68% of all household water disappears in the bathroom. Often because we don't think about how long we stand under the shower, or because we don't realize that the water in the toilet is running. Aguardio was founded in 2017 with the goal of reducing bathroom water waste. The idea arose precisely while the founder and entrepreneur, Thomas Munch-Larsen, was standing under the shower.

First, the so-called Shower Sensor was developed. It records how long the water runs while you stand under the shower. With a Shower Sensor installed in the shower cabin, you can see statistics on your own time consumption via the Aguardio app. English Studies from University of Surrey has shown that tracking time spend in the shower has a psychological effect on people, as you become more aware of how long you actually spend in the shower, says Malene Paxton, employee at Aguardio. On average, 30% is saved on the electricity or hot water bill when a Shower Sensor is installed, simply because you start taking shorter baths, the English studies show.

In addition to the shower, there is another big culprit for water waste in the bathroom, which is harder to spot - namely the toilet. Every year, many liters of clean water are wasted in toilets around the world, and often this is because you can neither see nor hear the water running. Aguardio's studies show that 15% of all toilets run constantly, and up to 400 l of clean water can leak out per day. By applying Aguardio's Leak Sensor to the water supply, the sensor detects from here whether there is a water flow. If the water leaks continuously, the sensor will start beeping until it is switched off or the toilet is repaired. The sensor can also be set to send a notification to your phone. It is particularly useful if, for example, the sensor is installed in a business or in a holiday home that can be left empty for long periods of time.

Aguardio currently sells primarily B2B and via dealers to hotels, dormitories, waterworks and housing associations in both Denmark, UK, France, Germany and Finland, etc. But I wonder if their customer group will only grow as the focus on climate and environment continues to increase.

Aguardio, like many other growing companies, needs to streamline the stock management of their products - the Shower and Leak sensors - so that it is clear to everyone in the company how much is in stock: "Our primary challenge is to handle the increasing amount product variations and warehouse locations. There is a need to make the process of picking an item from the warehouse and delivering it easier and faster,” says Malene Paxton.

Aguardio's wish is to save working time, simplify processes and make it easy for employees to get an overview of what is in stock and how much is reserved for customers. "The system we had before did not live up to our expectations," says Malene and continues: "We needed to quickly find a program that worked." Today, Aguardio uses Tracelink's order, inventory and purchasing module to manage the order flow and now has the overview they previously missed.

Order flow

Aguardio's order flow starts in e-conomic, where a sales order is created, which is subsequently converted into a Tracelink order. Then there is control over the invoice when the order is sent back to invoicing in e-conomic upon completion. In Tracelink, Aguardio's stock items (Shower Sensor and Leak Sensor) are created in the system, so it is easy to get an overview of what is in stock. The stock items that are shipped with the order, is reserved and later picked out of the warehouse, so that it is clear for other employees to see what is to be used on the order, how much is left in the warehouse, and whether it is necessary to create a purchase order so that the warehouse can be restocked. If the stock is close to zero, Aguardio can quickly create a purchase order and send it to the supplier via Tracelink, so that deadlines are met and bottlenecks are more easily avoided. When the order has been sent, the status is set to "Ready for invoicing", after which the order is sent back to e-conomic. As soon as the invoicing has taken place in e-conomic, the order can be closed in Tracelink.

It sounds quite simple, and indeed it is. With a few basic features, Aguardio has simplified their internal processes and made the working day easier for the, so far, four employees who work in Tracelink taking care of order management and monthly stock counts. There is now control over stock item reservations on orders, there is a full overview of how much is in stock, and it is easy to make purchases for the supplier directly in Tracelink, so that the inventory can be restocked.

August 2023