Strategy concept of vecco:net
Research and development for safe coating technologies that do not involve the use of chemicals that are harmful to health and the environment is combined with the application of modern information and data technologies in line with the concept of Industry 4.0. The vision behind this is to link the necessary development to avoid harmful substances with further development of product quality, process efficiency and sustainability for long-term competitive supply chains.
The concept is based on the "European Green Deal" strategy, by which the European Union aims to create a sustainable, climate-neutral circular economy by 2050. At the same time, the important market requirements and development trends are addressed as well, which have a massive impact on the industrial surface technology sector, a sector that is mainly constituted by medium-sized companies. The constant tightening of environmental legislation, the urgency to increase resource efficiency in the face of climate change and the scarcity of critical materials and energy sources, as well as the ever-growing demands of customers for more cost-effective coating solutions that are at the same time tailored to their specific needs, all together represent a very complex innovation pressure for companies.
Resolving this knot requires new, smarter and more flexible manufacturing solutions for metallic functional coating on a broad front, which will lead to a significant technological upheaval overall and whose development can only be realized in a joint approach by the companies.
Support with the
implementation of REACH
With the implementation of the European REACh directive in the surface technology sector, the substitution of Cr(VI)-based coating technologies - and the necessary research, development and innovation for such substitution - has become a priority for future action.
With vecco:net, the associations behind it want to provide concrete support to the companies concerned in this substitution process.
Impact on the supply chain
In many cases, the substitution of Cr(VI)-based coating technologies will not be possible by "simply" replacing one production technology with another, such as for instance replacing a mechanical drilling machine with a laser drilling system. Instead, innovations, some of them substantial, will often also be required in the individual supply chains concerned.
The reason for this is that, in order to achieve the required quality targets, the product-side specifications, material parameters of the base material (e.g. steel) and process parameters for surface finishing (e.g. hard chrome plating) are usually critically interdependent. For example, microscopic changes in base metal material qualities induced by a change in base metal production techniques can significantly reduce coating adhesion and corrosion resistance and lead to critical product failure. In dealing with such dependencies, partners in a supply chain usually develop extensive tacit knowledge to meet all required specifications and optimize overall efficiency.
Therefore, an important principle in vecco:net's concept is to develop and design substitution measures in such a way that established supply chain structures, business processes and partners in the supply chain can be maintained as far as possible. This contributes significantly to reducing the complexity and costs of technology substitution.