Mobile Locker is growing due to increasing demand for smart lockers

Started about 10 years ago Mobile Locker with the development of a mobile and connected locker concept. Mobile Locker now has 17 permanent employees and a pool of about 40 students. The lockers can be found in more and more countries at festivals, stations, hotels, airports and even for packages in supermarkets.

For the connectivity Mobile Locker has been relying on the routers and service of Delmation. We spoke to co-founder Koen Mortelmans about the concept, the plans and the collaboration with Delmation.

Autonomous management of lockers at events

Initially the idea was to place the lockers on Spanish beaches. After a number of years of development and exploring the market, it became clear events to be a big question. Koen Mortelmans: “The only thing an event organizer has to arrange for us is electricity, we take care of the rest. Our mobile lockers are equipped with an internet connection and smart software completely autonomous to manage. The lockers can be like this 24 hours a day can be deployed without the need for personnel. A visitor can easily carry out all actions themselves via the terminal on the locker unit.

The entire process is online and automated, but we do have offline fallback scenarios in case connectivity is lost. Naturally, with Delmation solutions we do everything we can to ensure that the connection does not drop. The fact that this system works well is evident from the fact that we now provide lockers to almost all Belgian festivals!”

Full service for lockers at stations

In addition to temporary events, Mobile Locker's lockers are also increasingly installed in permanent locations. Koen Mortelmans: “A good example of this are our lockers on the Belgian train stations. NMBS does not want to have to worry about the lockers. This means that we take over the entire service.

Our service staff is available 24 hours a day to handle any questions or complaints. For example, if a complaint arises that a locker is dirty, we will immediately put this locker on malfunction status and the visitor will receive a new locker. We are also physically present at the location once a week to clean and maintain the lockers. We are the only party that can offer this service in this way.”

R&D and Innovation are very important

Mobile Locker distinguishes itself from the other providers by its innovative character and certainly by the flexibility. Koen Mortelmans: “If companies want a tailor-made solution developed, they often come to us. Our own engineers can provide the lockers and software completely customized to develop.

For a car rental company we have created a system where the entire process is automated. Identification and payment is done via the terminal, the papers and key can then be retrieved from the locker.

We also see a rapidly growing demand for solutions packages. For example, we have already installed various locker systems courier services are used. Private individuals also use these systems, for example, to leave a borrowed drill for someone.

But we see many more opportunities. For example, we are working on a concept for charging bicycle batteries in the lockers. We are also currently working on three patent processes. Hopefully we can communicate more about this soon!”

Very satisfied with routers and service from Delmation

Delmation and Mobile Locker have been working together since 2016. Koen Mortelmans: “We are very satisfied with Delmation as a partner. We buy the Teltonika RUT950. This router is for our service very important. We always want to be connected and only use it in extreme emergencies offline fallbacks. Whenever possible, we use a fixed internet connection at the location. In addition, there is always a router available.

The Teltonika RUT has a dual SIM option, which we use for a local SIM and a roaming SIM. It is also very important to us that the router works in 'extreme' weather conditions. We don't want the lockers to stop working at a festival because the router is overheated.

There are also constellations in it Andes mountains, so the cold should not be forgotten either. At Delmation we can count on a very fast service, ordered today is almost always delivered tomorrow. Especially in the events world this service is a requirement. In addition, we know that we rely on them technical knowledge can trust.

If there are problems in the field, we are not alone. It's nice to Delmation as partner to have!"