LAUFEN Smart: Intelligent water management made easy

Press kit available here

The Smart Bathroom solution from LAUFEN unites smart IoT technology (Internet of Things) with faucets, as well as external and integrated urinal and shower controls with the intuitive Smart Control sanitary app. This app is the very core of the Smart Bathroom solution and enables the plumber who is installing the LAUFEN products to configure them correctly to the needs of the site. Once in operation, the sanitary fittings can be controlled and monitored in the app by technicians and facility managers, who are also able to diagnose any problems. Digitally managing sanitary facilities in this way is simple – push messages inform users in real time about the status, usage and maintenance of the installations.

Installing a gateway is recommended for large, connected sanitary facilities that are situated on different floors or in several buildings. This enables the connected sanitary facilities to be integrated wirelessly into the building’s existing central control system or into the LAUFEN dashboard via a smart cloud. Plumbers and facility managers benefit significantly here in terms of workload, as they are able to configure and monitor the installations remotely on a PC or tablet. And because the smart products communicate with the gateway via Bluetooth, there’s no need to install any special control cables either. If additional products or sanitary facilities need to be connected in the future, the solution is fully scalable.

Flexibility and savings potential

LAUFEN has developed its Smart Bathroom system around its extensive expertise in public sanitary facilities, resulting in an ingenious water management solution that can be adapted to the diverse needs of different applications. One of the system’s key advantages is its high degree of flexibility. Given that public sanitary facilities differ greatly depending on the type of building, the Smart Bathroom system can configure the cycle time of self-closing faucets and metered showers and the type of urinal flush to suit the specific requirements of the site. An airport, for example, where toilets are heavily used and cleaned on an hourly basis, requires a different approach to water management from a school or hotel, where these only need cleaning once a day.

A smart water management system also results in the collection of extensive data, providing detailed statistics about the frequency of use and usage times of the connected products. This is a tangible added value for those operating and managing sanitary facilities because the data can be used to drive down water and energy consumption, as well as plan personnel more efficiently. Furthermore, it also facilitates the keeping of mandatory records, such as those regarding hygienic flushing. In order to ensure the security of all data, LAUFEN has implemented the highest standards of security in the software and hardware design of its sanitary products, as well as in the gateway, cloud and apps.

Specific solutions for everyday use

If smart sanitary facilities are faulty or in need of maintenance, the facilities’ operator or the building’s technical service team automatically receives a push notification via the LAUFEN dashboard or the building’s central control system. This optimises processes, speeds up response times and improves the service, as less downtime is to be expected. The scenarios below illustrate the advantages of remote management in everyday operations.

Scenario 1 – Foresight is better than hindsight
The technical staff of a hospital calculates how often the installed products have been used based on the statistics. This procedure enables them to re-order and replace wearing parts, such as faucet valves, at an early stage before they start malfunctioning and the faucet stops working.

Scenario 2 – Optimised processes
In offices of a major corporation, impurities are blocking a faucet valve. The facility manager receives a push notification via the LAUFEN dashboard or the building’s central control system, highlighting a malfunction of the valve in faucet no. X, in room Z of office building Y. Thanks to the detailed description, the malfunction can be located immediately, and rectified with the right replacement parts and tools.

Scenario 3 – Don’t give legionella a chance!
The caretaker of a retirement home can use the statistics to see which showers in the building are not frequently used. This data enables her to decide whether to perform a hygienic flush or thermal cleaning of these specific showers, or all showers in the building.

Scenario 4 – Service on demand
Highly frequented facilities, like those in motorway services, have set cleaning schedules. But what if the washroom had just been cleaned when multiple busloads of travellers suddenly descend on the toilets? Smart Bathroom sends the building services technician a push notification after a pre-defined number of uses, to enable them to send in the cleaning staff again. This procedure ensures that the rooms are always in top condition and the cleaning processes are optimally implemented.

Press kit available here