Nenad Veselinović, CEO of Ntim Tehnologi - Dutchmen praise Serbian dryer

(Nenad Veselinović)

It already becomes a tradition that web portal eKapija grants Aurea awards to the top investors of the year. This year's awards ceremony will take place at the end of March. Since the new cycle is approaching, we paid a visit to the companies that were shortlisted for last year's award to check what state of business development they reached.

In spite of the global crisis, company Ntim Tehnologi made further progress on its path of economic development and technological contribution to Serbia and launched new model of solar dryer – "Solaris 1", which is its most important invention at the moment. In the interview for eKapiju, the inventor of the dryer and the company's owner, Nenad Veselinović, speaks about the characteristics of new "Solaris", why Dutch league of experts finds that product an exceptional achievement, and how that patent can be presented to broad public.

"Solaris 1" is a modern dryer powered by solar energy, which makes it unique product in the world. It is intended for drying fruits, vegetables, medicinal and spice herbs and mushrooms. It is patented in Serbia and protected by international patent under numbers P-2007/0441 and PCT/RS 2008/0031.

"Solaris" dryer is technologically innovative, completely automated machine that independently carries out all drying processes according to set parameters. It can be controlled on the spot or via GSM module and Internet, which means that all drying processes can be controlled from any part of the world by means of a personal computer. The dryer is mobile. The drying process are run by a 50-mode microprocessor, which enables automatic transfer from the use of solar to the use of electric energy and vice versa. That means that the dryer uses electric energy for drying only during the night, when there is no daylight.

What are the advantages of the new model of your dryer over the previous one?

- The advantage of this dryer lies in the fact that it reaches the drying temperature in less time because different special hoses are installed inside the machine. There is also larger number of drying "shelves", so that much more material can be dried at the same time. That means that the capacity is twice as big, while the volume remained the same. Innovations also resulted in better air flow and better separation of liquid that evaporates from the dryer, so that the dryer gives much better quality in the same period of time.

Its structure is different as well. Namely, one whole part is prefabricated, so that it can be accessed at any time and repaired. The hoses with hot water are not welded, but connected by joints, so that assembling and disassembling are much easier.

What is the life of your new product and which guarantees you offer to interested buyers since they buy technologically brand new and completely unknown product?

Everything is made of INOX, which means that the life of materials is unlimited. Because of some other components, we give one-year warranty. The warranty period for the collector is 5 years, 2 years for pumps, and one year for the microprocessor. It is simple to maintain and what is important is that each repair can be done on the spot in less than hour. In that way, if something is being dried inside, it will not go bad because the repair takes very short time.

In order to provide additional security to the buyer, drying modes in the microprocessor can be "locked" if they are important for specific market. In that case, nobody else can dry the materials according to the parameters that you established.

Which are the companies that you cooperate with in the production process?

Since company Ntim does not have its own production unit, we have signed the contract on joint production with company S.V. Line. Just like before, German company Jumo produces microprocessors. About 95% of the companies that we cooperated with at the beginning of the project are still with us.

In the context of finance, how do you see the period since last year's Aurea awards ceremony?

We have delivered three new dryers. Our buyers are still individual entrepreneurs, and it is interesting that the majority of them are not agricultural manufacturers. New "Solaris" dryer costs 25,000 EUR and, thanks to huge energy savings, the investment pays off in year and half. The price of the previous model was 15,500 EUR, but it would be higher now due to increase in prices of components in the global market.

So far, we have invested over 250,000 EUR in development of our dryers. We invested between 70,000 and 80,000 EUR in 2009 only.

What are the company's production capacities?

We can now produce between 20 and 30 dryers per month. That information clearly speaks of insufficient use of our production capacities. However, we hope to change that proportion after we meet the business plans in 2010.

The advantages of the patent were noticed outside the borders of Serbia?

That's right. PUM – Dutch Senior Expert League that represents the advisory body of the kingdom of Netherlands in the field of technological development, issued the certificate to us that characterizes "Solaris" as a new and exceptional product in the drying technology. It is stated in the report that "the final product is much better than the one dried in the standard way, so that both taste and flavor are incomparably better".

Which are the Ntim's plans for the following period?

We plan to offer dryers to as many market as we can, at both regional and global level. We also plan to make a trademark - recognizable products dried in "Solaris". The idea is that we build an industrial unit that will be using these dryers only. We are currently negotiating with several companies and we hope that the products from our dryer will appear in the market in few months. Once the negotiations are finished, we will know if we are going to focus on export only, on certain products, small or large packaging, etc.

More photos of the dryer can be found at: //www.ekapija.com/website/sr/page/286592