ZF Rescue Connect: When Every Minute Counts
FutureStarter Alexander Grupp has driven the “ZF Rescue Connect” project from an idea to market maturity. With the Group behind him and a lot of personal initiative, he has fulfilled a childhood dream.
When young people meet up, it has long been common practice to send each other their locations. When emergency services are called to an emergency, however, there is almost always a lack of digital connectivity and networking. Whether it’s a major fire, natural disaster, or traffic accident – positions are communicated via radio and marked on whiteboards or magnetic boards by the operations management. To ensure that everyone involved is aware of the situation, an inkjet printer in the command vehicle rattles away and prints out site plans, which are then distributed.
Alexander Grupp, Venture Lead ZF Rescue Connect
Alexander Grupp, who was working as a controller at ZF at the time, found himself in this situation when he volunteered with the Red Cross a few years ago, reactivating a passion that had already shaped him as a child. “My parents gave me a subscription to the fire department magazine when I was eight years old because I was so enthusiastic about every fire truck and emergency vehicle I saw,” he says. “After I was confronted with emergency situations eight times in two years, it made sense for me to train as a paramedic.” Alexander now volunteers twice a month in a Red Cross emergency vehicle.
From Personal Experience: Initiative to Connect Emergency Services
The obvious disparity between the real-life coordination and connection of emergency services and the technical possibilities, which he understood well from his professional experience at ZF, gave the father of two no peace of mind. “I started developing the idea for ZF Rescue Connect in mid-2019,” says the 37-year-old, describing his approach. His aim was to completely reorganize emergency management: “My goal was to connect everyone involved in an emergency operation, from the emergency crews, vehicles, and equipment to the patients, and to inform them about the situation with real-time data. Because when human lives are at stake, every minute counts. Operations management must be provided with all crucial information right from the start.”
Alexander took a holistic approach to the project from the outset: “In the ZF Group, for example, we have what is known as V2X technology – a vehicle, ‘V’, talks to any number of other things, ‘X’. This has evolved from the field of automated driving.” In concrete terms, this technology is used today, for example, to optimize traffic lights for emergency vehicles or when normal cars automatically form emergency lanes in the case of a traffic accident. In addition, sensors in the emergency vehicles can automatically transmit important status information such as extinguishing water or fuel levels to operations management. “These are no longer dreams of the future – they’re already in active use,” says the project manager enthusiastically.
Alexander’s ten-person team is supported by 30 developers in the Czech Republic.
Alexander sent his “ZF Rescue Connect” concept in the form of a PowerPoint presentation to numerous companies that make conversions for emergency vehicles. “I had no personal contacts and always had to write to the general information address on the website,” he recalls today with a grin. His success proved him right: a manufacturer of special vehicles recognized the potential of the networked and connected emergency control and operations management system, entering intensive discussions with the passionate rescue expert Grupp. The contract for the delivery of ZF Rescue Connect was signed in 2020. The venture has since received millions in start-up funding and is successfully selling products on the market. Alexander was also able to put together a ten-person team supported by 30 developers in the Czech Republic.
Although he was often dismissed for his commitment to his favorite issue, Alexander, who was officially appointed “Venture Lead ZF Rescue Connect”, says in retrospect: “I am very happy that ZF’s corporate culture allows for initiative projects that are completely new territory for the Group. I have experienced the past few years as if I were in a start-up, but with the support of the expertise and resources of a large corporation.” In the summer of 2023, the presentation of ZF Rescue Connect was one of the highlights of the “Global Technology Day” at which the Group presents technological innovations to journalists from all over the world every year.
Application and Use in the German Capital
Only a short time later, the Berlin fire department announced that it would be relying on ZF Rescue Connect. More than 360 vehicles are currently networked and connected in the capital. The system supports fleet management and ensures optimum availability of all vehicles. It seems that the system has been very well received – around 80 additional vehicles are currently being equipped with ZF technology. Because elements of ZF Rescue Connect also marked the launch of the Group’s first purely digital products, Alexander and his team had to break new ground here, too: “Our SAP system previously had no way of automatically sending monthly invoices for our digital products, as is common with mobile phone contracts, for example,” he explains. “Invoicing was previously always linked to physical products.” However, because ZF wants to offer more digital connectivity products in the future, the team has done important pioneering work here.
“The feedback we get is very satisfying,” says the FutureStarter, pleased with the feedback on ZF Rescue Connect.
Today, Alexander is proud that he and his team have managed to get such a successful and meaningful project up and running: “The feedback we get is very satisfying. An operations manager recently confirmed to me that ZF Rescue Connect would have been a great help during his mission in the Ahr Valley flood disaster in July 2021. And everyone involved is working on the project with the good feeling of making the everyday lives of mostly volunteer first responders and emergency workers easier and helping save lives.” The ZF Works Council also supports the project, as does the ZF plant fire department, which actively assists the team.
One heartwarming encounter with his early passion was the feature of ZF Rescue Connect in Feuerwehr Magazin (“Fire Department Magazine”): “The almost 30-year-old magazines that I collected as a child are in a box in the attic. The fact that our project is now being reported on in the current issues has felt very good,” says the ZF FutureStarter happily.
