tce | Flash Battery hq: the electrification centre where innovation drives all processes

Innovation in the company is often limited to a business unit or some project. This is not the case with Flash Battery, where innovation becomes a real operating mode, promoted by the management and shared by all employees

Since its foundation, Flash Battery has stood out through innovation, a trait that it has not lost even today which, from a start-up, has become a consolidated company with over 60 employees and 14 million in turnover.

Innovation drives all activities in Flash Battery, which constantly plans strategic and operational actions in this direction. For Flash Battery innovation is not just a strength for the company, but also an essential factor of its product, whose success is closely linked to continuous research and development. This allows Italy’s most famous lithium battery to achieve ever higher performance in various sectors, meeting the needs of various markets.

Flash Battery therefore puts innovation at the centre of each new project and in the creation of a new product that can give the customer an advanced product and service.

Innovation is also the forefront in managing all corporate processes

LEAN MANUFACTURING AND PRODUCTION AUTOMATION 

Since 2019 Flash Battery has been using the Lean method for its production processes. This is a dynamic programming that facilitates the elimination of waste in the production stages, maximising the creation of value through the first Kaizen work sites.

Further agility comes from the installation of a Modula Lift automated vertical warehouse. This has a user friendly touchscreen interface, which allows the operator to have immediate access to all the machine functions and is integrated with the company management software.

SCRUM METHOD FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The scrum method is an agile framework for managing projects that cover various phases and the involvement of several people. It allows work groups to work synergistically to achieve the objectives within the set times. Work therefore becomes smarter.

Company management is simplified by increasing the involvement of resources, thus improving the management and coordination of departments.

Carbon neutral and plastic-free are two of the objectives that Flash Battery is pursuing to minimise the impact of its activities on the environment. Already the company’s core business, the lithium battery eliminates greenhouse gas emissions; this year the green vision was integrated into the company structure, becoming the cornerstone of the new headquarters. The new company headquarters is moving towards the elimination of fossil fuels with the installation of a 150 kW photovoltaic park that supports most of the consumption. There are also columns in the company car park for charging electric vehicles and, on all floors, there are automatic water dispensers which employees can use with the glass bottles they have been equipped with. This has allowed the company to eliminate the use of over 500 plastic bottles monthly. Definitely an excellent start towards the plastic-free goal!

FLEXIBILITY FOR EMPLOYEES

The innovative vision also includes personnel management.
The possibility of smart working, flexible hours, autonomy in the management of breaks… these are all practices in use in Flash Battery, to allow each employee to find the operational mode that allows him/her to find the right balance between work and personal life. A fundamental focus on improving the quality of life as a whole, and retaining employees, supporting them in their career path.

NEW COMMERCIAL STRATEGIES AND PARTNERS FOR GREATER VISIBILITY ON THE MARKET

In 2020 Matteo Donelli, with over ten years of experience in the industrial sector, joined Flash Battery as Sales Director. His entry is a signal of how important the strategic analysis of markets, both current and potential, is, not only in order to strengthen commercial relations, but also to create synergies and exchange of excellent know-how with new international partners, in order to create further innovation.

Product innovation

But being innovative is first and foremost the beating heart of the company: the Flash Battery lithium battery and all its technology.

The Research & Development division is the one affected by the largest investments, such as:

• The study of new components and new solutions
• The construction of a new test laboratory for lithium cells and a very large area of the new plant dedicated entirely to research and development
• The research of new technologies for the chemicals of the future (including for example participation in the European IPCEI project for research and innovation in the field of batteries)
• Inclusion of a Project Manager in 2020 engaged exclusively in the research, management and reporting of innovative projects

Two of the technological innovations that distinguish Flash Battery in the gamut of manufacturers and designers of lithium-ion batteries are undoubtedly:

Flash Balancing System
Flash Data Center

Flash Balancing System (patent application filed in 2019)

Flash Battery has developed a patented high-tech system able to guarantee maximum performance and long battery life. Lithium cells, in fact, can have different capacities, resistance and self-discharge. The more the difference between the various cells increases, the shorter the battery and vehicle autonomy becomes.

To avoid this loss of efficiency, Flash Battery’s exclusive patented balancing system, the Flash Balancing System, is able to equalise the level of each cell, both during charging and discharging.
In a traditional lithium battery this operation usually takes from 4 to 8 hours, therefore, when they are interrupted due to the need for use, there is a progressive reduction of the energy available over time: vehicles and machines thus lose autonomy at each cycle.

With the Flash Balancing System integrated in the company’s batteries, balancing occurs 20 times faster for up to 30 minutes in cyclic applications, thus making it insignificant on the overall charging time. The system acts both actively and passively with a much higher balancing power (20A) and not just during recharging, but also actively during discharge. The cells therefore remain equalised and efficient for the entire life of the battery, which today vastly exceeds 4,000 charging cycles.

Flash Data Center

The company’s battery technology has a remote monitoring system, the Flash Data Center, which warns every day in case of malfunctions and allows the customer and the Flash Battery Service department to know at any time (24/7) the state of health of each individual lithium battery installed.

Among the innovative features of the Flash Data Center, it is important to focus on automatic data control: a software wholly created by Flash Battery checks and analyses the data received on the functioning of the batteries on a daily basis and instantly sends any warnings of anomalies or abuses.

All this makes it possible to nip false warnings in the bud and prevent failures before the user even realises them. But not only! The remote control feature allows an optimised use of the machine from all points of view: in fact, thanks to the sending of data, the user is able to easily understand how to improve or correct the performance of their vehicle.

Flash Battery’s advanced control electronics always keeps lithium batteries balanced and efficient and this, together with remote monitoring, allows for predictive maintenance, which eliminates the no longer necessary costs of routine maintenance (including transport and prolonged machine downtime in case of breakdowns) and offers considerable savings.

An innovative company…

certified by President Mattarella

Last week Flash Battery received a very prestigious award: the Premio dei Premi, presented by the President of the Republic of Italy Sergio Mattarella to Marco Righi, CEO and founder of Flash Battery.

The handover (which took place digitally for obvious reasons) confirms the strong innovative profile of the company awarded for investments in research and innovation and for the development of technologically advanced and competitive products, in an international market in continuous and rapid evolution.

Marco Righi said he was very satisfied and proud “both for having had the honour of meeting the President of the Republic and for the reasons that led the jury to award us this extraordinary recognition. These are reasons that get right to the heart of our business, closely tied to the research being worked on by so many of our young employees (62 in all, with an average age well under 40) and that has been the key to everything we’ve built during this period of growth.”

Flash Battery was founded in 2012 by Righi and Alan Pastorelli (now the company’s technical manager).

It is preparing to end 2020 with a turnover of more than 14 million euros, up compared to 2019 despite the pandemic and lockdown, with 14 new hires made in recent months, mostly high-profile and mainly engaged in research and innovation.