Herman Miller Space Utilization

Case Study

Remote Occupancy Assessment

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Overview

Herman Miller’s Space Utilization service provides companies insight into how their workspaces are being used in order to help them allocate their spaces more effectively. Atomic was initially brought in to create a web interface for Herman Miller to monitor their systems in the field. The success of this engagement led to a more holistic Atomic engagement in which we were able to call upon our breadth of experience in web, embedded, and data collection technologies.

The Challenge

For companies with large and diverse workspaces, it is often difficult to accurately measure how the spaces are utilized, especially if work areas are spread across multiple floors, buildings, or even campuses. Herman Miller gives these companies a quantitative way of assessing space utilization. The service works by attaching small sensors to the underside of chairs or work surfaces in order to capture a continuous stream of occupancy data. After three weeks of monitoring, Herman Miller provides their customers with a detailed report with customizable variables — such as type of chair or workstation.

The Process

Atomic created a JRuby on Rails application using an Oracle database that deploys to IBM Websphere for remote management and monitoring active installations and we routed all communication traffic through one cellular gateway removing the reliance on the client’s infrastructure. We wrote a combination of C and Ruby on an embedded Linux device to receive, cache and report occupancy data from hundreds of individual occupancy sensors concurrently. Atomic also developed a custom protocol to reduce required bandwidth allowing transfer of a high volume of information though RF and cellular communications back to the data collection service.

The Result

These systems previously ran on the test company’s internal network, but this was undesirable because IT departments didn’t like having foreign computers (the smart receivers) on their networks without the ability to control them, and Herman Miller was not able to remotely monitor their systems to ensure that everything was running smoothly. Atomic Object improved the technology to make it cellular, so that it could work anywhere independent of a company’s infrastructure. This also allowed Herman Miller to monitor the system to ensure that all devices were running properly. Atomic Object created additional tests and automated alert systems to inform Herman Miller should any part of the system be unplugged or otherwise compromised. Herman Miller can now send wireless signals at 900 mhz from occupancy sensors to a Technologic TS 7800single board computer with a custom RF receiver. They are able to measure occupancy at any level the customer wants — entire buildings, team areas, conference rooms and individual workstations allowing its customers to lower real estate costs by up to 20%