Abstract
TECNOGIOCATTOLI SEBINO S.r.l. is an Italian Company with 15
employees and it is involved in design, production and distribution of
toys. The relevant industrial sector is therefore classified, in accordance
with an European standard classification, as PRODCOM 3650 - Toys. The
company has been active in this field since 1979.
Its products are racing tracks - in scale with respect to the reality
- targeted both for children and for professional amateur consumers as
end users.
The Company's lines of products are: 1/32, 1/43 and 1/66 racing tracks,
where the ratio indicates the scale of reduction for the product..
TECNOGIOCATTOLI markets its product mainly in Italy (it enjoys 39% of
Italian market share) through the company HASBRO ITALIA, a subsidiary
of the HASBRO Co. (England), and in France through other local distributors.
Its currently turnover (1999) has been 2518 KEuro
All its existing products are designed utilising mechanical and mould
technology with some electrical parts to energise the motors of the cars
and the race control. No experience in electronics was inside the company
before the present experiment, with the only exception of very minor applications
of PCBs, which were acquired as product off the shelf.
The objective of the Application Experiment was the realisation of a prototype
of a Microcontroller based Control Unit to be used in the "Polistil Formula
1" race track models, as improvement of the existing product, in order
to be able to face the strong competition in this market sector, coming
both from traditional competitors and newcomers, like companies from Asian
Countries, as well as coming from completely different car racing games,
like Computer video games. The new Control Unit is designed with the objective
to obtain benefits in terms of cost/effectiveness and to re-conquer a
market penetration reduced in the recent years and still decreasing.
The developed Control Unit will be applicable to all the lines of the
existing products, even if with a modular approach of increased complexity
and functionality, depending on the different consumers targeted by each
different product, people ranging, from kids to adult professionals.
Other than increased functional capabilities of the product, the objectives
of the AE is the increase of the product profit from the current 27% for
the standard race track up to 60% for the SMART equipped with the Control
Unit.
This is obtained mainly by containing as much as possible manufacturing
costs (i.e. by using a low number of discrete and integrated components
on the board) and, on the other hand, by enriching the product features
thanks to a SW-based diversification. It is estimated that the new product
will increase the Company's Italian market share from the present 39%
up to 45%, increasing its presence in Europe from 5% to 8% in four years.
This project has been developed with an effective cost of 40.2 KEuro and
an effective duration of 10 months
The economic AE benefits are calculated in the period 2001-2004 on the
basis of the increased market penetration, due to the better performance
and market appeal of the new product. The next industrialisation phase
requires a further cost of 80 Keuro.
The investment is expected to be recovered within 10 months and the Return
of Investment (ROI) is estimated in 344%.
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| You can also benefit from microelectronics
Microcontroller technology provided TECNOGIOCATTOLI SEBINO S.r.l. 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. |
