NWRC announces completion of innovative project with KER Group
By Aoife Curran
North West Regional College’s (NWRC) Business Support Centre (BSC) has announced the completion of a cross-border innovation project with Ireland’s Leading Marine Engineering Company, KER Group, as part of the Co-Innovate programme.
The 1-year project, funded by the European Union’s Interreg VA Programme and managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), saw the development of a remote ship monitoring platform (RSM) for monitoring refrigeration systems, engine and equipment conditions and other critical systems.
Cathal Ferry, Industry 4.0 Centre Manager explained: ‘’We are delighted to have partnered with the KER Group on this innovative project. They required support from the NWRC to research and develop the RSM platform. We were able to successfully recruit Sarath Kumar who led the project from KERs perspective while the NWRC provided guidance and expertise to ensure the project was successful. We also encouraged KER staff and boat owners to provide feedback on the look and feel of the application to ensure that the RSM platform would be as user friendly and intuitive as possible. The project was ultimately a success and has resulted in KER now being in a position to offer its innovative RSM system. Our involvement in this project has greatly challenged our technical capabilities in terms of automation and software development. The result is that knowledge and expertise gained in this project will benefit the NWRC, its students, and Industry 4.0 Centre. We wish KER every success in the future.’’
Eugene McBrearty, Managing Director at KER Group said: ‘’This innovation project has greatly benefitted our business because we can now offer a new subscription-based service to new and existing clients as well as being able to provide more streamlined and targeted servicing and repairs to clients using the RSM system. It has also provided us with the capabilities and expertise in the area of software development which will be embedded into the company.’’
Carolyne Murphy, Co-Innovate Programme Manager added: ‘’This highly innovative project has provided an opportunity for the KER Group to create a new app for the nautical industry which will expediate the remedy of operational issues on boats, creating economies for the user in terms of swift diagnosis of issues and ultimately saving the user money. NWRC were instrumental in the development and support of this app and its partnership with the company, assisting them to achieve their desired end product and the employment of a highly skilled project manager (Sarath) ensured the project outputs and outcomes were delivered. This project was a huge success and Co-Innovate are delighted to have been able to support it.’’
For more information about the KER Group visit https://www.ker.ie/ and for further details on how the BSC can help your business email businesssupport@nwrc.ac.uk
