Title
Electronic services for refrigeration plants
Microcontroller technology strengtghens the market position
Technologies used

 Microcontroller

Industrial sector (PRODCOM code)
    29 Non-domestic cooling and ventilation equipment
Abstract

Società Tecnica del Freddo (S.T.F.) is a firm that produces different sized refrigerating plants and other products for freezing, water refrigeration, etc.

S.T.F. has 9 employees, 2 of which have skills in the electrical field. The company addresess only the Sicilian local market, owning the 50% of share, with an annual turnover of about 1 MEUR.

The experience of the company mainly covers electro-mechanical and thermotechnical areas, while demanding to external consultant the design of the equipment control boards.

The old product was based on traditional PCBs, discrete devices and simple digital ICs, other than relays and control switches. The very poor performances of the existing controller prevented the company to compete with more sophisticated solutions in terms of cost and features offered by competitors.

By this AE S.T.F. intended to introduce the microcontroller technology in its products in order to improve controller performances, add new features for the remote management like autotest and remote control.

By the introduction of the microcontroller technology in the refrigerating plants, the company changed its market strategy from only selling stand-alone refrigerating plants, to the provision together with the sold plant of a full support service, allowed by the remote connection capabilities.

This put the company in the position to sensibly increase the selling price, taking into account of the added benefit which results to the customers. Consequentely, the company will reach good profits, even with a small volume production.

In addition, a strenghten of the market position against competitors is expected, since the new S.T.F. offer will result very attractive for the customers.

Considering the AE total cost of 57 KEUR, the payback period is 5 months, with a ROI of 1000% over three years.
Company
Società Tecnica del freddo
Via dei Nebrodi 55
I - 90144 Palermo
Italy
Detailed information
You can also benefit from microelectronics

Microcontroller technology provided Società Tecnica del freddo with the means of improving its products and enhancing its market position. You can also achieve significant benefits by acquiring the right microelectronics technology and utilising it in your product or manufacturing process. You can get help from FUSE to realise this.

FUSE is a technology transfer programme, funded by the European Commission to stimulate the wider use of microelectronics technologies by European enterprises to increase their competitiveness and enhance their economic growth. The demonstrator described here is one of many examples in the public FUSE portfolio covering the whole spectrum of microelectronics technologies and spanning a wide range of applications and industry sectors.

FUSE provides you with:

  • Best practice in acquiring specific microelectronics technologies and conducting full development projects through the FUSE portfolio of real life demonstrator documents.
  • Local training and expert support to plan your innovation realistically and help you conduct your project successfully.

Further information and support relating to this and other demonstrators can be obtained from the addresses below.
Further information   Guiding Technology Transfer Node
For further information and support regarding this case study, please contact a Technology Transfer Node (TTN) in your region.
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