Malmö Live – Improved sense of control over equipment
Malmö Live is a versatile concert and event facility in the third-largest city of Sweden, Malmö. It includes a concert hall for 1700 spectators, a black box called Kuben for 650 people, a foyer stage for around 200, and various pop-up stages in its common areas.
The state-of-the-art concert hall was opened in 2015 and it includes the latest technology as well as phenomenal acoustics. Malmö Live is also the home of Malmö Symphony Orchestra.
Technical Manager Martin Berglund and the technical team delivers the sound, lighting, and stage solutions to approximately 400 concerts and events every year.
In addition, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra gives about 60-70 concert per year in Malmö Live and other stages in the Malmö Region. The orchestra also tours a couple of times a year.
To ensure that the events run smoothly, Martin and the technical team must have complete control over the technical assets. Since early 2022, Martin and the technical team has relied on the Trail Equipment Management System in managing the technical equipment and its usage in the events.
Main challenges before implementing Trail
”We are almost completely self supplied here at Malmö Live and we didn’t have an inventory of all our technical equipment. We did not have an overview of what we owned, what is the equipment status, what was working, what was missing, when was the equipment purchased, and when it was time to replace it. And we didn´t have a proper way of booking equipment for different projects.” Martin describes the situation before implementing Trail.
”I had been looking for a system like Trail for quite some time. It got so far that I at one point started making one myself using a simple database manager, ODBC. I did give up though due to the Sisyphos side to the project. I was quite pleased when I came across the ad for Trail.”
Read more: Why developing own equipment management system is a bad idea
Malmö Live is constantly building up its inventory and adding more data to Trail. Even during the implementation phase, they started booking equipment to events so that they could easily see what is available and what is not.
Sense of control and other benefits
Clearly the biggest benefit that Trail has brought to Malmö Live is the sense of control over the technical equipment. The overview of equipment shows what resources they have and what they are lacking. As a result, they have knowledge of the equipment instead of assumptions.
“The ability to see the life cycle of the equipment makes it easier for us to predict future expenses. Moreover, the co-workers can see who is using what and where, which also improves responsibility.” Martin continues.
Martin has also been impressed with Trail team’s customer service: “The contact with the Trail team is pure pleasure!”
Best practices of equipment management in a concert hall
When asked about the best practices Martin could share with others, he stated that “We have not been using Trail for very long. However, I would say to encourage the staff to book equipment for all projects. Even for the little ones. It is much better than just picking things straight off the shelf.”
Results
- Improved control over equipment
- Full visibility of the equipment and its status, maintenance needs, investment needs, and purchase history
- Possibility to utilise the equipment data for budgeting and investment planning
- Improved sense of responsibility among employees
- Ability to plan equipment usage in upcoming events and book equipment needed
