Internationale Partnersuche

Innovation & Technologie Anfrage

Development of a new fitting for a completely new type of kitchen

Country of Origin: Germany
Reference Number: TRDE20170718001
Publication Date: 19 July 2017

Summary

A German manufacturer for high class furniture looks for a partner to develop a light-weighted but still solid fitting used as connection between furniture fronts and working like a large hinge. The SME would like to launch a new and unusual fitting that allows for a new process of manufacturing/industrial production of kitchen furniture. They look for a technical co-operation or manufacturing agreement with a partner experienced in materials who is able to design a prototype of the fitting.

Description

The German SME is a woodworking company with a 107 year old family tradition and longtime experience in individual interior design. They regularly use fittings but they don’t develop them themselves. After many years of development of a newly shaped kitchen they have now reached a point where they know how a new fitting has to look like to allow for short production time and cost limitation of a digitally driven mass-customized production in the field of kitchens and cabinets. While they currently focus on kitchen furniture the fittings should also be applied for other furniture at a later stage.



The SME is looking for a technical co-operation to co-develop a prototype. They determine the features and appearance of the fittings while the partner would be in charge of realizing the product and develop or dispose of a suitable material to be used for the fittings (e.g. 3D-printable carbon). Once the fitting has been launched to the market a manufacturing agreement would also be of interest.

Expertise sought

Each fitting has to be able to carry loads of up to 150 kg vertically downwards to the floor and it should allow conventional assembly operators to mount, glue, drill or click it. The fitting has to withstand common strains in the living-cooking area such as water, oil, bacteria, heat, sunlight etc. and it should be easy to maintain and clean. Moreover, it has to be food safe and avoid the proliferation of germs. Production shall be possible in high numbers and after finalisation of the development the price per piece should be less than 10€. As the fitting will be visible, it shall have an esthetically appealing and valuable appearance. Furthermore, it shall have a life span of 30 years. Ideally, the fitting should be shortenable by the fitter on construction site by hand or with the help of small portable machines.

Requested partner

The partner could be from industry or research and should have experience with new materials. First of all, the partner should co-develop the fitting and provide a suitable new material or production technology to build a prototype according to the requirements of the SME. Afterwards the partner could also manufacture the fitting although this might possibly also be done by another partner.