yourselves? And what’s your vision regarding IoT data?

Nabil

Our vision is clear: We want to offer our customers smart and intelligent solutions. Like many other companies, we face the challenge of a shortage of skilled workers. With limited resources, we need to deploy our service technicians in a targeted way. A lot of time is lost when technicians travel to a job just to perform an initial assessment, only to find out that, for example, a spring is broken. They then need to source the right spare part and return for a second visit. We want to optimize this with IoT: A continuous data flow should allow error codes to be detected directly by the control system and sent to a cloud system. A service supervisor can then perform a remote analysis—ideally even over the phone with the customer—and dispatch the technician with the right spare part straight away. The customer is satisfied when the door is back in operation more quickly.

If I understood correctly, your use cases mainly focus on service—spare parts procurement and condition monitoring of your doors. It’s also about analyzing error codes, diagnosing issues, and potentially creating opportunities for predictive maintenance. Is that correct, or are there other use cases?

Nabil

Exactly, and you mentioned another important use case: spare parts procurement. Our products have unique identification numbers, allowing the supervisor to identify and order the correct spare part directly based on the serial number. However, the necessary technical data is often missing in the field. This leads to incorrect orders or the delivery of the wrong spare parts, which in turn delays repairs. The result: longer downtimes and frustrated customers. With our solution, we can minimize these issues and get the doors back in operation faster.

[9:39] Challenges, potentials and status quo – This is what the use case looks like in practice

Can we brainstorm together what typical errors occur? It’s also about finding out why companies should invest in technologies and solutions. What’s the business case, and where do companies lose the most time and money when they don’t use their data?

Nabil

It’s often due to simple things like wear parts—a classic example is springs. These need to be replaced regularly. Then there are thermal effects that can cause deformation of the door. This, in turn, triggers errors in the control system, requiring a technician to come and recalibrate the door. The causes are usually mechanical. Sometimes, a forklift even drives into the door—I’ve seen that myself. In such cases, a panel of a sectional door, for example, needs to be replaced. So, there’s a wide range of possible sources of error.

Alexander

Sometimes a light barrier is taped up or a switch is blocked.

Nabil

Exactly, or a cable gets torn off.

It’s not about the quality of the doors—you produce high-quality, safe, and reliable products. But of course, you can’t influence the upstream and downstream processes. As you mentioned, Nabil, thermal influences play a role, but so do human interventions when employees try to make processes more efficient. However, that can lead to additional costs elsewhere—which often lies outside of your control.

Alexander

Yes, exactly, that’s part of it. I’d also like to add wear and tear. By visualizing power curves, we can detect early signs of increased friction or blockages. This can be analyzed remotely through a service dashboard, making it clear when routine maintenance will soon be due. Cycle counting is actually a trivial topic from an IoT perspective, but just having that information available on the service dashboard adds great value because you know exactly when the next maintenance is scheduled.

Thanks for mentioning the data—that was going to be my next question anyway. I’d like to understand more specifically which data you process. We’ll talk about how you implement it technically in a moment. But if I understand correctly, it’s about data like power curves or error codes. Are these the most important data types for your project, or are there others?

Alexander

There’s quite a bit that comes together. On our service platform, we’ve built a node that also integrates master data. Before it even becomes IoT-specific, we start with basic information from the ERP system: material numbers, serial numbers, and item master data. This is then enriched with additional information such as configuration parameters, as well as customer data, location information, and similar details.

On top of this basic data comes the information collected through gateways from the systems. The doors are interconnected via Bluetooth, gather their data in the control units, and then send it to the gateway. The defined interface provides a selection of available operational data, which is regularly sent to the cloud software. These data points are linked with the basic information, creating a centralized view for each system—especially for each door system. This makes all relevant information visible, from master data and customer data to configuration settings, including the most recent changes. You often need to check the configuration due to potential misconfigurations. On top of that, we also process the operational data.

