New synchro-tilt mechanism for high quality and cost-effective office chairs

Project Information

SYNCHRO-CHAIR

Grant agreement ID: 717618

DOI

10.3030/717618

Project closed

EC signature date 29 February 2016

Start date 1 February 2016

End date 31 May 2016

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Nanotechnologies

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

MOVING SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SYNCHRO-CHAIR (New synchro-tilt mechanism for high quality and cost-effective office chairs)

Reporting period: 2016-02-01 to 2016-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Synchro-Chair is a high quality office chair, designed for the wellness of the employees who spend several hours per day sitting. The innovation lies in the synchro mechanism - that allow the synchro movement of the seat and backrest – made up of just three pieces instead of 30 – which means fewer components to assemble, less process time and lower labour costs. Thanks to this innovation, we can sell a high performance product at the same price of the low wages producers.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In order to confirm the feasibility of our project we have carried out a study focusing on:

- Technical issues with the aim of:
a) improve mould characteristics responsible for product surface quality, so we changed the injection point location, figuring out it after several simulations;
b) progress in the raw material development, so we developed and tested two new blend

- Market analysis to identify the most profitable Countries among those in which we are already operating and new ones. The target markets are relevant (US$ 19 billion) and they show great potential growth (+3%).

- Freedom To Operate Analysis that demonstrate there are no potential patent conflicts.

- Financial forecasts expected from 2019 to 2023, risk assessment, and action plans. It demonstrated the economic feasibility of our technologies.

- Execution Plan for the development of the phase 2 project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

We expect to deploy SYNCHRO-CHAIR on Europe, part of Latin America, and US, contributing mainly to the quality of life of several employees who spend a lot of hour per day sitting.
Moreover the are the following benefits for other stakeholders:
- Moving can increase its market share.
- Retailers could get bigger margins from a high quality product.
- The society would be well-disposed to use a green product.

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