iF Design Award 2021
Bühler’s MultiTherm is a star. The brand new IoT-ready laboratory instrument that measures the cooling properties of cocoa butter and predicts crystallization behavior in chocolate, has barely arrived on the market and is already running a winning race. The Chocolate Mass Research & Development (CMRD) team that developed MultiTherm has not only won the iF Design Award 2021 in the discipline Product, category Industry/Tools, it also sold all the five devices from the first production batch before the official market launch.
Dalen Jacomino, June 1, 2021
The iF Design Award is one of the world’s most celebrated design prizes, first introduced in 1954 by the Hannover-based iF International Forum Design GmbH, has become a seal of quality in design for products and solutions. The competition in 2021 was intense. Nearly 10,000 entries from 52 countries and 78 categories were submitted.
The prize covers achievements in design excellence and innovation in nine disciplines: Product, Packaging, Communication and Service Design, Architecture and Interior Architecture, as well as Professional Concept, User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI). A jury composed of 98 independent experts from all over the world evaluate the design of products and solutions, and make sure the best ones get to the final lists.
After almost two years of hard work designing the new generation of our MultiTherm, we are honored to receive this prize.
Simon Goeldi,
Project Manager MultiTherm
“For us, it is a very encouraging feedback. After almost two years of hard work designing the new generation of our MultiTherm, we are honored to receive this prize,” says Simon Goeldi, Project Manager MultiTherm. Together with Simon, the winning team is composed of Skeli Nesimi, Head of Product Management Chocolate & Coffee; Jeffrey Franitza, Designer; Jerome Oesch, Value Nutrition R&D Machine Control, who worked on the Software Backend; Yuantong Zeng, Senior Process Engineer; and Paggios Konstantinos, Senior Team Manager R&D CM, who contributed to the technological aspects of MultiTherm. Xiaogang Zhu, Lead Automation Engineer from China, and Ondrej Michejda, Project Engineer Automation from Bühler Prague, also worked on the Software Backend.
Due to the frequent changes and unforeseen circumstances typical of any innovative project, a clear process and good teamwork had to be established from the beginning. The team used agile system development, which is centered around the idea of iterative development where cross-functional teams work gradually in small increments. In such a process, the requirements, plans, and results are evaluated continuously.
The product development involved multiple rounds of discussions and interactions with Bühler’s experts, customers, and partners. “We had the technology, the experts, the inputs from customers since the beginning, and this was an advantage. We tried to do our best to keep addressing the inputs continuously through fast loops,” Simon explains.
The MultiTherm laboratory instrument, designed in partnership with Eidenbenz Industrial Design Est., based in Liechtenstein, is an entirely new version of the one first created in 2008. At that time, Bühler was already setting the new industry standard for measuring the quality (crystallization behavior) of cocoa butter.
A new quality index, the Bühler Crystallization Index (BCI), which describes how fast the butter crystallizes, was also developed. By cooling down the cocoa butter, the cocoa mass or chocolate mass to a specific temperature, the cooling curve is measured. The smart algorithm analyzes various points in the curve and calculates the BCI.
The BCI predicts the crystallization behavior of this specific cocoa butter in chocolate and gives the user a measure starting by zero (no crystallization). A high BCI value shows a fast and intense crystallization of the product. The interpretation of the BCI value varies depending on the application of each customer. A soft filling can have a low BCI because it does not pretend to crystallize. On the other hand, the shell must have a high BCI to get a hard and stable shell.
With the arrival of modern technologies, the increasing customer requirements and inputs, the Research & Development team understood that it was time to take a step further and completely re-design the MultiTherm. The innovation journey started in March 2019. Since day one, the goals were clear: improve the overall quality of the product, make it more user-friendly and have Bühler’s digital services fully integrated in the instrument.
“Right from the beginning of the project, we set ourselves high goals,” says Skeli Nesimi, Head of Product Management Chocolate & Coffee. “We wanted to develop a product that not only meets the known but also the unspoken customer needs and generates a positive user experience.” Step-by-step, the team was able to advance while addressing the challenges that are inherent to these endeavors. We all know that these types of projects involve risks. Therefore, having the possibility to prototype and run tests was essential. For that, the team used the CUBIC Makerspace, in Uzwil.
We knew from the beginning that we had to break new ground in the development of the product. Only by using the full potential of the possibilities within Bühler we were able to achieve the ambitious goals.
Skeli Nesimi,
Head of Product Management Chocolate & Coffee
“We knew from the beginning that we had to break new ground in the development of the product. Only by using the full potential of the possibilities within Bühler we were able to achieve the high goals,” says Skeli. The MakerSpace is a place where every Bühler employee can join in and work on a software or hardware rapid prototype. It provides the tools and knowledge for that. There the teams can work with simulation service, measurement lab for validating and improving prototypes, analytical lab for material properties, and data science.
At the MakerSpace, the MultiTherm team tested critical functional concepts to reduce risks in an early stage. At a later stage, the experts tested the user interaction by utilizing a 3D printed one-to-one mockup. The goal was to check the magnetic bearing concept for the removable lid, and then find the right magnetic force, which would give the user the best haptic feedback. “For us, it was an incredible opportunity to support the innovation process with effective inputs and our facility. So, the team could manage the risks by taking informed decisions,” says Marcel Rohner, Project Manager MakerSpace.
Ruedi Eidenbenz of Eidenbenz Industrial Design Est, brought his industrial design know-how and experience to the team, contributing significantly with solutions to the appearance, functionality, and manufacturability of the MultiTherm.
After almost two years of work, in March 2021, the team came up with the new MultiTherm. The 2021 version not only has a new design, but also the newest technology, is more user-friendly, brings additional features, and is connected to Bühler Insights.
The ergonomic and functional design consists of a measuring body and the touchscreen on the main body. The slim form factor offers optimal use of the lab bench space and ensures optimal air-flow cooling, which contributes to accurate, stable measurements. The magnetic lid allows easy sample handling and can be completely removed for cleaning. The rubber-coated sensor head provides better haptics and serves as an end position damper.
“It is the perfect mechatronics design, combining informatics, electronics and mechanical solutions in a unique way,” says Simon. The iF Design Award jury attests to this. However, all this excellence also must make a difference for our customers, and it seems they very interested. In fact, all five devices of the first production batch were acquired by the customers before the official market launch. This is another good reason for the team not only to celebrate but keep the motivation high and gain even more customers.
The MultiTherm will be assembled by a group of two to three Bühler apprentices, who now have the responsibility of a “real” product. Simon explains that this is a great chance for them be accountable for a real product by ensuring that every step is accomplished with success: from the first screw to the software setup down to the last quality check.
“We manufacture the machine in batches and configure it based on the customer order. This means the team in the assembly has less time pressure and can fit the production perfectly into their schedules,” Simon explains.
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