The challenge of innovation to compete:
the integration between applied research and production activities
Industrial Research business area is based on developing the core competences and on building technological know-how, which are considered strategic activities for competitiveness and the opening of new markets.
We have established Il Sentiero International Campus, which studies Reliability Engineering (using test rigs for functional testing) and Surface Engineering (with research into the properties of materials).
We believe that innovation is possible especially through the close integration between the world of applied research and production and that know-how and highly specialised skills need to be brought into the company to be able to offer customers technologically advanced and competitive products and services.
BUSINESS AREA OVERVIEW
Activities
- Development of new technologies
- Development of new concept design of machinery
- Development of innovative technical solutions with reduced cost-performance ratio
- Design, construction and operation of test rigs
- Virtual simulation of models
- Material characterisation
Clients
- Major manufacturing firms
- Research institutions
- National and European government institutions
Il Sentiero International Campus
Due to the growing strategic value of Industrial Research in our activities, we have established a Research and Development company on Il Sentiero International Campus in Magreta (Modena). Emilia is renowned for its excellence in the automatic machine industry and it is also a favourable area for the development of networks of companies.
The facility is accredited as a centre of research by ASTER (consortium between the Emilia-Romagna Region, Universities, the Italian national research agencies CNR, ENEA, INFN and the regional system of Chambers of Commerce) and represents a perfect blend of knowing how to think and how to do. Once fully operative, it will host 50 professionals,
of whom engineers, physicists and chemists.
The Campus that today covers an area of 300 sqm and will move by 2018 to a 37,000-sqm facility with ample space for technical and administrative offices, conference rooms and laboratories. The goal is to become an international centre of reference in industrial research.
Reliability Engineering
We provide solutions and services in the field of Reliability Engineering, a science that deals with the study of the ability of materials and systems to perform the required function under certain conditions for a set period of time.
The test rigs that we design and produce, in synergy with our customers, reproduce specific functions with mechanical, thermal and chemical stress forces, that determine the life cycle of a system and the conditions in which failures or breakage may occur.
Surface Engineering
Surface Engineering designs and creates physical and chemical methods that are able to modify the surface and subsurface layers of a body in order to obtain characteristics deemed optimal for a given application.
In particular, Il Sentiero International Campus is engaged in material characterisation, that is to say the study of their behaviour through the use of specific equipment that tests samples in a wide variety of ways. The company carries out mechanical tests, thermal analyses of diffusivity and conductivity, tribological tests (study of wear and corrosion) and failure analysis.
Results
Our Reliability Engineering activities provide certain data on the lifetime of components and systems and we are able to determine the suitability of a material for specific uses, its compatibility based on the context of application and its final performance. Through the analysis of the test results and thanks to an entire Technical Department, we support clients in the design or redesign of systems and components at a lower cost and for their industrialisation. At the same time, we are engaged in identifying new technologies, new materials and the concept design of machines to optimize the costs of development and support in the field of automatic machines.
Technical Director Business Manager Industrial Research
Ing. Nicola Pozzan
Scientific Director Ecor Campus
Ing. Riccardo Franci