Launch HN: GreaseBoss (YC W21) – Real-time system to manage industrial greasing
Greasing, you say? Yup, you heard that right. Incorrect greasing is the number one cause for machinery failure on industrial sites. Industrial machinery failure costs the global economy $21B a year. Greasing is a big deal!
We know this is an unsexy part of the economy, so we won’t judge you if you have never heard of a zerk (grease point) before. Some of our favourite places you can find zerks include super yachts - 200 zerks, private planes - 80 zerks, breweries - 2000 zerks, theme parks - 1500 zerks. Other places with lots of zerks include factories, mines, utilities, farm equipment, trucks and military vehicles.
The idea for GreaseBoss came when Steve and Tim saw frequent machine breakdowns due to incorrect greasing while supporting mine sites in Outback Australia. This problem costs Australian mine sites hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity every year - disrupted production, spending on parts and labour for repairs. We built and tested our prototypes during the pandemic lockdowns on the back deck, over Zoom calls. We have now developed our MVP and have quit our jobs to chase GreaseBoss full time.
On the hardware side: we put RFID tags that fit like washers under each zerk. These are read by a head unit that is retrofittable to existing grease guns, which includes a custom RFID reader integrated into the nozzle. It also includes a flow meter and supporting electronics. Our device has 4G, Wifi and LoRa for comms, but also operates in an offline mode for customers in remote locations. Our hardware is rugged, dust proof, and water proof for some of the toughest operational environments (and operators..)
On the software side, we record each greasing in the cloud, right as the worker greases the zerk. Since most industry is still tracking this using paperwork, you can imagine how much more efficient this is. Our customers get back to production much faster.
We are building a HaaS (Hardware as a Service - is that a thing?) business model: we charge customers upfront for the hardware and then a software subscription fee. We are experimenting with per zerk, per machine and per site pricing. We haven’t found the sweet spot yet.
We have GreaseBoss installed at a large coal mine, a quarry and on excavators at the dump in Queensland, Australia. We also have a South African greasing contractor using our system.
We will be online for the rest of the day answering your questions (we are in AEST timezone). We are very excited to receive your ideas, experiences and feedback!
151 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 221 ms ] threadI'm surprised I read till the end, even though I had no clue about zerks, until I read your launch post.
Your system looks amazing and solves the complexity and data entry problem. I wish it was just grease we need to track.
We saw early on that if we were going to add a computer to grease gun, it had to be very simple and never crash or lose connection. Our operators have zero tolerance for complexity.
What are you trying to track?
Those are all the regular tasks but each machine has maintenance tasks that each have different periods. Such as the vacuum pumps need veins changed every six months.
Oh, and general plant machinery like forklifts and vehicles all need regular servicing.
We want a system that throws up alerts when maintenance doesn't happen. So we are not replying on people to remember or check maintenance books. People leave and the organisation forgets all the irregular tasks they did.
The plant needs its own nervous system to tell us it's not well. Else we run until failure and have unexpected downtime.
It would be great to speak to you further on this to get your thoughts on what implementation style would work best.
my email is tim@greaseboss.com.au if you're open for a chat
Zerks are called Grease Nipples in Australia ;)
As a customer, I'd be concerned about longevity and data loss if/when you go away or pivot. Knowing that I could export my data, and re-implement my own backend using your open data standard if needed, would go a long way to easing my concerns.
Most customers won't go through the effort to build their own solution, and for those few that do you can easily out-perform with service, experience, and expertise.
You could even offer bespoke integration services...
We have built the platform with APIs in anticipaction of integrations with SAP, Pronto, etc. We have also built in functionality to export data out to CSV files. Our market is a mix of big corporates who want the integration with SAP and never want to see out platform and small guys who run their maintenance from checklists and like the platform.
In regards to customer lock in, the system requires physical tags to be fitted to the zerks. Fitting the tags costs man-hours and they only work with our head unit. We think this protects us in the short term, longer term the capture, hosting and reporting on the data is our lock in.
Our customers are not the types to go out and build their own software - they may copy the head unit though..
We still have a few iteration cycles on the hardware ahead of us - reducing size and weight and improving form factor.
Cheers
Not as much money involved but companies like Borgs have sites all over and hundreds of machines that need greasing.
Many of these machines have auto greasers, can you integrate with those to monitor if the grease is flowing?
