Report
Teaser, summary, work performed and final results
Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Cassantec (Cassantec Online for SMEs, an advanced prognostic platform for predictive maintenance and failure of industrial assets)
Teaser
The loss of production, when critical machines brake is costly for any company. Tangible costs (lost capacity, lost production, direct labor, lost innovation, etc.) are directly hitting the financial performance. Depending on industry type maintenance accounts between up to...
Summary
The loss of production, when critical machines brake is costly for any company. Tangible costs (lost capacity, lost production, direct labor, lost innovation, etc.) are directly hitting the financial performance. Depending on industry type maintenance accounts between up to 70% of the total production cost in manufacturing organizations, maintenance related costs are estimated to be 25% of the overall operating costs. About 30% of maintenance costs are related to unnecessary expenditures, due to bad planning, overtime of maintenance technicians and unmet preventive maintenance. Contribution to European Challenges of the project is immense since it addresses the sector of SMEs – which in 2014 accounted for 99.8% of all enterprises in the non-financial business sector of the EU. For every km2 of land surface the EU has, an average of 5 SMEs can be found. Moreover, in 2014 SMEs employed almost 90 million people - 67% of total employment, and generated 58% of the sector’s value added – therefore the competitiveness of this sector is the top priority for the EU economic growth and social stability. Cassantec Online for SMEs provides an online service that prognosticates future events, to minimize equipment and plant downtime and to reduce operating and maintenance costs (O&M).
Work performed
During Phase 1, in collaboration with sensor technology providers, the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and product development plan have been defined. The MVP has been narrowed down for the first 6 key applications, i.e. small industrial assets (generators, pumps, compressors, conveyors, heat exchangers and fans). Project resource and project risks were evaluated and a budget was estimated. Contacts were made and negations took place between Cassantec and key partners (Sensosurf, First Sensor, Factor-E Analytics and Siemens) in regards to the product development phase, but also for the commercialization phase. During the product development, the focus area will also be IP Management, to secure the future commercial benefits. Pilot users for the validation during product development were secured by own means and via the BVMW. During Phase 1, the target market of 5.33 million SMEs, active in Manufacturing, Construction and Transportation was assessed. In our initial assessment, this target market will give substantial market opportunity for the commercialization steps after Phase 2, thus generating significant profit (€9.7 M) and providing an attractive ROI of 5 over 5 years. Market barriers were evaluated and a commercialization as well as a communication plan prepared. First commercial interest by customers such as BRÜGGEN Fahrzeugwerk & Service GmbH and IFA Rotorion were secured.
Final results
The expected outcome of the project is to develop the Cassantec Prognostics tool for SMEs – a software solution delivered through a SaaS-model, which will be built in such a way that it can be operated stand-alone or as part of an integrated solution with IoT platform providers, although the user will recognize and will work only with the user interface. The architecture of the solution itself covering layers from sensor data generation up to the display of the results, has three parts (Sensor Hardware, Back End and Front End). The MVP will be validated and tested with pilot customers and small industrial assets under real operational conditions. Via wide dissemination activities the project results will be shared on national and EU wide level. Cassantec Online will be the first online available prognostics solution provided to SMEs that was so far available for large companies. It will be a simple, easily used tool to reduce operational costs of small and medium companies in the EU and thus improve their global competitiveness. Cassantec, the company itself will open and develop a new business which will provide organizational and financial growth.