Collaborate to Innovate: Mercedes-Benz & Thread in Motion
This Case Study tells the story of Thread in Motion and how a pilot test with Mercedes-Benz evolved into a successful commercial engagement.
Case Study Thread in Motion & Mercedes-Benz
Notes Even for the most innovative of corporates, the sheer volume of people, geographies and processes that can slow down their world makes working with agile, enthusiastic startups hugely appealing. Likewise, startups are determined to tap into the resources, customer base, experience and finance of the corporate world. It’s a rare entrepreneur who thinks they can go it alone. Collaboration is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and most startups know that collaboration is critical to help sell their product or bring it to market. This creates a perfect storm. Corporates need startups and startups need corporates. That’s the premise behind Startupbootcamp. But what is the reality of them working together? This Case Study tells the story of Thread in Motion and how a pilot test with Mercedes-Benz evolved into successful commercial engagements with some of the world’s best automotive giants.
Highlights ● Mercedes-Benz Turk selected Starters Hub - Startupbootcamp’s strategic partner in Istanbul as its innovation partner in 2017 for their 50th anniversary. Their primary focus was on engaging startups whose creative ideas will benefit the environment and that could have a positive social outcome and provide solutions to improve the quality of life. ● Their collaboration has led to unique access to promising startups like Thread in Motion, which has resulted in a first-of-its-kind pilot that made Mercedes-Benz Turk’s processes more efficient and ergonomic by using technologies. ● Thread in Motion graduated from Startupbootcamp Istanbul in 2016. The company produces authentic smart fabrics by combining textile and its technology. Thread in Motion’s new product, a smart glove named WIOS, aims to prevent blue-collar personnel from making mistakes by using these gloves.
Introduction As a pioneer of the automobile industry, Mercedes-Benz is committed to innovation and technological advancement. Their team is at the forefront of new age innovation technology in areas that affect their vehicles, mobility concepts, management, and logistics. As part of the Global automotive giant Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz Turk was looking to connect internal innovation leaders with the startup culture in the region. Its pilot-focused approach resulted in the formation of a partnership with Startupbootcamp’s alumni Thread in Motion. Their game-changing technology is already generating impact and now having one of the world’s largest automotive giant among its first customers - Mercedes-Benz Turk!
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Challenge In 2017 Mercedes-Benz Turk reached a significant milestone - 50 years of continuous product transformation to meet changing customer requirements with innovative solutions. They have always maintained its position as the market leader, but it’s not an easy task to do! They accept the challenges associated with such developments and creating new dimensions of mobility. Hence the company wanted to accelerate and strengthen its innovation capability — inside and outside the organization.
Opportunity Mercedes-Benz ran a project in collaboration with StartersHub and Startupbootcamp to support and reward sustainable and creative ideas which benefit the society and have positive environmental impacts and convenience solutions. The company planned to allocate 110,000 Euro (500,000 TL) to support 50 revolutionizing startups transform their smart ideas into business models. The contest gained 680 applications from 59 cities in Turkey and Kadir Demircioğlu’s solution - Thread in Motion was awarded one of the top three prizes. Bülent Acicbe, Mercedes-Benz Turk Board Member in Charge of Bus Production says: “I find it very valuable to collaborate with Thread In Motion. By incorporating smart gloves into our manufacturing process, we have supported Thread In Motion, an innovative enterprise, and have improved our processes. This cooperation has benefited both sides. We are already using 17 smart gloves in our Hoşdere Bus Plant. We plan to extend the use of smart gloves in logistics and manufacturing areas. We are planning to increase our speed and efficiency with the use of smart gloves.”
Solution Thread In Motion is producing authentic smart fabrics by combining textile and its technology. They entered the Mercedes-Benz Turk’s challenge with their new product, a smart glove named WIOS. WIOS presents 32 different sensors, and many features such as the haptic feedback mechanism and can be used without the need for cabling thanks to the conductive yarn technology. Its technology prevents the user from making mistakes such as placing products on the wrong shelves. Shortly after the winning the Mercedes-Benz innovation challenge, the two companies started a pilot to use the wearable smart gloves in Mercedes-Benz Turk to make the processes more efficient and ergonomic. Thread in Motion developed customized intelligent gloves to meet the needs of Mercedes-Benz Turk's production facilities and have been used in Hoşdere Bus plant since July 2018.
Logo Textile is woven into our lives. At Thread in Motion, we are applying the latest technology to create revolutionising products that could change the way we do business - from the world’s first smart suit to WIOS, an intelligent glove widely used in the automotive industry. Mercedes-Benz is an early adopter of new technologies and we worked closely together to develop optimal solutions to fit their needs. Our collaboration with Mercedes-Benz opened a lot of doors and soon we started working with Renault, Hyundai and Fiat, and automotive suppliers such as Bridgestone - Lassa. Now we are tapping into retail, logistics, aviation and e-commerce industries. Kadir Demircioglu, CEO and Founder of Thread in Motion
Impact WIOS smart gloves are used in Hoşdere Bus Plant in the preparation areas of the axle, engine, exhaust, storage and interior maintenance covers. With the use of smart gloves, engineers can run multiple logistic processes simultaneously and more accurately. Thus, losses are minimized and the process becomes more transparent and controllable. Today 17 smart gloves are used in Hoşdere Bus Plant spread across material flow management employees who are using 12 gloves and warehouse management employees who own five. In the coming period, it is planned to expand the use of smart gloves, primarily in the fields of logistics and later in manufacturing areas. Thread in Motion, which develops their own internet of things (IoT) objects for smart gloves to communicate with each other and to work flawlessly, can carry their data to the cloud thanks to these products and allows all mechanisms to be connected to the internet. For Thread in Motion, partnering with Mercedes-Benz Turk has provided strategic value as they can leverage Mercedes-Benz’s corporate relationships and networks to accelerate business development and secure more revenue sharing opportunities. Thread in Motion’s smart glove is intended to be used in sectors such as logistics, aerospace and retail chain in the future.
Acknowledgements We’d like to thank Arbil Baran, Mercedes-Benz Turk spokesperson and Bülent Acicbe, Mercedes-Benz Turk Board Member in Charge of Bus Production as well as Kadir Demircioglu, CEO and Founder of Thread in Motion for taking part in this case study and sharing their valuable insights. About Startupbootcamp Startupbootcamp is a global network of innovation programs with 15 industry-specific accelerators, 4 Scale programs for growth-stage teams, and 2 SBC Colab designed for corporate innovation to tackle real business problems. We partner with leading global brands to support the next generation of innovators. Since founding in 2010, we have worked with nearly 700 founders, 250+ global brands and facilitated hundreds of partnerships between our alumni and corporate partners. For more information about Startupbootcamp www.startupbootcamp.org For partnership inquiries [email protected] Join the Conversation @Sbootcamp www.linkedin.com/Startupbootcamp www.facebook.com/Startupbootcamp
