Rotomade completes L-DIH digital maturity assessments
Rotomade is the first company to complete both digital maturity assessments proposed by the Luxembourg Digital Innovation Hub (L-DIH). Managing Director, Arnaud Fournier, emphasises how these analyses and other current initiatives are consistent with the company’s long-term strategy and commitment to innovation.
Established in 2003, the company specialises in the production of rotomoulded parts for a variety of purposes, including industrial, water and sewage treatment, agricultural, recreational, and other applications. With the creation of new digital tools, Mr Fournier sees an immense potential for industry 4.0 technologies to boost efficiency and productivity within the niche sector.
The advanced DMA enabled us to establish a digitalisation roadmap, which is currently being integrated into our strategic plan.
Arnaud Fournier, Managing Director
“Most rotational moulding machines in Europe today are between 20 and 30 years, so they were acquired at a time when interaction with machines were limited without the capacity to collect data and interact with the user. Today we have tools at our disposal that could quite easily be integrated into the rotational moulding process and have the possibility to bring man and machine closer together, which is what we want to do through our digitalisation activities,” he explains. The integration of these digital technologies also allows for a faster onboarding process for new operators and technicians in an industry that now depends significantly on the expertise and skills developed by more experienced operators over several years.
Digital maturity assessments
A critical step the company took in 2023 was to undergo the initial and then advanced digital maturity assessments (DMA) provided by the L-DIH, which is managed and hosted by Luxinnovation. “The initial DMA, a simplified digital assessment, provided an overall view of our digital maturity,” he underlines. The company then opted to undergo the advanced DMA, which as a second step is a more in-depth assessment that evaluates five key dimensions of a company’s digital DNA: strategy, value stream, organisation, tools and methods, and people.
“The advanced DMA enabled us to establish a digitalisation roadmap, which is currently being integrated into our strategic plan but could also be deployed more globally in the world of rotomoulding. It highlighted the availability of technological resources that are now considerably used in the industry, but above all, it specified the integration process for these new technologies through structured, step-by-step training for the employees who will eventually be responsible for managing these new tools,” he adds.
Six staff members people from Rotomade and its sister company Biorock took part in a workshop in March 2024 on new tools that will enable them to programme sensors quickly and efficiently. “The aim is to give them these skills, along with a means of creating data quickly for analysis,” he continues.
R&D projects: Innovating for sustainability
The future-oriented company did not just stop at digitalisation; it is actively involved in two research and development (R&D) projects. One project in close collaboration with the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology was approved for funding this year by the Luxembourg National Research Fund as part of its Bridges programme. The project aims to replace its current wastewater filtration media that consists of rock wool with a sustainable alternative, for example, a new media based on recycled low-density polyethylene.
Our objective here is to pull together the know-how we’ve been able to gather
over the years.
The second project revolves around developing a new range of products for non-collective wastewater treatment. Leveraging their accumulated experience, the project aims to enhance their product design and purification performance. “Our objective here is to pull together the know-how we’ve been able to gather over the years to develop a new product range that is truly innovative, highly performant, and increasingly able to meet requirements in terms of purification performance, which have tended to increase sharply in recent years. This encompasses challenges related to suspended solids and nitrogen treatment, also known as denitrification.”