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.
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
Modern day [public transport could use this in spaeds for morethan just greasing...
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.
Second that. HaaS is totally a thing in enterprise hardware, and I'd argue it's the one business model in hardware that sort of keeps everyone aligned!
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 :)
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.