Nowadays the process involved to develop a new product, which includes its design planning, manufacturing and introduction into the market, requires unique skills- that were not as critical in the past- such as the ability to effectively coordinate a great range of multidisciplinary and cross-industry knowledge. The developers, who have success now, are the multiskilled ones who can deliver an eclectic “combination of technologies” in their products. The items we habitually use are indeed increasingly complex and no longer include just elements of design, mechanics and electronics but also digital components and even immaterial ones.
In this scenario a question for the models of industrial excellence appears: can individual companies still bring innovation today or does this inevitably require a partnership or a multidisciplinary group work?
It is a legitimate question and it is clearly full of implications in terms of competitiveness. The answer that emerges by looking at real cases shows encouraging prospects for the most dynamic pioneers, as demonstrated by the presence of different examples of excellence.
GDS – Global Display Solutions’ financial scanner provides a practical example of this strategic approach.
It is an all-in-one device that is specifically designed for the banking industry. It can perform a great variety of tasks in a rapid and swift manner. Examples of these are optical reading- for forms, payment slips, paper cheques and ID documents- anti-counterfeiting verification, authentication, dematerialization (digital acquisition), data transmission and endorsement printing. The reader, the scanner and the memory drive, the router and the printer all end up converging into a single, compact, independent and user-friendly device that makes office work easier- thus fast- reduces purchase and maintenance costs and makes it simple to digitally manage files for operations and customers.
This product – which is particularly needed in the market – it’s a good example of the cross industry innovation approach taken by GDS, from the solution conception to the project development and its actual realization.
The Financial Scanner developed by GDS is made of a mechanical core with moving parts and paper handling capabilities, a proprietary application software, analogue and digital electronics and communication modules designed to upload data to the server of the customer. The whole is contained inside a fairly small plastic body. It is actually a concentrate of the most diverse technological features currently applied in industry.
First of all, you have the typical mechanical issues, especially those concerning the paper handlingmechanism. In this case GDS was able to introduce solutions that enabled to handle different paper formats, different paper thicknesses and to manage special media like ID cards, passports both paper and plastic ones.
This required the design, creation and assembly of dedicated resin and rubber rollers, turned mechanical parts, metal and plastic components that had to comply with the highly demanding specifications in terms of high precision, duration and reliability required by the application. It was crucial to build and calibrate the motors that are used in each sequential step of the feed, validation and printing of paper and documents; special ultrasound sensors and light guides were used to properly handle the paper and other documents feeding.
Once consolidated the mechanical core engine, the next challenges concerned the reading interfaces and the consequent integration of the proper optical components. To meet the requirements of the financial world, this new device needed to comply with all the different bank association standards for the recognition of counterfeiting. This has led to the extension of the reading capabilities to 2D, to the recognition of perforated micro-dots patterns on cheques, optical and magnetic recognition of special character fonts, and the detection of erasures through ultraviolet rays. Image processing done using custom FPGA modules to generate digital data temporarily hosted into local memory and then transferred in high speed mode to local or remote hosts using USB, 1Gigabit Wired LAN or Wi-Fi links.
An high transfer rate to support a workload up to 80 pages/minute or 160 images/minute. All the electromechanical control functions and High level application software are managed with the new STM32MP1 microprocessor, offering a state-of-the-art ARM Cortex Dual Core and a powerful additional microcontroller. The very same chipset able to run at the same time the most modern Operating Systems available on the market for data processing, security and communication, with a bare metal firmware hardware oriented.
This financial scanner can offer the most appropriate level of protection requested by the recent cyber-security regulationsFurther to this, a front-desk device should stand out for its captivating layout while also being easy to operate. GDS designed a body frame largely made of recycled plastic and manufactured with specially designed molds. The entry level device integrates a small size colour graphic screen and traditional keypad for a simple and complete user interface. Extended version can be equipped with a 5” TFT with touch screen, a powerful control panel system for a modern user-interactivity.
The device is Energy Star certified, in line with the latest EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) standards, and it meets all the energy saving requirements, thanks to its automatic activation of standby and rapid switch-on functions.
The development of this product has given to GDS the opportunity to acquire and use a know-how, that is a stable part of the assets of the Company and that enables it to go through the development of other new and innovative device with fewer difficulties, risks and costs and in a faster time.
This ability to use the knowledge acquired through past experiences to anticipate future challenges and overcome obstacles is what defines the innovator of the future.
In conclusion, cross-industry innovation is about learning from solutions that other areas have found for themselves and transferring solution approaches to one’s own topic.
Advantages are:
- Already proven knowledge can be used to minimize development risks and shorten innovation cycles.
- At the same time, costs can be kept low.
- The own development results/patents can be used in other industries without competition conflicts.
- The emergence of cooperations and the resulting increase in innovative strength.
- A new perspective on one’s own offer and the corresponding success criteria.
And when that skill is available internally, it’s a guarantee of excellence and success.
GDS has been standing out for a long time now thanks to its well-established ability to bring customized solutions to a large variety of clients, which are often very different from one another. Its wealth of expertise comes from the multiple range of sectors in which the company operates, from smart screens to multifunction printers, all the way to the most innovative smart and office devices.
Its success stems from its ability to seize the potential of the cross-industry innovation. This is based on a simple concept. The investment of time, energy and human and financial resources to plan and develop a new product generates a skill set and why shouldn’t we take advantage of it to generate more value on a different sector?
Based on this, a new form of specialization is taking shape and it is not a vertical one- as in restricted to a single group of products or services- but it is completely cross-sectional, open and transferable as it can be applied to any development and production process. Thanks to this idea, GDS has become a Company specialized in complex innovation, which means expert in the handling of know-how and especially in the know-hows of planning and production, which gives the perfect competitive edge for the current market.
