High-efficient digitalized portable hydraulic equipment

Project Information

HIGH HYDRAULIC

Grant agreement ID: 867633

DOI

10.3030/867633

Project closed

EC signature date 10 April 2019

Start date 1 May 2019

End date 31 August 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

ALKAR S COOP LTDA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HIGH HYDRAULIC (High-efficient digitalized portable hydraulic equipment)

Reporting period: 2019-05-01 to 2019-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Hydraulic power drives a variety of tools in a multitude of industries, such as power generation sector and its infrastructure, civil engineering, and construction. In spite of its usage, yet the monitoring of the operation is not accurate, neither obtained at real-time. As a consequence, our industries face productive yearly losses of billions of euros, due to installations downtime, early failures, and poor maintenance. In response, ALKAR has developed the first Internet-of-things (IoT) system in the market for hydraulic tools, ACES®. ACES® is composed by ALKAR Hardware (sensors to record the tool performance, and connectivity to transfers the data), an App and a 4.0 platform for data analysis and digital services.
The objectives were focused on defining the technological, commercial, and financial tasks to achieve the completion of our system and start sales in Q1-2022.

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

We finalized a “minimal viable product” for end-user validations and feedback. Also, we analysed the technical aspects to complete a “minimal consumer product” (MCP) considering further requirements for ALKAR App, Platform 4.0 and Hardware. Also, we have designed a digital marketing tool (a Microsite) and established a roadmap to conduct new validation trials with the final MCP and early-adopters, and a usability trial to gain tool data for software analysis. Besides, we assessed the most promising target markets and countries for our solution and the regulatory aspects on EU Data Protection, cybersecurity (ISO27001), and international certifications (such as GS Mark and UL-1976 Mark)). Last, we developed a financial plan for the commercialization of ACES® technology.

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)

After the use of ACES® IoT tool in industry operations, our system analyses the quality of the work performed, and it certifies the validity at the time of its completion. The technology is versatile, as it can be implemented to any of our 40 portable hydraulic tools and almost 50% of the current hydraulic tool in the market. In this way, our system is the first Internet-of-things (IoT) for hydraulic tool in the market able to reduce the productivity losses & human safety and environmental risks. Moreover, the sales after HIGH-HYDRAULIC project will generate cumulative revenues, profits, and employment of ~€66.22M ~€24.42 and 40 FTE, respectively. Besides, when considering the total investment of €1.77M the project is financially exciting as it will give a return of investment (ROI) of €4.47 per euro invested.

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