Nabil

I’d like to clarify the connection to the service case again: This information is important for the service manager to understand what type of system is in place, which components are installed, and what the technician needs to get the system back up and running. The power curve is particularly relevant, as it describes the drive’s power consumption when opening and closing the door. It is measured during the initial installation. Over time, this curve changes due to wear, weakening springs, or thermal effects. These changes can serve as an indicator of an impending failure, such as when the door no longer opens or closes properly.

Alexander

That was also one of the most exciting challenges during development. Technically, it’s simple to display the data in a chart—it looks impressive at first. But the feedback from Nabil’s team was clear: “Nice, but this doesn’t help us yet.” It wasn’t sufficient for in-depth analysis. The real challenge was processing the measurements in a way that made them comparable and interpretable for experts. The goal was to visualize the data so that the service technician could quickly access the right information in the event of an error. According to the project plan, this took several weeks—I don’t even know how many meetings you needed, Nabil, until it finally worked.

That’s a valuable takeaway because many who listen to this podcast often ask me: What were the biggest time sinks or the most important lessons learned from the project? This is a perfect example. Do you have any other best practices you’ve taken from this project?

Nabil

I’d say it’s always important to engage directly with customers and users. Since we’re part of a large corporate group, we also work with sister companies that provide international service. After each sprint and the development of new features, we let our partners test the solutions and collect direct feedback. Our best practice is: testing, testing, testing. Every feature is thoroughly checked by our colleagues, who are motivated to provide support and incorporate their feedback directly into further development. We could develop the best system possible, but if the service technicians and managers don’t use it or don’t see any value in it, it’s pointless. That’s why we take a pragmatic approach: We ask what the service team really needs and what challenges they face. Often, we even accompany the technicians into the field, for example, to a logistics center, to understand real-world problems. Digitalization should create real value.

Your customers almost become partners when you work so closely together. You take a direct look at the processes on-site, walk around the door, and ask targeted questions. It’s a classic win-win situation: You contribute your technical expertise—together with Smartsquare—and the customer has in-depth knowledge of the upstream and downstream processes. Would you say you’re increasingly acting as partners to your customers?

Nabil

Definitely. We work closely with our sister companies, which also provide service offerings. This is an advantage we deliberately leverage at Novoferm—knowledge transfer is key here. Especially in light of the shortage of skilled workers, which doesn’t just affect academics but also service technicians, we need to pass on this knowledge efficiently to overcome challenges and move forward.

Alexander

I’d like to add something to that. The fact that sister companies also offer services means they’re officially partners and are directly involved. At the same time, external service providers who will later work with the solution must also be considered. This brings an exciting challenge in software development—especially regarding role and permission models. It needs to be clearly defined who can see which data, and integration with third-party systems must work smoothly. I think Novoferm is taking the ideal approach here. The collaboration with sister companies is being effectively utilized to further develop the software while also considering other user groups from the very beginning. This makes the system scalable and prepares it for a broader rollout. From our perspective as software developers, this isn’t a new concept—working in an agile, phased approach. But this project shows how well it works in an industrial setting: You move forward step by step, gather continuous feedback, adjust plans, and develop the system further. This became especially clear at the trade fair, Nabil—you were barely able to talk to anyone because so many people wanted to see your demonstrator. It’s great to see how open you are and how the solution keeps improving.

Speaking of the demonstrator—can people still see it somewhere? Many listeners might be thinking, “We have similar use cases” or might want to exchange best practices. Is there an opportunity to see it on-site? Or will it be presented again at the next trade fair?

Nabil

That’s definitely planned for the next trade fair. We also have a showroom at Novoferm in Dortmund, where we guide our customers through all our products. All our solutions are on display there, and of course, there’s also a dedicated space where we specifically showcase IoT and aftersales topics.

Impressive! So, if you’re listening and interested, feel free to get in touch directly with Nabil or Alex. I’ll include links to their LinkedIn profiles in the show notes so you can connect and dive deeper into the topic.

