Project description
Salvaging Europe’s tyre industry
Europe’s tyre manufacturing and re-treading sectors are feeling the pressure from an increase in imported tyres, mainly from China. With the EU re-treading industry already in decline, the influx of low-cost Chinese alternatives is adding stress on employment opportunities across the region. Priced at EUR 80 per tyre, these may be affordable, but their poor quality materials and underperforming tread patterns fall short of premium options costing between EUR 300 and EUR 500. With this in mind, the EU-funded OnTrack project emerges as a beacon of hope, offering a revolutionary tyre traceability solution. By embedding UHF/NFC RFID tags directly into tyres, OnTrack will provide a permanent, unique ID for each tyre, streamlining re-treading and boosting safety and fuel efficiency.
Objective
Europe’s tyre manufacturing and re-treading industries are under increasing threat from imported tyres mainly from China. The EU re-treading industry is valued at €1.2bn (2015) but is declining due to the influx of Chinese tyres leading to the loss of highly-skilled jobs.
The low-cost imported tyres cost on average €80 per tyre compared to €300-500 from a premium manufacturer. The temptation to buy these low-cost tyres is clear, however they are manufactured from poor quality materials with tread patterns that underperform. The ethos of cheap tyres is ‘use and replace’, whereas premium tyres are built to be re-treaded to increase lifetime. As a result, imported tyres are not cost effective over the lifetime of the tyres due to poor fuel economy and performance. Use of premium tyres and re-treading over the use and replace model needs to be encouraged to increase safety and fuel efficiency.
Silent Sensors are an innovative IoT company that are working on a tyre traceability solution to remove the logistical burden of re-treading for FOs. We are manufacturing UHF/NFC RFID tags ‘OnTrack’ to embed directly into tyres which provides each tyre with a permanent, unique ID for life. Our tags can store data from the manufacturing process and key events during operational use such as repairs etc. This comprehensive history for each tyre makes it easier for FOs to plan their tyre re-treads. This data also makes the re-tread process simpler as the tyre history will speed-up integrity tests.
OnTrack is the only tyre traceability solution that offers NFC – empowering employees to interrogate tyres with just a smartphone. We have a clear market opportunity with OnTrack to supply up to 40m tags/annum to a single tyre manufacturer. Based on our 7-year cumulative total gross profits of €44.9m post-project, the 7-year ROI is 5.44:1 with a payback period of 40 months. The Internal Rate of Return is 45% and NPV of 7-year Operating Profits is €11.2m (assuming a 3% discount rate).
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering manufacturing engineering
- engineering and technology environmental engineering waste management waste treatment processes recycling
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering information engineering telecommunications mobile phones
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.3.4. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.2.1.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
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H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
SK4 2LR GREATER MANCHESTER
United Kingdom
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.