Semcon is an international technology company specialised in product development, with a focus on the end user. The reason for this is simple: the person who knows most about the user’s needs creates the best products with the clearest benefits to people. Semcon is an international product development company with more than 30 locations across Europe, South America and Asia. Its 2,000+ employees provide support for product development from concept to user support in the life sciences, automotive, energy, and telecommunications industries
For any company, from a startup to a multinational, the idea is just the beginning, and the challenge is creating the product that lives up to this initial concept and meets the customers’ and end users’ needs. This is where Semcon comes in.
“We provide expert competencies from user insights to finalized products, helping our customers to develop high quality products in efficient timeframes and to the right requirements,” said Patric Svensson, team manager in product design at Semcon.
Providing solution-based services
Semcon can provide support through business, concept and technical development, as well as helping create product information. The company has a long experience in the life science industry, in both the medical device and the pharmaceutical sectors.
“We ensure that our product development is based around human needs and behaviours and applicable regulations and standards. In our design work we also always make sure that the product is attuned to the customer’s brand,” said Svensson.
Semcon projects begin with collaboration with the customer to identify the end users’ needs, and then involve the in-house designers, mechanical engineers and software developers in an iterative development process.
“All our competence teams are involved from the beginning, and we work closely with our clients throughout the whole process,” said Svensson.
Case study Cellink: BIO X Bioprinter for human tissue
Three-dimensional printers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and over the past few years have become capable of using human cells, along with biocompatible materials, to create tissues for testing drugs and cosmetics, and organs for testing and potentially even for transplantation. Semcon worked with Cellink, which had identified the market potential for a new generation bioprinter.
The process involved a total redesign of existing technology, from an industrial, digital, and functionality perspective, but always keeping the user focus in mind.
“We started out by researching the market, and looking at what the users need, and used this as a basis to begin the design,” said Svensson.
The Semcon team worked in close cooperation with Cellink, and operated both in Semcon Studios located in Gothenburg and in the Semcon Öresund office in Lund, where it could access its design and engineering staff, and on the client’s site to gain feedback from management.
“By offering a multi competence design team we could ensure an efficient development process with a high quality delivery to our client, also reducing time to market. As an example, we started our design work on this project in September 2016, and the client began selling its first products during Spring 2017,” said Svensson. More information on the BIO X bioprinter can be found on www.cellink.com.
