Albis & Drägerwerk: The hospital room of the future
In the Cross Innovation Lab, plastics manufacturer Albis utilised open-ended processes to develop the hospital room of the future.
The challenge
Innovation cycles are shortening, markets are becoming more complex - the framework conditions for industry are changing. New solutions are needed to ensure that the manufacturing industry remains competitive in the global marketplace. In the Cross Innovation Lab, the company Albis, a distributor and manufacturer of plastics, and the medical device manufacturer Drägerwerk have tackled this challenge together with creative minds.
In addition to the question of how Albis can be integrated into the design processes of customers such as Dräger at an earlier stage, the lab also focussed on the topic of how damage to devices caused by aggressive and regularly used cleaning agents can be avoided.
Output
By working together with experts from the creative industry, the previous appliance and cleaning design was radically scrutinised. The result is a visionary hygienic design concept for the intensive care room of the future.
The system consists of two components: Firstly, the surfaces to be cleaned have been reduced. The system eliminates the separation of the user interface in the patient's room and the device outside the room and combines both on one panel - the Dräger interface.
In addition, an intelligent cleaning assistant (Lili) was designed that can use augmented reality technologies to record when and how intensively a surface was last cleaned.
The vision: In hospitals with the Dräger-Interface and Lili cleaning assistant, the transmission rate and the risk of patients becoming infected with multi-resistant germs is drastically reduced.
A positive side effect: Albis is currently working on a process based on the process-related experiences of the Cross Innovation Lab to intensify collaboration between them and their customers in an early development phase.
Team: Matthias Schulz, Tania Tammling, Dörte Scharnowski, Harld Ott, Björn Otto, Mike Freudenstein, Dr Andreas Haase, Henrick Schnaars, Marc Geberbauer, Dieter Settgast, Florian Schaake (Industrial Design & CGI), Paul Claussen (Integrated Design), Olaf Wordehoff (Design).
"Collaborating with creative people as part of the Cross Innovation Lab opens up completely new perspectives on the problem and possible solutions, which are developed into a concrete concept as part of the well-structured programme with a tight schedule in an atmosphere of trust and equality."
Our partner: Albis Plastic & Drägerwerk
Albis Plastic is one of the world's leading companies in the distribution and compounding of engineering thermoplastics and thermoplastic elastomers. With 26 locations and over 1,400 employees, the Hamburg-based company is represented in many countries in Europe, North Africa, Asia and America.
Drägerwerk is represented in 140 countries around the world with around 14,000 employees. Founded in Lübeck in 1889, the family-owned company manufactures medical and safety technology products. These products protect the lives of people in hospitals, fire brigades, rescue services, public authorities, mining and industry worldwide.
