University of Twente graduate Ruben Borgonjen designs new Philips juicer with MicroMasticating technology

Philips recently brought a unique juicer onto the market, thanks to the design talent of University of Twente graduate Ruben Borgonjen. Ruben’s undergraduate project in Industrial Design at Philips laid the foundation for the development of this brand new household device. “I’m over the moon. It’s not often that a research project results in a product so quickly.”

ENSCHEDE, THE NETHERLANDS, 23-May-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — Co-developed by Ruben Borgonjen, the Philips HR1897/30 Avance Collection is a juicer with MicroMasticating technology. This technology ensures that as much juice as possible is squeezed out of the fruit. “The pre-clean function ensures that the last drops of juice are extracted from the juicer while the inside of the device is being cleaned,” Ruben explains. “And because there is no sieve, you have no more mess to clean up. The device is easy to disassemble and can be rinsed in a few seconds.”

MASS PRODUCTION
For six months, the UT student dedicated almost all of his time to developing concepts and prototypes at Philips. “Most existing juicers were cumbersome and a nightmare to clean. I put a lot of hard work into moving things along. At a certain point, the ideas I had come up with were brought to the attention Philips’ management team. From that moment on, things really took off. After my assignment, the device went into further development and the company’s experts got it ready for mass production. The juicer is now being sold around the world, even in China. How cool is that?”

COOPERATION
For his undergraduate project, Ruben collaborated extensively with experts from other disciplines, something his studies had prepared him for. “It’s not just the final product I’m happy with, but also the cooperation behind it. To achieve something like this as a designer, you have to be able to communicate with both technical experts and managers. The broad approach taken in Industrial Design at Twente was a great help in this respect. For example, I learned to use my knowledge of the production process to focus on the key phases that follow on from product design.”

The collaboration with various disciplines was a key factor in ensuring that this research and development assignment with a company like Philips could result in a marketable product so quickly.

Ruben Borgonjen’s undergraduate thesis was supervised by Hiske Schuurman. He has since gone on to complete his Master’s in Industrial Design Engineering with a thesis on Product Lifecycle Management at Daimler AG (best known for Mercedes-Benz and Smart). His Master’s thesis was supervised by Professor Marco Groll of Integrated Lifecycle Management at the University of Twente’s Faculty of Engineering Technology. Ruben now works as a Senior Product Lifecycle Management Architect at ASML in Veldhoven.

Read more about Industrial Design at the University of Twente.

https://youtu.be/MXqdj-Btm-Y

JOCHEM VREEMAN
Press relations
+31 53 489 6139
j.c.vreeman@utwente.nl

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University of Twente graduate Ruben Borgonjen designs new Philips juicer with MicroMasticating technology