INSIGHT
STORIES

Continuously adapting to changes

Filip Roose from Slimbox will inspire you about the ups and downs in his quest to engineer the best customized packaging boxes there are.

Although their idea seemed like an instant hit, Slimbox too needed to adapt their strategy several times along the way. How did they turn their failures into a success? Because there’s no speedway without bumps in the road.

World’s smallest motor

Every hardware professional struggles with the right fit and the right size to ensure an optimal design.

Hans Clijsters from Xeryon has engineered the world's smallest motor on the market without any moving parts. Many products are becoming more compact and precise. Are all products permanently scalable? Where is the limit? What are the pitfalls in miniaturizing a product?

We’ll discover how his team has achieved this milestone during his pitch: “How small is small?”.

How to market a product internationally

Launching a product is challenging. Launching a product internationally is even more challenging. And doing all of this while taking into account an ISO13485 certification is downright impressive.

MedEnvision is the company behind the revolutionary Gripper, which is certified and sold in +30 countries.

Filip Van Limbergen has been involved in MedEnvision from the beginning of its operational start-up. He will share their tips & tricks, and lessons learned about launching a product internationally. Even when you’re not there yet, this talk is worth your time.

Applying software to improve hardware

In this talk, an intelligent overhead crane (hoist system) is presented to assist operators in handling small to medium loads. Existing overhead cranes have several downsides when it comes to operator ergonomics and productivity.

In passive systems, the friction and inertia of the overhead crane is heavily affecting the way an operator is able to move a load. This leads to muscles issues and to low productivity in operators.

A design upgrade of an existing overhead crane that allows to improve both the flexibility of the system and ergonomic issues of operators, is described.

After capturing & simulating the requirements of operators in different contexts, a prototype is built which includes several upgrades compared to existing systems. A semi-automatic movement system (“Follow-Me”) is implemented. This system reduces operator forces and increases handling speed for movement in the X-Y plane.

A positive disruptor in a static business

CEE engineering and construction developed the world's first continuous coffee roaster without fossil fuel: 3x more energy efficient, 100% solar-powered. But the current technology is 140 years old and ubiquitous, and getting movement in the arch-conservative food sector is very slow. None of the established coffee players showed interest.

So that’s why they decided to found sister company Ray & Jules. With delicious, sun-roasted coffee and activist roasting, they shake up the coffee drinker and are a thorn in the side of the big coffee players.Ray & Jules is a challenger, a disruptor in an otherwise static business.

How did they do that? Gert Linthout will elaborate all about it.

More than just E-bikes

You will be moved and motivated by the start-up story of Tomas Keppens from Ellio, who is on a mission to help shift modern mobility.

Tomas had been a noise and vibration engineer with car giant Toyota for 17 years before he developed the idea to leverage automotive technology in speed E-bike manufacturing in 2007. In 2018 the idea officially took shape and Ellio (IntuEdrive) was born, since then Tomas and his partner Jorrit Heidbuchel have been building Ellio - an industry-leading speed E-bike brand.

Tomas invites you to look back on the hurdles, challenges and milestones of his journey in a cozy open conversation.