The autoluber question comes up all the time, initially we are targeting the zerks/grease nipples that are too low value or physically cannot be fitted with an autoluber. We are also targeting autoluber refills.
We have some specific autoluber products on our roadmap so we can have all greasing in our GreaseCloud
For roll out, we try to upload the data into the GreaseCloud before going to site, then we have someone manually fit each tag to each zerk, they then use the head unit to read the code and map it into the GreaseCloud. Once it is in the grease cloud we can set the grease volume, grease interval, etc
For the timing, we have a function to set the operating timetable of each machine - most plants this is 24/7, however some are M-F 9-5. The intervals are calculated relative to the operating timetable of the machine. Machines can be "paused" if they are tagged out of production.
1. https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Team-Ships/PEO-Ships/Suppor...
We can get this much lower.
Overall, I love the rfid two-step idea - it's simple and brilliant. Good luck ! :-)
Edit: do you know of a company called Entytle [0]? Might be an interesting partner for what you're trying to do. (I don't personally know them, and have no affiliation)
[0]: https://www.entytle.com/
Can the head unit be used without the RFID tags, for example in an environment where re-fitting a zerk can take place on the next maintenance window?
The system can work offline, record the data in the unit and then sync when it comes back into range. Our use case is working all day in the plant, then coming back to the workshop for charging and syncing data at night
The head unit records all greasing, even without a tag, but its up the user to log in and map them to the correct nipple
https://www.greaseboss.io/our-product
It looks like you're trying to list a variety of different fitting but copied the same image multiple times.
There are industries where safety risks make lube happen correctly. Are they still in your addressable market?
Good luck!
Many sites are reducing headcount in maintenance due to high labour costs, greasing is one of those things that can be neglected. Our pitch is to do more maintenance with less head count, with GreaseBoss anyone can pick up the grease gun and be directed what to do, with no prior trianing.
Further down the track, we want GreaseBoss to power robotic greasing. But to get to this nirvana, you need to start with manual
It's true they don't want to spend more money on labor. And sometimes that means more downtime. But if they can spend some money on something that's not labor and improve uptime, they'll be all over it.
I would use this but we buy autolube systems everywhere we'd need it.
Industrial maintenance in general is a great market to be in - huge, huge spends.
I agree that there's a danger that this is easier to justify on Powerpoint than down in the dust and mud of real life industrial financials. (Pretty sure that gold mines do not stay open when the price of gold is too low to be able to pay for forgotten grease on conveyors.)
Source: countless posts on /r/skookum referring to idiot management that runs machines to destruction then drives maintenance teams to work overtime to stop the "unplanned" downtime.
- Ryan from UpKeep (www.onupkeep.com)
Oh god. The rest sounds great, but this sounds like the worst of renting and owning combined.
How do your customers react to this model? Can the devices be used without the subscription?
I'm applying my personal values here, of course. In practice there will probably be contractual agreements to provide the service for some number of years.
One benefit of the current model is that we expect lots of improvements in the hardware over coming months. We are rolling these out to our early adopter customers as they become available at no cost.
There is room for more creativity when it comes to the model
Regarding the business model: You ever thought of a Franchise model? Perhaps train a few folks (perhaps folks who were incorrectly greasing before) who can then take contracts for the large job sites?
I have seen this practice with diamond coring machines of companies like Hilti in markets like Dubai (building contractors don't need the machine , they just need the holes they cut and they don't need it everyday) where folks but the coring machines and then charge per hole (per Zerk in your case) and Hilti provides training to them.
Regarding the segment: If incorrect greasing leads to machinery failure, then perhaps look at operations where machine failure can be mission critical. Sites like Baffin Island, where large contractors' maintenance plan is "buy 10 of each machine" If one breaks down, they just park it and put the next one into service. OR Offshore Platforms where downtime can mean several millions down the pipe. Example projects offshore in Guyana where replacements are not available onshore too.
For example, the recurring revenue gives the OEM incentives to continue supporting the platform. Meanwhile, the lower upfront cost for the hardware lowers switching cost for the customer in case there's a better solution out there.
OK, obviously there's a big gap between this theory and reality, but just thought that I'd point it out :)
Congrats on launching!
We are exploring the franchise model, one of our customers has a contract to manage the greasing for 18k zerks at a number of different sites. They want GreaseBoss to drive their manaul greasing business, they can reduce head count and reduce admin overhead.
