We establish technological partnerships with our clients to work together from the consulting phase to the support phase during operation
With more than 25 years of experience in the railway sector, Bilerro has developed a portfolio of national and international clients comprising leading railway manufacturers and operators. Unlike many other suppliers, at Bilerro we do not limit ourselves to offering customers a range of catalog or off-the-shelf products and solutions (known as COTS – Commercial-Off-The-Shelf), but rather we aim to meet all their needs through a
full-cycle service, in which Bilerro acts as a technology partner and not just a supplier.
This comprehensive cycle that articulates Bilerro's integration projects begins with an initial phase of advice and consulting. Consultative selling is one of the fundamental pillars of our proposal, which requires listening to the customer's needs, analyzing them, and even identifying those they may not have noticed. This collaborative work allows us to focus on what truly adds value for the customer, maximizing their return on investment.
After this consultative sales period, the complete cycle offered by Bilerro continues with intermediate phases of analysis and design, integration and customization of the project, implementation, commissioning, and training. During this process, one of Bilerro's main competitive advantages is its flexibility , i.e., its ability to carry out complex projects that require tailoring the solution to specific needs and/or integrating with third-party systems. In contrast to other more rigid companies that offer closed and pre-established products, we excel at making existing systems coexist with new solutions, allowing customers to get the most out of their investments and increase integration efficiency.
Finally, the last phase of this complete cycle consists of customer support during operation, i.e., the provision of comprehensive maintenance services, which in practice can translate into activities such as asset management, repairs, preventive maintenance, technological advice, or obsolescence management. To carry out this service, Bilerro has an active monitoring methodology, which is a fundamental part of the added value we offer our customers.
The basis of the methodology consists of periodically analyzing and monitoring service activity indicators and their trends. Working groups are defined where, together with the customer, this information is used to dynamically adjust the scope and amount to be paid based on the reality of the service. From our point of view, this methodology offers a fairer deal to the customer, as the amount paid is adjusted to the actual consumption of the service and is not defined on the basis of a fixed monthly fee.
The complete cycle that Bilerro offers its clients in integration projects is therefore built on continuous improvement and the search for answers to all kinds of needs and challenges that arise during any phase of the project. It is this fundamental characteristic of our identity that allows us to maintain a permanent technological consulting and advisory service and, consequently, to close the circle by starting the cycle again.
A value proposal in embedded systems based on integration
When it comes to onboard systems, Bilerro has a value proposition that encompasses both “classic” and innovative systems. Among the classic systems, the passenger information system (PIS) stands out, which is responsible for informing passengers acoustically (public address system) or visually (monitors/screens) of the status of the route based on the current position. To do this, Bilerro has implemented a real-time automatic location algorithm based on the use of different signals such as beacons, tachometers, GPS, or door signals, which allows for automatic and accurate train location and provides reliable information to customers.
In addition to the PIS, Bilerro also focuses on other classic on-board systems such as CCTV , offering video surveillance equipment with the latest video analytics technologies, and the public address and intercom system (PAS), which enables communication between train staff, passengers, and the Control Center.
Among the innovative onboard systems we work with, we would like to highlight a complex element developed entirely by Bilerro: the Multi Communication Gateway (MCG). The MCG acts as an integration center between systems and as an intelligent train-to-ground communications gateway to enable remote monitoring and operation of onboard systems from a control center.
This means that an operator in the control room can remotely command the onboard systems and, through Bilerro's RMS (Remote Management System) monitoring tool, view the status of the train's alarms and events in real time or delayed. In addition, the MCG is not limited to establishing communication, but also dynamically and intelligently manages the use of different wireless communication interfaces in order to optimize their performance. It should also be noted that the MCG can integrate third-party systems and report status information to monitoring tools other than the RMS, giving it maximum flexibility to meet the specific needs of a project and/or customer.
Both this system and the DBS (Data Base System), which is responsible for performing the train's database server functions, are fundamental to building one of Bilerro's greatest competitive advantages: integration capability. Thanks to Bilerro's technological skills and business knowledge, this integration enables different systems from different companies and of different natures to interact with each other. It is at this point that we clearly differentiate ourselves from the competition and can extract the maximum performance from our five decades of experience as a company and more than 25 years of specialization in the embedded systems business.
Written by Aritz Retegi, Head of the engineering department at Bilerro.
