Tre-e consortium is a B2B technology provider, offering an IoT powered platform to Italian SMEs that manufacture lifts. They developed a scale-up strategy together with European DIGITAL SME Alliance to extend their business operations throughout Europe and provide advanced technologies for traditional SMEs to increase their efficiency and sustainability.
How did cooperating with a European business association allow Tre‑e consortium to scale‑up their plans to digitise SMEs in the Italian Lift sector?
Abstract
Tre-e consortium is an Italian B2B technology provider founded by 18 SMEs in the Italian lift sector. The consortium offers an IoT powered platform called Smart Lifts. The platform enables traditional SMEs operating in the lift manufacturing industry to digitise part of their business processes and enhance their productivity by efficiently monitoring their lifts. By implementing their technology via standardised data formats, the IoT platform could connect up to 40,000 lifts by the end of 2022.
Digitalisation and competition pose key challenges to SMEs that are part of the Tre-e consortium. SMEs in the lift sector feel the increasing need to adapt to digitalisation processes to avoid being left behind. Although the Tree-e consortium SMEs are competitors themselves, they decided to prioritize innovation and join forces to stay competitive, collectively. Facing the diversity of applications in the lift sector, from mechanical to fully digital, Wi-Fi-equipped elevators, the consortium’s started to gather data on the different types with the goal to pool and standardise data formats to be able to manage lifts more efficiently.
IoT technologies allow SMEs to coordinate logistics amongst the different stakeholders in the supply chain for the production maintenance of lifts. Tre-e consortium has centralised the operation and upkeep of managing lifts, ensuring that repairs are performed efficiently when needed. By implementing IoT sensors, the SMEs who manage the lifts are able to access important measurements. Administrative and historical data notify them of possible service efficiency improvements. Other emerging technologies such as Blockchain and AI are beginning to be integrated within the platform to enhance the operational efficiency, e.g. by predicting maintenance needs.
An example for their collective action on digitalisation is the consortium’s joint training centre opened in 2015. While the five training lifts were initially intended to serve to upskill the staff, the centre rapidly transformed into a research hub for diverse IoT application for the SMEs. A crucial factor for this quick success of joint digitalisation efforts was the support of the two innovative companies Tecnodal and Elettroquadri who delivered the soft- and hardware for the smart lift control panels, thereby becoming “digital enablers” for the less digitalised SMEs.
Tre-e consortium’s model shows that digital innovation in the lift sector not only offers potentials to strengthen SMEs competiveness against multinationals. But also it offers significant values for Europe’s green transition: While the data analysis helps to optimise the lift’s energy use, the life cycle of the lifts can be extended by upgrading old lifts and connecting them to the cloud.
Smart Lifts currently facilitates twenty SMEs who manage over 10 000 lifts throughout Italy. There is the possibility for the platform to scale up within Italy, and at a greater European level. This scale-up strategy is a result of their digitalisation plan developed with European DIGITAL SME Alliance and standardisation experts who ensured the process met the global standard on M2M requirements. This experience of SMEs implementing innovative IoT solutions can be adopted by other industries and sectors. This applies specifically to sectors in which digitalisation can build virtuous circles by standardising data, connecting innovative companies and enhancing interoperability.
OECD (2021), The Digital Transformation of SMEs, OECD Studies on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/bdb9256a-en.
OECD (2021), SME Digitalisation to Build Back Better, https://doi.org/10.1787/f493861e-en
