Various kinds of Kindcrete color, concrete-based flower vase created by a Team of ITS Students

ITS Campus, ITS News – The COVID-19 Pandemic doesn’t stop students of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) to keep innovating. Just as what the four students of the Department of System and Industrial Engineering, the Department of Materials Engineering, the Department of Computer Engineering, and the ITS Department of Architecture collaborated. They initiated the manufacture of vases made of concrete using fly ash waste.

Those four students are Muhammad Fahlul Alhabsy, Daniel Arya Wikanindita, Muhammad Faruq Saputro, and Shalahuddin Akbar Aviecena. They successfully implemented the idea into a vase business which they named Kindcrete. “This business name is an accronym from two english words, kind and concrete,” Said Muhammad Fahlul Alhabsy or familiarly called by the name of Fahlul.

As the leader of the team, Fahlul explained that the innovation of this business was inspired by the fly ash waste. Fly ash waste are dangerous to human health and also to the environment. Also the amount of used fly ash is still really low, considering that there are 1.046.560 metric tonnes of unused fly ash of PT PLN alone.  “Besides, sustainable product which available in Indonesia is also limited,” explain Fahlul.

(from left) The ITS Students Team composed of Muhammad Faruq Saputro, Daniel Arya Wikanindita, Muhammad Fahlul Alhabsy, and Shalahuddin Akbar Aviecena

Because of that problems, Fahlul and the team tried to utilize the flu ash waste with solidification method. This method is chosen to make the product not only has a high selling value, but also safe to the environment.  “This product is expected to be a sustainable produc that can affect the continuing modern lifestyle ,” he said.

Kindcrete, according to Fahlul, has various kinds of shape styles named Dira, Meru, Kuma, and Arsa. Those four different shapes have each different characteristics that customers can choose. The concrete flower vase is priced between Rp 39 thousand to Rp 54 thousand, depending on the shape styles.

Furthermore, Fahlul explained, The Kuma vase has a simple and flexible shape to fit any spaces. The Meru has a footlike design made by natural-colored wood. The Arsa shape is abstract to fit those with creativity and daring choices. Dira with simple and elegant shape style shows the robustness by the circle-shaped contour.

Various kinds of Kindcrete color, concrete-based flower vase created by a Team of ITS Students

Kindcrete has also started reaching the market by promoting it through Instagram Advertisement which has reached up to 2,911 people. Not to mention through the Tokopedia e-commerce account and Instagram educational media which are increasingly expanding the market for this concrete-based flower vase product.

Besides, Fahlul and his team’s Kindcrete is equipped with an online product catalog and Augmented Reality (AR) technology as a publication platform to promote Kindcrete products. “So that the marketing of our products can be done online and virtually in attracting consumers through convenient services,” added the young man born in 1998.

In terms of business continuity, Fahlul revealed that his team is targeting the millennial generation and people aged 30-50 so that this concrete flower vase product is designed to be simple and elegant. Not only that, Kindcrete is also marketed to offices, restaurants, cafes and coffee shops as consumers. “This makes our product a prospective sustainable business by offering a variety of innovative features,” he explained.

Thanks to business innovations that are considered environmentally friendly, these four students have won recognition as favorite winners at the 33rd National Student Scientific Week (Pimnas) in the field of Student Entrepreneurship Creativity Program (PKM-K) which was held online, some time ago. .

Fahlul hopes that Kindcrete can be developed and applied to a wider product line. “It is not only a product in the form of a concrete vase, but it can also be developed and realized for other furniture products such as tables, chairs, and there is also a possibility for other products that are in line with the development of concrete and fly ash materials,” he concluded hopefully.

The achievement of the ITS Team lead by Muhammad Fahlul Alhabsy at the 33rd Pimnas won the favorite champion in the PKM-K category.

Thanks to business innovations that are considered environmentally friendly, these four students have won recognition as favorite winners at the 33rd National Student Scientific Week (Pimnas) in the field of Student Entrepreneurship Creativity Program (PKM-K) which was held online, some time ago.

Fahlul hopes that Kindcrete can be developed and applied to a wider product line. “It is not only a product in the form of a concrete vase, but it can also be developed and realized for other furniture products such as tables, chairs, and there is also a possibility for other products that are in line with the development of concrete and fly ash materials,” he concluded hopefully.(bob/nadh/HUMAS ITS)