“Although everyone is talking about digital transformation, it is really difficult for traditional industries to make the shift,” said Chen Wen-Feng, Co-Founder and Marketing Director of Blutech. During visits to factories in certain traditional industries, the team found that many factories still manually record meter data or have purchased digital meters but lack the budget for wiring. Only when supply chain clients demand carbon emission data do these factories start pushing for data management, often with limited success.
Chen, who previously worked at Powerchip Technology and NEC Taiwan, admitted that his experience was in the high-tech industry, and it was only after visiting Taiwan’s traditional industries that he realized how difficult it was for them to transform. Using Excel spreadsheets might even be considered digitalization for some of them.
Chen explained that traditional industries such as steel, petrochemicals, textiles, chemicals, and food processing often have large factory spaces that span across roads, sometimes stretching hundreds of meters or even kilometers. Some factories have purchased digital meters, but due to the high wiring costs being far greater than the cost of the new meters, they end up resorting to manual data recording. Why wasn’t the cost of wiring evaluated before purchasing the new meters? Because traditional factory environments are complex, wiring construction planning takes time, and factories cannot halt production lines just to install new meters.
“For us, this is a blue ocean market,” Chen said. Seeing the difficulty traditional industries face in collecting data, Blutech developed the WSDMS wireless instrument data transmission system, which integrates its patented communication protocol NeVerLoSs® and related hardware and software to help clients collect electrical and sensor data wirelessly. The transmission distance can reach up to 10 kilometers in a straight line, and in mixed environments with obstacles, the transmission distance is approximately 2.5 kilometers.
The WSDMS system includes a universal connector that can connect to pressure gauges, flow meters, and other sensors to monitor data such as electricity, wastewater flow, water levels, and indoor/outdoor air quality. While LoRa wireless communication technology previously had packet loss issues, Blutech optimized the technology and registered the NeVerLoSs LoRa protocol as a patent.
The system has already been adopted by Far Eastern Fibertech. The factory installed nearly 300 smart meters over the past seven years, saving approximately NT$1 million in electricity costs annually, which is equivalent to reducing carbon emissions by about 209 tons per year. Additionally, Blutech is a member of the Wistron Accelerator team, and Wistron’s headquarters has recently adopted the WSDMS system for energy monitoring PoC validation.
“We want to be the iPhone for traditional industries,” said Chen, who expects to help 15 large enterprise clients install the system by the end of 2022 and reach around 100 clients by 2023. Taiwan has about 25,000 large electricity consumers, and with the added potential of Southeast Asia’s traditional manufacturing industries, the market opportunities are huge.
Blutech’s Business Director, Guo Han, stated that the company was founded in 2015, initially focusing on custom IoT projects using wireless communication technology. In late 2021, the company standardized its products and has since begun engaging with clients in industries such as steel, textiles, chemicals, and food processing.
Guo said that with the goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, some clients require their suppliers to provide stage-by-stage reports by 2025 or 2030. As a result, carbon reduction is no longer just a slogan or a matter of purchasing green energy certificates; it will also involve order transactions and carbon tax payments.
“There are relatively few solutions specifically designed for traditional industries,” Guo observed. Faced with the trend of net-zero transformation, traditional industries are nervous and need to begin laying the “foundation” for data collection, and Blutech’s system is part of that foundation. Compared to wired systems, which can take months to install, Blutech’s wireless system can be set up in as little as one week or even a few days. Factories can first install a small number of meters for testing and gradually expand the system. “Electricity is the lifeblood of factories. Clients typically start data monitoring with electricity, but some factories start with monitoring water flow and wastewater,” he said.
Blutech’s Chairman, Lin Zai-Li, who previously served as the CEO of the Global Business Division at the Da-Lian Da Group, initially invested privately in Blutech and later joined the team.
Lin said that his first job was at Da-Lian Da, and before retiring, he was responsible for the group’s global business. Now, in a startup with about 10 people, many of his friends are curious about his change in mindset, but he said, “The most important thing is that I see the future of this market.”
According to internal estimates, even with rapid expansion, it will be difficult to reach over 1,000 clients in Taiwan within five years, let alone tap into the potential business opportunities in traditional factories in Southeast Asia.
Lin stated that after companies begin collecting carbon emission data, they can develop strategies and take further action, such as updating equipment. Manually recorded data is prone to errors and is not conducive to future audits and certifications. Recently, after discussing with accounting firms, they are also establishing a carbon data certification mechanism, indicating that many people are already seeing the potential of this blue ocean market.
Currently, Blutech has not achieved significant revenue. The company’s near-term goal is to gain more clients, and by the end of 2023, they plan to expand their staff from the current 12 to 27–30 people. Once the business model is mature, they will replicate it in the Singapore market, where Lin also has a separate company, E-Lu Technology. Blutech is primarily funded by private investors, but after appearing at the Demo Day hosted by Wistron Accelerator and AppWorks, they have received inquiries from venture capital firms and will engage in related discussions.
