Corporate Industrial Design: L.B. Bohle GmbH

We are committed to offering our customers a product of the highest quality in every respect. As well as the quality of the plant engineering and automation, we also consider the product’s design to be a key factor. For us, the design should underline our quality standards and make the quality of the plant visible. It has been proven that, for users, good design in itself embodies a certain level of quality. Furthermore, we aim to increase user acceptance through an attractive design. When switching to a new machine type, reservations may occasionally arise, as users have to part with products they are accustomed to. A modern and appealing design can allay such reservations and spark curiosity about new products. Last but not least, a modern and eye-catching design should make a product stand out from a group of similar systems and attract our customers’ attention, so that they engage with our system and its underlying qualities, enabling us to make a convincing case overall.

One of our expectations for a new generation of designs was a look that was completely different from the plain stainless steel typically found in our market. With the help of the professionals, we have succeeded in this entirely, and this has been reflected in the feedback we have received from our customers on numerous occasions. It is clear that, given the wide variety of products, not all machines will benefit from the new design in the first year; rather, it will take some time for the new design to be rolled out across the entire product range. We are therefore curious to see how our customers will react when the next machines are launched, and whether they even expect such design leaps to be possible on the other machines.
Interestingly, another effect emerged in that our team members involved in implementing the new development had taken immense pleasure in creating something ‘new’.

Working with ‘our’ design team was a very pleasant and efficient experience. We were given a thorough introduction to design at the outset through a workshop, and guided towards making an accurate self-assessment. The workshop also raised the crucial question of which design would genuinely suit us and be accepted by our customers. It was also important that the designers fought to implement the key design features, as there was sometimes resistance from the development departments – albeit for understandable reasons. The project was also pleasantly effective for us, as we were able to communicate and exchange data on an ad hoc basis via dedicated Teams rooms set up for this purpose. This meant that some details could be worked through during the sprint and urgent questions could be answered quickly within the team. The designers not only demonstrated their interest in the implementation by attending the launch event at the trade fair, but are also keen to see the further products brought to fruition. We would choose this approach with the CAE team again in a heartbeat and can recommend it without reservation.