In April 2016, Serac has become a minority shareholder in Xpertech, a start-up company specialising in diagnostics for industrial equipment, located in Evry in the Essone region (91). This three-man company was created in 2013 by Gilles Morvan, and achieved a turnover of 200 000 Euros in 2015 with year-on-year growth of over 30%. Whilst this merger will allow Xpertech to gain credibility by joining forces with an industrial partner, Serac will also be able to expand its services by offering two web-based solutions : XSED, a simple solution to manage the maintenance of equipment in real time and NET-TAG, a solution to identify individually each product and enable interaction with consumers.
XSED, a simple, easy to install monitoring system
XSED is a web-solution developed by Xpertech to manage the maintenance of equipment in real time. Clip-on detectors, called "Cl@ps", can be installed without intruding on the equipment's electrical power cables. Captors detect active and stoppage phases, transmitting the information via a wireless radio system to an on-line exchange which feeds into the XSED server.
Thanks to its location within the Genopole, a business incubator specialising in biotechnology grouped around Genethon, Xpertech has access to the research centre's powerful servers. The information is then stored on a Cloud, where it is entered and managed so as to send email alerts, maintenance reminders, performance calculations, energy reports or detect peaks in consumption. The "Cl@ps" can also count items and measure physical dimensions, detecting thresholds and sending email alerts.
Xpertech has just installed this monitoring system at Rouiba, one of Serac’s customers in Algeria, who uses an aseptic beverages packaging line.
NET-TAG, Xpertech's other flagship product
NET-TAG is an application that opens the possibility of tracking products (bottles, dispensers, packs, etc.), transforming them into connected objects that communicate with the consumer. Depending on the amount of information required, it uses either an encrypted QR code, personalised for each package and printed in real time, or an NFC label containing all the data. The printed or loaded data is stored on Xpertech's server, guaranteeing traceability.
At the other end of the chain, through his mobile phone, the consumer has access to detailed data sheets, recommendations for use, videos for new products, and can find out if he has won a competition organised by the manufacturer, or receive an alert when the product is out of date, or has been recalled due to a problem etc. In fact, anything the marketing department can think of to provide the client with better information or increase customer loyalty.
Photo: Serac
