Challenge
The global leader and manufacturer revolutionizes its business with a suite of custom products. The Opportunity The innovation team at Rheem knew a modern IoT platform and custom software could solve many of its business challenges, but needed expert guidance to scale and commercialize the initiative.
Solution
Over our 5+ year partnership, we worked together to build a suite of web and mobile applications on top of a fault tolerant, efficient platform. Since 1925, Rheem has produced premium heating, cooling, water heating, pool/spa heating, and commercial refrigeration products. They are a global leader in their space, known for a history of innovation. Rheem initially approached Stable Kernel to provide mobile applications to control EcoNet™ products – Internet-connected water heaters and heating and cooling systems for residential and commercial use. Their goal was to leverage technical innovations within the Internet of Things landscape to increase sales demand, generate and own more business-critical data, and help partners in regulated industries increase compliance. Working together, Rheem and Stable Kernel achieved those outcomes and more with solutions far more impactful than an app. What began as a mobile app initiative resulted in a suite of applications and a modern IoT platform built for scalability and commercialization. Stable Kernel pushes us to do more for the app and the services we provide. Whenever we have any amount of free resources, they will give us a list of possibilities for adding value for our customers. They’re more than a vendor to me. It’s a partnership. Value-Added Services with EcoNet™ Applications Empowering Contractors with Sales Enablement Tools A Modern Architecture for Rheem Manufacturing Enabling an Ecosystem of Partnerships To offer the most value to existing customers, Rheem prioritized building consumer-facing applications on the IoT platform. Stable Kernel built digital services and apps that provided homeowners with more effective and valuable Rheem products, making their lives more convenient. Application features included control, scheduling, urgent alerts, and energy usage statistics that augmented the physical machine beyond its base capabilities. By adding digital services to its products, Rheem improved product engineering and product value for customers – leading to greater brand awareness and customer demand. To help contractors increase long-term sales opportunities, Rheem developed applications that provided on-the-go access to data and insights. This solution is bundled with other common tasks a contractor has to perform when installing equipment. The information helps contractors to predict maintenance and service events and relays the information to homeowner-selected contractors. By making it easier to manage the sales and product lifecycle, the contractor is empowered to recommend Rheem to homeowners. Rheem’s internal development team built the first IoT platform for EcoNet™ products. As a cloud agnostic software team, Stable Kernel connected Rheem’s water heaters and HVAC units to Rheem’s existing AWS cloud infrastructure to transmit data and receive commands. Stable Kernel built cloud services to secure and manage the data going to and from those devices and added digital services available through modern APIs that allowed authorized applications and services to interface with Rheem equipment and customer data. The solution produced rich, useful insights for homeowners, contractors, and the manufacturer. As Stable Kernel and Rheem’s partnership evolved and we gained deeper insights into business operations, an opportunity emerged to strengthen the infrastructure of the EcoNet™ applications to improve the power and performance of the IoT platform. As a team, Stable Kernel and Rheem architected a backend infrastructure to create a fault tolerant, efficient platform built to scale. A well-architected platform enabled seamless, efficient data collection from Rheem’s smart devices. More importantly, it surfaced the opportunity to collect and analyze data from the environment the products operate within through open APIs. Rheem unlocked new possibilities for driving revenue and consumer demand through access to more data and smart partnerships simply by extending the IoT system to other players in the manufacturing ecosystem like Nest. With additional data collected from previously unidentified players in the manufacturing space, Rheem transformed into the central hub of data insights. By integrating with Rheem’s IoT platform, electric utility providers can offer Rheem customers the option of receiving a rebate for reducing energy usage during peak hours. Through open APIs, electric utility providers can remotely control Rheem customers’ EcoNet™ products to manage energy efficiency based on elevated demand response. Rheem’s Internet of Things platform for EcoNet™ products is more than just a platform; it’s the Ferrari of the Internet of Things. That’s what Stable Kernel has built just for us. Mentions in the Media: - These 4 Gadgets Will Make Your Home Environmentally Friendly - Rheem announces integration with the Nest Thermostat - Connecting all your home devices just got easier - Rheem Manufacturing Sets Aggressive Sustainability Goals for 2025 - All devices and apps that work with Google Nest - The Smart Home Nudges Manufacturers Toward Sustainability
Results
By providing actionable data through web and mobile applications with enhanced UX, Rheem increased sales demand, strengthened its relationship with third-party contractors and distributors, and generated more insightful data for improved decision-making. Empowering Rheem employees, customers and 3rd-party service providers with a suite of digital services on top of its products solidified Rheem as the go-to manufacturer and industry leader. - 18% increase in sales - 6% cost savings for homeowners - 90% hosting cost reduction - 78% user adoption rate
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