The Benchmark Engineering Profile is an ongoing blog feature highlighting the engineering teams located around the world. Tune in every month to read the next installment in the series. This month features our engineering team in Almelo, Netherlands. Next up: Minnesota
The European engineering team based in Almelo is made up of the best and brightest engineers, who are passionate about what they do and the services they offer. They are keenly aware of the relationship our customers have with their products and act accordingly as an extension of their team to create the best solutions for their unique business challenges. Our customers' focus is on innovation and product design, which is why we make it our mission to understand their vision and match their passion for success.
We are able to offer a variety of key engineering capabilities to meet customer needs. These capabilities range from smart sensing and data processing, microfluidics, electronics miniaturization, to optics and artificial intelligence. The facilities and engineers also meet the criterion for critical quality and regulatory compliance for the avionics, industrial and medical industries.
Key to Our Success
The foundation of our success is a customer engagement process that’s been honed over the last ten years. It begins with an initial kick-off meeting that can include one of our highly-focused creative workshops in which the customer’s senior engineers come together with members from our team for two days of workshop sessions designed to understand the complex challenges we will tackle together. The team works passionately to discuss and deliver new creative product concepts and solutions that ensure everyone is on the same page.
We work closely with our customers throughout the process. The insights and expertise of our customers are just as valued through the workshop process as our own. Our goal is to co-create a product that everyone will be proud of and build long-term relationships. Some of our customer engagements span more than a decade.
The team works closely throughout the process, practicing agile project management that includes daily stand-up scrum meetings and three-week sprints. The Benchmark seven-step design control methodology they deploy has proven to be extremely successful and ultimately results in the shortest lead-time for engineering new products.
The entire customer engagement process is essential in solving the complex design challenges that Benchmark is known for throughout the industry. We are also recognized for supporting our customers through every phase of their product life cycle and leveraging open-source platforms to ensure the lowest price point for even the most complex electronic products.
Improving the Customer Experience
In addition to the proven system of customer collaboration it helps spearhead, the Almelo team is known for its innovative R&D process. Always looking for opportunities to use the latest technology in interesting ways to improve the customer experience. We currently use Microsoft’s Hololens in the R&D process. Hololens is a pair of glasses with augmented reality technology. It allows the team to show customers concepts and product designs and showcase prototypes we’re working on in a more realistic and useful way.
To date, Benchmark has provided critical engineering and design solutions to hundreds of customers for thousands of products. The Almelo team has contributed to this impressive portfolio of solutions which displays our expanding expertise and capabilities.
A few examples of our work include:
- Fluke ScopeMeter® 190-102/S – This test and measurement tool is designed to go into harsh, dirty, and hazardous industrial conditions to test everything from micro-electronics to power electronics applications. Benchmark was fully responsible for the full product design, electrical engineering, mechanical design, software design and the realization of this product in close cooperation with the local Fluke team.
- Bambi Belt – is a wireless, skin-friendly neonatal monitoring system that measures vital signs (ECG, respiration) of preterm babies. Eliminating wires reduces pain and stress for the baby and improves skin-to-skin bonding (Kangaroo Care) between baby and parents for a better medical outcome. Benchmark is responsible for the realization of the sensing and wireless modules including the electronics engineering, mechatronics, and software design in close cooperation with the Bambi Medical team.
To optimize the wireless connection capabilities of the Fluke ScopeMeter and the Bambi Belt, Benchmark contributed its expertise in usability and industrial design to the projects. Benchmark’s experience in data acquisition and data processing were also critical to each device’s success. The Almelo team’s techniques for specific safety and high assurance analog input circuitry were called upon to complete the projects.
Delivering More than Expected
The Almelo team has a proven track record and works tirelessly to develop the best process for collaborating with customers to ultimately deliver the best result. Our engineers have been a crucial part of customer success and have set a standard for the entire company. If you haven’t had the pleasure of visiting, we hope you have the chance someday to see this stellar team in action.
The Benchmark European Design Centre of Innovation
Our European Design Centre is located in Almelo, a small city with 72,000 inhabitants in Eastern Netherlands. Our engineering team there is over 100 strong, and hail from a wide range of backgrounds. These technical experts are focused on solving complex problems and offer our customers regional R&D services such as industrial and electronics design, mechanical and embedded software engineering, and fast prototyping. Key markets served include industrial controls, aerospace & defense, and medical.
