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The triangle Science - Business - Education is the key to the success of the Bulgarian industry
The Bulgarian economy has a chronic disease - it operates with low added value, and not a small part of the industry is focused on the production of components and spare parts for global brands.
According to the Innovation 2020 report, in the last year about 58% of companies have implemented innovation, and just over 30% of those who refrain from innovation plan to start a similar project next year.
An in-depth analysis shows that in the field of engineering, the process of creating sustainable industrial innovations and products with a long market perspective is slow. This is somewhat understandable. The process from projecting through prototyping to building the entire product manufacturing chain is expensive and requires great human and technological potential. It takes a lot of faith and patience for a company to embark on such a challenge.
Avto Engineering Holding Group is one of the few companies that work successfully with Prof. Todorov - one of the leading scientists and his team from the research laboratory "CAD / CAM / CAE in the industry" in the field of rapid prototyping at the Technical University, Sofia. The idea is that most of the projects that Avto Engineering Holding Group implements require specialized technical solutions to certain issues, and the management of the company believes that it is good in such moments to approach in the most professional way possible.
The purpose of such cooperation is to achieve knowledge transfer, says Prof. Todorov, head of the research laboratory "CAD / CAM / CAE". Our expertise is in how to design a product, how to prototype, how to manufacture and doesn't depend on the products. Our clients are very different one from another - from microelectronics to energy, but the common denominator is the accumulation of this knowledge which we are trying to implement and transfer."
Prof. Todorov himself is a serious name in the field - he is the owner of dozens of scientific developments implemented in domestic and foreign companies and industrial projects with partners from France, Germany and Italy, and the team of the laboratory he leads includes three doctors and six masters with high qualification in solving engineering problems.
For Avto Engineering Holding Group, one of the goals is to close the science-business-education triangle. The involvement of the laboratory in the company's projects allows students and doctoral students to work there, for whom the practical experience at the beginning of their careers is invaluable.
In the last year, Prof. Todorov and Avto Engineering Holding Group have been trying to solve a crucial problem - how to recycle used plastic bottles. "We are covered by plastics," says the professor.
In fact, it is a compacting machine with the size and appearance of a waste container, the capacity of the machine allows to reduce the volume of any type of PET packaging up to 7 times, which in turn significantly reduces transport costs and reduces the carbon footprint of the companies that chose this innovation.
"This is an example of a circular economy," said Julian Dimov, an entrepreneur, owner and manager of Avto Engineering Holding Group.
The cooperation between the laboratory of the Technical University and the Avto Engineering Holding Group started in connection with a public procurement for the construction of "masts" for the antennas of a mobile operator. "We decided that in order to perform the task qualitatively, we must step on the scientific potential of the laboratory, as well as people with serious professional experience in creating products" added Dimov. The mobile operator immediately liked the fact that we came up with a proposal with complete design documentation and a full set of mechanical and physico-mechanical tests of the product and assigned us the implementation.
The fact that a large part of the Bulgarian industry works as a subcontractor with low margins is a problem, especially at times like when energy and materials prices rise significantly and most have contracts that do not provide for indexation, and this reduces their profits even more.
The synergy between the laboratory of TU and Avto Engineering Holding Group works well - at the moment the holding is developing with its production facilities elements of a hydropower plant project, which the laboratory is implementing for a big client from Hong Kong.
"Avto Engineering is a valuable partner because they are proactive and have a lot of business ideas - where we do not have much expertise. On the other hand - sometimes we are their clients, and this is a useful two-way cooperation" explains Prof. Todorov.
The latest project, which the laboratory and Avto Engineering Holding Group are working on together, is for disposable cups and utensils that are biodegradable and are not a problem for the environment.
"These are very important projects for us. Our company has existed for 18 years and we have established a strong and reliable name in the field of production and supply of specialized equipment. In the last two years we have decided that Avto Engineering Holding Group will become greener, and work mainly on projects related to renewable energy sources by improving the environment in which we all live and work" said Julian Dimov.
