Source: CHEFINFO
STARTUP COOPERATION. Making industrial companies more competitive with AI applications? This has long been a reality, thanks in part to tech2b and its PIER 4 network.
The name Aspöck Systems is probably not very familiar to the general public, but its products are visible everywhere - especially on the roads. Around two
third of all trailers for cars and trucks in Europe are fitted with modern LED rear lights from the market leader in Peuerbach. "Our success is not based on individual lights, elements or products, but on our lighting systems.
lighting systems. This includes the entire interface to the towing vehicle, including the design of the wiring harnesses with all their subsystems," says Christian Schwaighofer, CTO and COO of the Aspöck Group. The project, founded in 1977 by inventor
Felix Aspöck in a garage in 1977, the family business has grown over the last 15 years
years thanks to its bundled specialist knowledge.
The hidden champion now employs around 1,500 people in four factories and eight sales locations. Its most recent turnover amounted to 235 million euros. At the beginning of July, Aspöck Systems itself was in the spotlight when the company, together with the Linz-based start-up Danube Dynamics, received the
the "Edison" award ceremony with the special "Edison Alva" prize.
PIER 4 sets the pace
With this award, the Upper Austrian startup incubator tech2b is recognizing outstanding
cooperation of its PIER 4 platform, which has been successfully networking leading
startups from Upper Austria for years. "It's a win-win situation
for everyone involved, while at the same time strengthening Upper Austria as a
strengthened," emphasizes Markus Achleitner, Upper Austria's Minister of Economic Affairs. For the patron
of the "Edison" prize, it is precisely this close interlinking of science, research and business that distinguishes Upper Austria. The PIER 4 program
program from tech2b plays an important role as an innovation driver and pacesetter. The winning project by Aspöck Systems and Danube Dynamics is a prime example of these strengths, says Achleitner. At the heart of the joint
project is an automated AI-supported quality control system. Compared to simple luminaires with light bulbs, testing multifunctional luminaires requires significantly more effort. Each individual function must be
be checked separately. In addition, the visual inspection of the significantly brighter LED luminaires is very strenuous and tiring for employees' eyes.
eyes of the employees. The new test system, which is integrated into the production process, provides a remedy: visual inspection is carried out by a camera whose images are analyzed by specially developed AI algorithms.
images are evaluated by specially developed AI algorithms.
"We have greater efficiency throughout the entire production process. It also eliminates the
tedious and time-consuming troubleshooting, as our testing system takes over this task automatically," says Schweighofer.
Scaling the system
"During our studies, we dealt intensively with technologies such as
AI during our studies. We realized that it is very difficult for typical SMEs to
very difficult to turn innovations from research and science into market-ready
market-ready solutions," confirms Nico Teringl, Co-Founder and CEO of Danube Dynamics. Founded in 2020, the tech company supports more than 30 industrial companies in Europe. "All of our customers are in a similar situation
similar to that of Aspöck Systems: A high level of product diversity and a large
product portfolio, which often goes hand in hand with relatively small batch sizes. This
combination makes it difficult to automate processes," explains Teringl.
The company focuses on long-term customer relationships and not only offers pure software AI applications, but is also strongly anchored in the field of electronics and hardware.
and hardware. "This allows us to offer our customers complete solutions
offer our customers complete solutions," says Teringl. The collaboration with Aspöck Systems was very challenging throughout the entire project. "Despite the high demands, we quickly realized that we were on the same wavelength and that we were working together as equals," says the founder. "Communication was always open and transparent," notes Kevin Riepl, Head of Innovation at Aspöck Systems. He sees the great advantage of working with a start-up in the agility and no-holds-barred approach. As this project has been successfully integrated into the production process and has proven to be very positive, the roll-out of further automated quality control stations is planned,
both for the Peuerbach site and for other international production plants.