[20:27] Solutions, offerings and services – A look at the technologies used

Nabil, what exactly does your solution look like? Are you offering an IoT platform that helps your customers solve these use cases and challenges? How does that work?

Nabil

Exactly, we offer a solution where our products are connected through our control systems and drives. This allows us to generate continuous data streams. Users then have access to the so-called NovoServiceHub, our live and service cloud. There, they can view and monitor the data. In the next step, we also want to integrate third-party systems. Through an API, we’ll provide data for other applications—such as facility management systems, which need to know whether a door is open, closed, or blocked by a truck. These systems can then manage truck arrivals accordingly and see where space is available to guide drivers efficiently. These features will be added over the course of the year. The great thing about software development is that it never really ends—further development is a continuous process. But even now, we’re able to monitor door systems live. Even if a customer doesn’t want live monitoring, they can access the master data via the cloud: they can see which door system is installed at which location, with which drive and which springs. If a problem occurs, the service manager can react immediately—that’s already a huge added value.

I’ll include the link to the NovoServiceHub and the associated apps in the show notes. Take a look—it’s really impressive what can be done with it. You’ve already mentioned control data like power curves. How do you collect this data? How does data acquisition and transmission work at the door? Is there a gateway?

Alexander

The IoT data comes from your side. Our task is to provide the software solution that serves as the central cloud platform, which is operated by Novoferm. We were involved in designing the interface between the doors and the platform, but the data itself comes from a control system developed by Novoferm. There’s also hardware and embedded software development involved in that process. The control unit and the control panel are directly integrated into the doors.

There’s also a dedicated company specializing in control systems—isn’t it called TORMATIC?

Nabil

Yes, that’s correct.

Alexander

TORMATIC is part of the Novoferm Group, and from the beginning, it was clear which data would be available from the door control software. Additionally, they developed the capability to network door controls via Bluetooth—developed by TORMATIC, with some external support. Smartsquare wasn’t directly involved in that part. Beyond that, there’s a gateway component that connects to the internet via SIM card or Wi-Fi.

Nabil

Yes, exactly. Yes, exactly. You can either connect the gateway to an available Wi-Fi network or use an LTE router.

Alexander

This is where our platform comes into play. It runs on the internet, and the gateways send the data along with all the necessary identification features to it. The platform collects the data in a large database, organizes it, processes it, and links it to the master data we receive from systems like SAP, for example.

Two quick technical questions: First, are you using a specific type of Bluetooth to connect multiple devices—usually several doors—together? Second, you mentioned the data ends up on the internet. Is there a way for customers to pre-process the data so only selected information is transmitted? Can you share anything about that?

Nabil

The control units have an interface that allows us to connect a Bluetooth dongle for temporary installations or for permanent live monitoring. This is based on Bluetooth Low Energy technology. The big advantage is that no additional wiring is needed—neither for networking nor between the systems—everything works wirelessly. The doors communicate with each other and form a Bluetooth mesh network. A gateway, ideally positioned nearby, functions as the master, receives data through a ping-pong communication process, and forwards it to the cloud via the internet connection. There, the data is visualized. The control units send live data directly to the cloud when certain events occur. Additionally, production data from manufacturing plants is uploaded—this includes technical information necessary for managing the systems. The customer only has access to the information that’s relevant to them and from which they can derive value.

So, your customer can also control which data is transmitted? That’s an important aspect, especially when it comes to security. But you coordinate that together with the customer. Let’s move on to data integration. Alex, you’re the central software foundation of this IoT platform. It’s important to connect various stakeholders like service management, sister companies, facility management systems, and others. Integrating ERP systems, for example, for capturing serial numbers, is also a big topic. How do you ensure that the data is integrated cleanly and remains scalable?

