Making Optimised Resistant and durable mArble

Project Information

MORA

Grant agreement ID: 854636

DOI

10.3030/854636

Project closed

EC signature date 27 February 2019

Start date 1 March 2019

End date 30 June 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

BBG SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MORA (Making Optimised Resistant and durable mArble)

Reporting period: 2019-03-01 to 2019-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The eyewear industry is currently undergoing a shift in trends where glasses are not only being worn for corrective purposes but also as a fashion accessory. There is an increase in the number of consumers who choose to wear trendy glasses to enhance their look. MORA Eyewear presents an eyewear range which is the first of its kind made of the natural stone which has been popularly used in sculpting and construction. The technology used to shape this fragile stone into small dimensions and smooth curves with gentle precision process was developed in-house by Italian company BBG s.r.l. which is a well-established specialist company in the sector of Precision Engineering. The marble is merged with a carbon fiber skeleton, through the use of a specially designed resin, to increase their strength and resistance. This was tested and resulted in the Mora Eyewear obtaining CE-marking. Each pair can be customized as per client’s requests through addition of semiprecious stones, matching of different materials and lens engraving. These customizations enable each client to be able to reflect their individual style and personality and assure that the owner will possess a unique pair that will not be similar to any other of the produced pairs. We can guarantee that no other pair in the world will be similar. There are 8 models that have been developed so far and are being sold in 9 different countries. These are gaining popularity and have been featured in popular fashion magazines such as Vanity Fair and Vogue. The main objective of this project was to optimize the production process of the glasses so that the production volumes are increased and the production time, costs and weight of the glasses are reduced. We also plan to identify other business areas in which the same technology can be used. Our aim is to sell at least 3900 pairs of glasses, generating a turnover of €8, 97 million by the year 2025.

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

Since the beginning of the project, we have been working on technical, commercial and financial aspects.

On the technical side, we have improved our production and assembly cycle, changing raw materials and production materials. We also modified our manufacturing lay out and certain manufacturing processes. These modifications allowed us to reduce our production time from 4 days to 2.5 days, to reduce our production costs by 25% and the weight of our product by 30%.

On the commercial side, we further analysed the market, defined a pricing strategy, identified competitors and started developing a commercial network. We could also leverage our Silmo D’Or award and secure a CE certification. Such actions allowed us to deploy a network of agents and we currently reach over sixty retailers all over the world.

On the financial side, as we could define a pricing strategy and have a better view on our production costs, we could fine tune our business plan and identify marketing spending.

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)

Thanks to this project, we are now the only marble eyewear producer being certified by CE.

For our company, such project is transformational as it allows us to start transforming from a sub- contractor into a solid player in the high end optical market. Combining the experience gained in the eyewear market and our long technical trajectory, we expect to exploit our marble range and further develop on hyper technological and hyper luxury optical segments.

Then, our new marble cutting technology can be applied in many industries namely jewelry, fashion, aerospace, marine (yachts) and automotive industries. BMW, Rolls Royce, Ferrari have already expressed interest in the MORA technology which is able to delicately cut and produce objects in a quicker, finer way than any traditional form of production and with much less waste in the form of resource scraps.

Finally, our improvements in the use of marble may incentivize other firms to work with this natural material, tending to replace other contaminating materials as plastic and metal.

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