"Although everyone is talking about digital transformation, it is really difficult for traditional industries to transform," said Chen Wenfeng, co-founder and marketing director of Blutech. The team inspected some traditional industry factories and found that many factories were still in the process of digital transformation. Reading electric meter data, or buying digital electric meters but not having the budget to wire them; when supply chain customers ask them to provide carbon emission data, these factories have to start promoting data management, but often get half the result with half the effort.
Chen Wenfeng, who has worked for Powerchip Technology and NEC Taiwan, said frankly that he used to work in the high-tech industry. After visiting factories in Taiwan's traditional industries, he realized that it was so difficult for them to transform. Being able to use excel tables may be called informatization. .
Chen Wenfeng said that traditional industries include steel, petrochemicals, textiles, chemicals, food processing and other fields. The factory spaces of these industries may be quite large, spanning hundreds of meters or even kilometers across the road. Some factories bought digital meters, but because the overall wiring cost was much higher than the cost of a new meter, they ended up reverting to manually copying the meter data. Why don’t you evaluate the cost before purchasing a new electricity meter? Because the environment of traditional factories is complex and the planning time for wiring construction is long, it is impossible for the factory to stop the production line to install new meter wiring.
"For us, this is a blue ocean market," Chen Wenfeng said. Seeing the difficulty of collecting data in traditional industries, Blutech has developed a WSDMS wireless instrumentation and electrical transmission system that integrates its patented communication protocol NeVerLoSs and related software and hardware to help customers collect power and related sensor data with wireless instruments. The transmission distance is up to 10 kilometers in a straight line, and the transmission distance in a mixed field with obstacles in the middle is about 2.5 kilometers.
The WSDMS system contains universal connectors that can be connected to sensors such as pressure gauges and flow meters, and can monitor data such as electricity, wastewater flow and water levels, and indoor and outdoor air quality. In the past, LoRa wireless communication technology had problems with packet drops, but Blutech has optimized the related technology and registered it as the patented NeVerLoSs LoRa protocol.
This system has been introduced by Far East Chemical Fiber Factory. The factory has installed nearly 300 smart meters in the past seven years, saving an estimated NT$1 million in annual electricity bills, which translates into an annual carbon emission reduction of approximately 209 metric tons. In addition, Blutech is a member of the Wistron accelerator team, and the Wistron corporate headquarters has recently introduced the WSDMS system for power monitoring POC verification.
"We want to be the iPhone of traditional industries," Chen Wenfeng predicts that we can assist 15 large enterprise customers in installing systems by the end of 2022, and reach about 100 customers in 2023. There are approximately 25,000 large electricity consumers in Taiwan, and coupled with Southeast Asia's traditional manufacturing industry, there are huge potential business opportunities.
Kuo Han, director of Blutech Sales , said that the company was founded in 2015 and initially used wireless communication technology to conduct customized projects related to the Internet of Things. After standardizing its products in late 2021, it has successively contacted customers in the steel, textile, chemical gas, and food industries.
Kuo Han said that under the goal of net-zero carbon emissions in 2050, some customers require their suppliers to hand over periodic report cards in 2025 and 2030. Therefore, carbon reduction is no longer just about slogans or purchases. Green power certificates will also involve order transactions and carbon tax payments.
"There are relatively few solutions for traditional industries on the market," Kuo Han observed. Faced with the trend of net-zero transformation, manufacturers are very nervous and have to start laying out the "foundation" for collecting data, and Blutech's system is part of the foundation. Compared with the deployment time of wired systems, which may take several months, the installation time of Blutech's wireless systems can be shortened to one week or even days. The factory can first install a small number of meters for testing, and then gradually increase the deployment scope. "Electricity is the lifeblood of a factory. Customers usually start data monitoring from electricity, but some factories start from monitoring tap water flow and wastewater," he said.
Blutech Chairman Lin Zaili once served as CEO of the Global Business Unit of Dalianda Group. At first, he only invested in Blutech Co privately, and later joined the team.
Lin Zaili said that his first job was at General Assembly, and he was responsible for the group's global business before retiring. Now he has moved to a start-up company with about 10 people. Many friends are also curious about his change of mind, but he said, "In the end, The important thing is to see the future of this market.”
According to their internal estimates, even if the company expands rapidly, it will be difficult to reach more than 1,000 customers in Taiwan within five years, let alone the potential business opportunities contained in traditional factories in Southeast Asia.
Lin Zaili said that companies must start actually collecting carbon emission data before they can develop countermeasures and take further actions, such as updating equipment. Handwritten data is not only prone to errors, but also detrimental to subsequent audits and certifications. I recently contacted an accounting firm and they are also establishing a carbon emission data certification mechanism, which shows that many people have seen this blue ocean market.
At present, Blutech has no significant revenue. The short-term goal is to win more customers. It is expected that the number of employees will increase from the existing 12 to 27 to 30 by the end of 2023. When the business model matures, it will be copied to the Singapore market. He has another company in Singapore. An Yilu technology company. At present, Blutech is mainly private investors, but after appearing at the Demo Day co-organized by Wistron Accelerator and AppWorks, it also received some venture capital inquiries and will conduct relevant negotiations in the future.
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