Alexander

That’s often a sticking point in projects like these: interface development is always time-consuming. You need to follow a structured approach and, above all, communicate with each other. First, you coordinate with those responsible for the existing systems where the relevant data resides—or where the data will eventually be sent back. You start by analyzing which data is available, how it changes during various processes, when it is transferred, and how it should be interpreted. Then, just like in classic software project management, you agree on common interfaces, create a project plan, and define the implementation timeline. After both sides have implemented their parts, you connect them through tests and gradually move toward the final solution through various integration tests. To stay more independent during the actual product development—especially when optimizing after-sales processes—we try not to wait for the SAP interface to be fully ready. Those development cycles are often long, and the responsible teams have other priorities as well. That’s why we like to build simple Excel interfaces at the beginning: the customer manually exports the data, uploads it into the system, and we can start refining the development immediately. This way, we kick off pilot phases while the automated technical integration is developed in parallel. Nowadays, everything runs through APIs—we use the most open and accessible web interfaces possible.

Interesting, especially when it comes to master data. I’ve already recorded two podcast episodes with ECLASS, which focuses heavily on the standardization of master data. Is this also something you address?

Alexander

Initiatives such as ECLASS make sense and it is important to make progress here. However, at Smartsquare, we take a more customized approach. We first look at what the customer already has—the first answer is usually “SAP.” You might think that means standardization, but the reality is different: If I look at five companies, I find seven different master data structures and interfaces because each system has been customized. That’s also the case at Novoferm. The way doors and their variants are represented there is unique. And that’s perfectly fine—it’s part of the company’s core expertise. Our job is to understand how the data is structured and filter out what we actually need—often just a fraction of the available information.

If you’re listening, feel free to leave a comment on how you handle this: Do you standardize your data internally, or is that simply not feasible due to individual requirements? I’m very interested in that. To wrap things up: We’ve discussed the challenges and business case—how much time and money is lost if this topic isn’t addressed. Then, we covered data collection, transmission, and the IoT platform. In the end, you’ve built a system that allows service managers and other stakeholders to easily access the relevant data. This is probably just the beginning of a larger development. What is the current benefit for users? Are there already concrete results, or are you still working on it?

Nabil

Right now, users—especially service technicians—have an app that allows them to install door systems, whether they are smart or not. Even competitor products can be integrated, so we can access technical data via our web application. Many details can also be read directly from the device nameplates, which is an additional help for service managers. Additionally, the doors can be monitored live via the cloud application. We also offer a system for ordering spare parts. Our sister company has developed its own field service management tool to coordinate and manage service operations. We are creating interfaces so that relevant data can be automatically transferred from our system.

That sounds impressive—reducing maintenance costs and service efforts while improving customer satisfaction by resolving issues faster. You’ve built a system that will likely enable many new use cases. Maybe as a final question: Do you already have new ideas or a product roadmap? What’s next on your agenda?

Nabil

I’ve already mentioned a few things, so I’d say: Let’s keep people excited for the next trade fair.

Is there anything new from Smartsquare? Where can people meet you, or are there any new features you’re currently working on?

Alexander

Yes, continuously. We see many similarities among very different customers for whom we develop customized solutions. Often, we encounter similar challenges. That’s why we are constantly expanding our modular product toolbox, which we’ve been developing for a while. By now, we are also offering some parts of it as an out-of-the-box SaaS solution to support processes and improve customer communication. We’re currently following a dual strategy: On one hand, we develop tailored, complex solutions like the one for Novoferm, and on the other, we want to make it easier for smaller companies to achieve quick results and improve their service—with minimal effort.

So if you are listening and want to implement similar use cases, then Smartsquare is your contact – be it for individual software solutions or for a configurable modular product system. On my end, a huge thank you for today’s session. I could ask many more questions, but if you’re interested, just reach out and exchange ideas—whether about your experiences or how to implement your own use cases. Thank you, Nabil, and thank you, Alex, for being here today. That concludes our session—I’ll leave the final words to you.

Alexander

Thanks for having us and for the great questions.

Nabil

Likewise, thank you! It was my first time, and I found it super exciting and interesting. I’m looking forward to the release.

Thanks again, and have a great rest of the week. Take care. Bye.

Alexander

Thanks you too, bye.