Magazine packaging : How did the idea to create Auum come about?
Clement Houllier : Mathieu Bourhis, Thomas Munoz, Maxime Prieto and myself, we started from an observation linked to our professional experience: cleaning technologies have not really changed in recent years. We created Auum, the acronym for Stop Single Use Now, to develop dry steam technology to clean, disinfect and dry things. After the technology, we wondered what we were going to be able to clean. We started with the solution to meet the need … We chose a very symbolic object: the single-use cup, whether cardboard or plastic. That was in 2018. Today, the regulatory context and society’s expectations show us that we were really on the side of history. It is not a coincidence, rather a logical convergence.
What path have you followed?
The Autolib example is very instructive. In this car-sharing system, everything was planned, except cleaning. With the result that we know! Dirty cars. Our value proposition is very simple: accessible, fast, safe and economical cleaning technology. The disinfection and drying of the cups is guaranteed in 10 seconds. Once the vapor has reached 100 degrees, it is brought to 140 ° C. This is the heart of our process. The development work mainly focused on the shape of the 25 cl glass and its shaper, the radius of the curves and the speed of circulation of the fluids in this constrained space. This is the point of having specific lenses developed by Bodum. I would add that the double wall prevents heat transmission, this is important given the treatment temperature. In terms of research and development, we started with a large number of empirical tests before providing proof of concept (PoC) with digital simulation. The calculations are really very complex and take a lot of time.
Why disinfect the cups?
The health crisis is a timely reminder that beyond cleanliness, there is a real need for hygiene. We guarantee the destruction of viruses and bacteria. This is not over-quality! Single-use cups have been developed to break the chains of contamination. We believe that we can create new uses with our carefully designed machines. The need is there; innovation will come from the quality of the offer.
Have you performed life cycle analyzes?
Life cycle analyzes show that an employee who washes his mug in his company’s toilets uses on average two to three liters of water. It’s a lot ! And very time consuming. Our patented technology is very economical in water and energy: 2 cl and 4 Wh per cycle. It is also more efficient than a dishwasher or an industrial washer. Rather, the habit is to use a lot of water, sometimes at high pressure. We want to break this logic. Depending on the needs, the machines are connected to a supply and an evacuation or there are two tanks that must be filled and emptied regularly. Like a coffee machine …
“We already have around thirty clients”
Where are you in the developments?
We have just raised 1.3 million euros from Maif social and solidarity investment. We have four machines to work on the optimization. We already have around thirty clients, mainly large groups, who have made reservations to us. The first machines will be ready in March 2021. The containment did not disrupt our plans too much because we were in the design phase. The machines are assembled in our Parisian premises. We want to master the entire value chain. In particular to be able to integrate the necessary modifications very quickly with feedback from the first users. We are in a service delivery model with rental of machines, our know-how is in the “hardware”.
And tomorrow ?
After the cups, several markets interest us. I will cite the instructions for glass packaging, the cleaning of reusable bottles or even bulk containers… We are ready to clean anything that can be cleaned for reuse!
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