Robust Lightweight Cardan Shaft

Project Information

RLICS

Grant agreement ID: 877649

DOI

10.3030/877649

Project closed

EC signature date 2 December 2019

Start date 1 December 2019

End date 31 May 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

JOSEF HOHN GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RLICS (Robust Lightweight Cardan Shaft)

Reporting period: 2019-12-01 to 2020-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Josef Hohn GmbH (Hohn) was founded in 1988 and developed itself to a leading company in producing high quality cardan shafts, cardan shaft components, customized hydraulic systems and hydraulic components in Germany. Hohn has longstanding experience as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for commercial vehicles (CV) including vehicle body builder, construction and agricultural vehicles and light and medium commercial vehicles.
Resource efficiency and the global trends towards CO2, air pollution, fuel and material reduction are main and increasing topics in today’s society and also affecting the production of CVs. To pursue these goals in the automotive industry, different solutions to reduce weight of CVs need to be found without a loss of security. This is one of the reasons why Hohn developed its new Robust Lightweight Cardan Shaft (RLICS) meeting all these described goals. RLICS is a radically new approach to construct cardan shafts. Due to the innovative design as well as a result of simplifying the fabrication, the new product is approx. 30 % lighter than conventional cardan shafts are and has an increased lifetime even under higher loads. Also, RLICS’s stability and safety are improved while proven materials are used.
The objective was to perform a feasibility study, to confirm the technological, practical and economic feasibility of the system. At that, the evaluation of the market and competitive landscape was a major point in this feasibility assessment. In addition, the objective was to develop an implementation plan and elaborate the business plan and commercialisation strategy based on the insights generated during market assessment and involvement of potential customers.

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

During the action, a feasibility study was conducted evaluating the technological, practical and economic feasibility of the system. The feasibility study focused on assessing market and competition landscape. Manufacturer of commercial vehicles in general, and vehicle body builders, manufacturer of construction and agricultural vehicles and manufacturer of light and medium commercial vehicles in particular, could be identified as attractive market segments for our new RLICS. The competition analysis has shown that competitive landscape is very comfortable. There is no direct competitor offering a technology with the same advantages our new RLICS has. Furthermore, potential customers and stakeholders where identified and involved (via interviews) to verify technological design and specifications. An implementation plan was elaborated for successful market introduction and the results of the feasibility study were integrated in a business plan including a commercialization strategy and an ideal sales concept for defined markets.
After identification of promising applications and market segments and after evaluating market potential, competitive landscape and feedback of involved customers and stakeholders, we conclude to continue with this project and to apply for EIC accelerator pilot / phase 2-funding. The objectives, concept and approach and the impact described in the grant are still valid and were validated during the phase 1-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)

Hohn is the first company who developed a radically new approach to construct Robust Lightweight Cardan Shafts (RLICS). Previous competing lightweight cardan shaft technologies for CVs are not feasible for market against the background of either high costs or safety problems. The new RLICSs are approx. 30% lighter than state of the art conventional cardan shafts while lifetime, stability and safety are increased, and proven materials are used. To perfectly address the customer and user needs in the identified market segments, there were some technical adaptions identified which have to be done to the new RLICS before market entry. This may cause several technical and commercial project risks which can be appropriately addressed by respective risk mitigation measures.
During the elaboration of commercialisation strategy and based on market feedback, we concluded that we have to use several communication channels and measures to directly address manufacturer of CVs. We also have to follow an implementation plan mainly focussing on the implementation of technical adaptions and up-scaling the production to develop and introduce a market-mature technology.
The integration of the new RLICSs will reduce air pollution, fuel and material consumption while supporting resource efficiency and the global trend towards CO2 reduction. Longevity of our product is increased compared to conventional cardan shafts. And another point which does not have to be disregarded: RLICS increases safety on the roads.

Robust Lightweight Cardan Shaft (RLICS) developed by Josef Hohn GmbH