Industrial Product Development
Spotlight
Company: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Industry: Processing and Measurement Automation Equipment
HQ: Coon Rapids, MN USA
Webpage: www.thermofisher.com
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) is the world leader in serving science, with revenues of more than $24 billion and approximately 70,000 employees globally. Their mission is to enable customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. They help their customers accelerate life sciences research, solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics, deliver medicines to market and increase laboratory productivity.
Product/Project Highlights
In-line X-ray Machine
Client: Thermo Fisher Scientific
- Cleanroom environment design
- Shields workers from the X-rays used by the inspection process
- For in-line detection of bones, wood, metal and other foreign material
- Primarily for inspecting food products such as cake mixes, cereals, etc.
- Designed for USDA 3A wash down environments using caustic cleaning agents”
Situation:
Thermo Fisher Scientific came to Solid with an existing X-ray inspection product designed by Solid many years previous, that they wanted to upgrade for improved performance, ease of maintenance and they wanted an improved aesthetic for the product. Solid was happy to engage.
In-line X-ray Machine
Client: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Process:
Solid participated from the beginning through prototype build and test following our Phase Gate Process for product design and development. Involvement began with summarizing the product requirements, meeting with key stakeholders and moved into developing conceptual solutions for the updated product. Electrical engineering was conducted by Thermo Fisher Scientific. Together with our Client, the concept for the new machine product was refined and approved for detailed design. In the Detailed Design Phase Solid created fully defined 3D CAD models of all purchased, machined and fabricated components and built the 3D assembly in CAD software. With the Client's approval of the design, Solid created a complete set of engineering drawings, solicited quotations for prototype and production quantities and worked with our Client to set up verification and validation testing. Prototype assembly and testing was completed at the Thermo Fisher Scientific facility in Coon Rapids, MN. After some final mechanical and firmware design tweaks, the product moved into production.
Solution:
The next generation of X-ray inspection equipment for Thermo Fisher Scientific, 'NextGuard' was ready to grab market share! Design and development efforts resulted in improved throughput from faster electronics, an improved aesthetic, easer to assemble and access for maintenance and a smaller footprint.