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| Successful Transnational Technology Transfer Concluded |
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In the beginning of September 2000 IRC – Bulgaria, using its database, determined 100 companies with a potential for technology cooperation and development and contacted them by mail.
As a result of the targeted mailing in October Ms. Kalina Miteva, the General Manager of Ludogorie 91, contacted the IRC. She explained the technology bottlenecks in the manufacturing process:
Ludogorie-91 JSC produces chairs for the multinational company IKEA. Due to the expansion of the export they needed technology to help them lower the production time and costs. The weakness of the manufacturing process was identified in the processing of the rear leg of one of the models. Some time ago the technologists and the experts of the factory decided to use bending of the leg instead of the contour cutting. By the preliminary estimations it had to increase the efficiency of material consumption and double the manufacturing output. For the implementation of the task the factory bought a high-frequency generator, made a mould and started to produce the legs with the new technology. But it appeared that a lot of cracks occurred in the point of the bending. After several attempts to solve the problem the managers decided to use an external expert. This is how IRC-Bulgaria was contacted with a request for help.
In 10 days IRC-Bulgaria organised a business trip to the town of Kubrat (Northeastern part of Bulgaria) and proceeded with technological audit of the factory. With the help of the experts from the factory a technology request was elaborated, which was disseminated via the BBS.
Mr. Rolf Olsson at Centek and IRC Northern Sweden found the request on the BBS. As Sweden has a lot of companies and knowledge within the wood industry, he thought that the solution could be found in his country. After some investigation Mr. Olsson found the company Palskog Innovation AB and got in contact with the Swedish expert in the field of wood bending, Mr. Ola Hugosson. Then Mr. Rolf Olsson contacted IRC-Bulgaria and offered to help in finding a solution.
IRC – Bulgaria in collaboration with IRC – Northern Sweden organised the meeting between the two parties of the TTT at the premises of Ludogorie-91 JSC in the town of Kubrat, Bulgaria. At the end of February 2001 the project leader from IRC Bulgaria (Mr. Angel Milev), Mr. Olsson and Mr. Hugosson visited the factory and the two experts got acquainted with the problem. A member of the staff of IRC –Bulgaria helped in interpreting process between the two parties. Mr. Olsson assisted the expert Mr. Hugosson.
As a result of the meeting the Swedish expert offered a technological solution - a mould with build-in pneumatic equipment, which is likely to overcome the cracking problems.
A contract for development and delivery of the suggested equipment was signed between Palskog Innovation AB and Ludogorie-91 JSC. At the end of May, 2001 the mould was delivered and installed in the factory. The results of the acquisition of the new equipment led to decrease of the non-recoverable reject and the duration of the production cycle. The duration of the production cycle was shorten because the new mould allowed a row material with lower moisture content to be used.
As a final result at the moment the waste is lowered to 5% of the production, which is quite acceptable, having in mind the structure of the material – solid beech. The processing cycle is also dramatically shortened by 30% (90 min. at the beginning against 60 to 70 min. at the moment).
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