Updated QR code on BOS distribution cabinets

A cupboard passes through more hands than paper.

A construction distribution cabinet rarely stays in the same place for long. It moves from project to project, from depot to depot, from one team to another. The documentation that came along with it upon delivery almost never survives that journey. After the second move, the folder is in the office. After the third, no one knows exactly where anymore.

What does remain is the cupboard. And the sticker on it.

That is the whole idea behind what we have built: if the papers cannot follow the cabinet, then the information must be on the cabinet itself.

The question that came up more and more often

The picture we get from the service calls is the same every time. Someone is standing by a cabinet with a broken flap, a broken lock, or a damaged input. That part has a name and an article number, but not a name you have at hand on a construction site.

So calls are made. What is visible is described, photos are exchanged, and on our end, someone is determining which of the three parts that look roughly like this it must be. That takes time on both sides, and it doesn't always go right the first time.

The same applies to technical documentation. Anyone wanting to know what a cabinet can do and how it is constructed used to call internal sales. Yet that information simply exists—just not at the place where the question arises.

What lies behind the code now

From now on, the QR code leads to a portal containing the complete file for that one cabinet. Not of the type, not of the series: of the cabinet you are standing next to.

The test report. As you were used to, in the same place, with all measurements.

The parts list. Which parts are in this cabinet, with the article number under which we carry them. Indicate instead of describe.

Ordering parts. Directly from that same list.

The technical documentation. The documentation associated with this implementation, without the intervention of the internal service.

The owner and the item number of the cabinet. Handy on a site where multiple parties are moving around, and necessary when you want to reorder the same type.

Also on the cabinets you have had for years

This applies not only to new cabinets. Every distribution cabinet with a QR code now leads to the portal, even those from years ago.

You do not need to replace anything or have anything re-stickered. The code that was applied at the time now leads to the complete file instead of just the test report.

Why we can do this and a reseller cannot

We design, build, test, and repair our distribution cabinets ourselves in Hilversum. As a result, we know not only what is inside a certain type, but what is inside that specific cabinet — even if it is from 2019.

That is exactly what a parts list per cabinet makes possible. And it is also why it matters.

A part that looks roughly similar usually fits. However, it is not the part that was installed upon delivery, and that is what comes into question at the next inspection. A modified cabinet is, strictly speaking, no longer the cabinet listed on the test report — and after a repair or modification, a new inspection is required anyway.

By linking the parts list to the cabinet, the cabinet remains in the condition in which it was delivered. That keeps the test report meaningful.

How you use it

Scan the QR code on the cabinet with your phone's camera. No app is needed and you do not need to install anything.

Is there no code on one of your cabinets yet, or is an old code not showing up in the portal? Please let us know with the cabinet number, and we will rectify the situation.