I used to go to Papua New Guinean gold mines and the use case of not being able to get a spare part for months is very real. These are the early adoptor operations we are targeting
If you have maintenance RFIDs that alert to when action should be tacken BEFORE it has to be taken - you will instill confidence and reliabilaty into whatever system.
It would be wonderful if you open source access to your data regarding the frequency of maint to a vector of injuries/job loss/production downtime etc...
And provide the definitive source for how effective such a product is in whatever market.
The RFID gasket thingy you describe might well revolutionize the automotive market in general - but I would suggest focusing on getting those bitches into the giant CAT mining dumps post haste - heck, they spend $70,000 on a single tyre - so getting that readout on an engine might be bank.
What if you would try to have "setup fee" and then "subscription fee"? Could that work?
Same thing, named differently :-)
> The idea for GreaseBoss came when Steve and Tim saw frequent machine breakdowns
Were you doing the dirty work, or were you watching from the office? Those RFID washers look a whole lot different to the guy with the wrench than they do to the guy with the keyboard.
I used to sell and commission equipment in the field, this meant visiting lots of sites and working in the service crews as a junior (getting tools, pumping grease, sweeping floors) to install and commission what was sold. I had a mix of field and office duties.
You are right in saying our RFID tags are not as rugged as they could be, we are currently making them by hand, while we wait for our injection moulding tooling to be delivered
PS> we are already working on the next iteration of the product tag to make them more hardcore.
Cheers
When they look at electronics, they see another thing about to break. These are guys that are used to dealing with industrial grade hydraulic systems and the like.
They also feel like they know what needs to be done to get the job done, and they are highly uninterested in introducing another way for the boss to more efficiently hassle them.
IMHO that means your biggest challenge is making fans out of the guys on the wrench through absolutely bulletproof reliability and convincing managers to not use it punitively.
This was precisely my reaction. And then on the flip side, when you see a deceptively simple solution like GreaseBoss, it seems so obvious in hindsight. Well done!
What's your tech stack? Are you looking to build out your software team?
Thanks for your support.
This is a good idea. So your system verifies that the right grease gun, with correct grease, is used on the correct port?
I heard a story from a nearby power plant the other day of the incorrect grease being applied to a bearing. The two mismatched greases reacted poorly and turned to a wax inside the bearing. Needless to say, the bearing failed catastrophically very soon after. Our system not only tracks the grease type digitally, but we also have colour coding on our tags and head units to help humans easily match colours to ensure they have the right grease in the gun too.
Cheers
I'd never guessed that this would be something that requires a whole system or even a company to handle.
But after reading this it totally makes sense!
It's amazing the amount of stuff we (I) don't know about other industries and its complexities.
Cool stuff!
That’s my take, at least.
I guess the industrial cloud is actually a thing.
I'd love to see a teardown of one of your grease guns and how you keep the delicate components safe.
We faced challenges with getting such a system to be "industry ready" on the shoestring budget that we started with and hence our very first prototype that went into industry trials failed early. Our later version has taken on board all of the learnings from these first failures as well as a bit more budget. The system uses engineering plastics (like acetal and polycarbonate) as well as high quality, off the shelf industrial products. That being said we have another 2 or so product iterations planned to continue to ruggedise the system further. Our customers on these sites can be very rough on the tools.
Heavy industry is where things made of steel plate die hard deaths. How have you hardened your electronics? What's the price point owning the "system" when realized into a annual TCOO assuming a certain amount of tool breakage?
The biggest factor is the human performing the greasing remembering how much grease is required for each individual zerk and how often they require greasing. Reading the user manuals of some of this equipment shows that one machine might have 10 zerks that require 3 different volumes at 5 different greasing intervals. How can a maintenance operator be expected to remember all of that information for all equipment across the plant? Managing this data is the core value that GreaseBoss delivers to the maintenance operators.
I know a number of industrial robotics manufacturers have been pushing data-driven preventative maintenance initiatives. Ideally (for the manufacturer) this work is performed by the manufacturers techs during scheduled operator downtime, including the lubing of mechanical systems.
Have you all thought about presenting an alternative arrangement for the lubrication responsibilities of specialized systems, like industrial robotics, that might already have maintenance responsibilities (possibly contracts) in place?