A.M. Willemen
Please Note
8 records found
1
The initial phase involved stakeholder and competitor analysis, along with qualitative research through interviews with the energy company employees. Housing categories were established and prioritized, while the identified problems were refined. Additional interviews were conducted to look into the desirability of the to be developed solution.
The subsequent phase involved individual brainstorming and various workshops, utilizing different methods to select and further develop the most promising solutions. Roadmaps were created, outlining strategic directions and required activities. Simultaneously, a future vision is formulated through strategic trend scanning and clustering, providing a long-term perspective and comprehensive understanding of the broader picture of the energy business in 2050.
This study suggests the energy company to focus on five new innovations. All innovations propose the use of either new HIU’s or ways of connecting district heating to the HIU. These solutions combined have the maximum potential of connecting 67.2 percent of the buildings.
Furthermore, the recommendation was made that, to meet future customer needs, the energy company should transition from their current role of organizing the energy transition to becoming a provider of knowledge and expertise.
Lastly, it was found that to overcome challenges in adopting district heating, the energy company should improve their communication about their process, progress, and the benefits of district heating to the residents.
...
The initial phase involved stakeholder and competitor analysis, along with qualitative research through interviews with the energy company employees. Housing categories were established and prioritized, while the identified problems were refined. Additional interviews were conducted to look into the desirability of the to be developed solution.
The subsequent phase involved individual brainstorming and various workshops, utilizing different methods to select and further develop the most promising solutions. Roadmaps were created, outlining strategic directions and required activities. Simultaneously, a future vision is formulated through strategic trend scanning and clustering, providing a long-term perspective and comprehensive understanding of the broader picture of the energy business in 2050.
This study suggests the energy company to focus on five new innovations. All innovations propose the use of either new HIU’s or ways of connecting district heating to the HIU. These solutions combined have the maximum potential of connecting 67.2 percent of the buildings.
Furthermore, the recommendation was made that, to meet future customer needs, the energy company should transition from their current role of organizing the energy transition to becoming a provider of knowledge and expertise.
Lastly, it was found that to overcome challenges in adopting district heating, the energy company should improve their communication about their process, progress, and the benefits of district heating to the residents.
Blade Barrier
Sound barriers from decommissioned wind turbine blades
The ever-growing wind industry faces a composite waste problem. Wind turbine blades only last a few decades, and are difficult and therefore not economically desirable to recycle.
One proposed solution to this issue, is to repurpose the blades. Over the last years, several small-scale projects (such as playgrounds and urban furniture) have been realised that show how these high-end objects can serve new purposes successfully.
As the wind industry has grown exponentially over the last two decades, the resulting composite waste stream is expected to follow this same growth in the coming decades. For this reason, more impactful solutions are required.
To this end, the Blade Barrier is proposed by Blade Made, a spinoff startup from Superuse Studios. A roadside sound barrier has the potential to incorporate a large number of blades into its construction, and extend their life-in-service for another two to five decades, simultaneously eliminating the need for virgin materials.
The blades represent the starting point of the project, while the sound barrier is the final goal. The project is about connecting these two points through various research and design methods. Analysing the blades offers an understanding of the opportunities and limitations of the material, while research into sound barrier design yields insights into what makes a well-performing barrier. Throughout the project, the expertise of experts has been consulted to be able to expand this understanding and make well-grounded design decisions.
Based on this research a design vision is formulated, focussing on aesthetics, circularity and scalability. After the creation of three concepts, the idea for a green urban corridor was selected. This concept has the potential to transcend the simple idea of a sound barrier, and fulfil multiple purposes. It could offer a cleaner and more biodiverse urban area, and create an enjoyable surrounding on the resident side of the barrier.
Through an iterative process, this concept was further developed. The result is a design that is adaptive to the availability of blades and the requirements of the barrier location. Acoustic simulations are used to validate the performance of the design, and physical prototyping steps were taken in order to elaborate upon the production process. Vegetation is incorporated into the design to enhance its aesthetics and acoustics, and to stimulate biodiversity.
The design is applied to a location in Rotterdam to show how it integrates within the urban environment. The flexibility of the design enables it to be constructed in various different locations with varying types of blades. This way, it offers a solution to the blade waste problem anywhere on the planet.
The design was presented to the wind industry at the 2022 WindEurope conference in Bilbao. The design was received well there, and several parties are currently in touch with Blade Made to explore the possibilities for the construction of a Blade Barrier.
To this end, the report concludes with several recommendations toward the realisation of the design. ...
The ever-growing wind industry faces a composite waste problem. Wind turbine blades only last a few decades, and are difficult and therefore not economically desirable to recycle.
One proposed solution to this issue, is to repurpose the blades. Over the last years, several small-scale projects (such as playgrounds and urban furniture) have been realised that show how these high-end objects can serve new purposes successfully.
As the wind industry has grown exponentially over the last two decades, the resulting composite waste stream is expected to follow this same growth in the coming decades. For this reason, more impactful solutions are required.
To this end, the Blade Barrier is proposed by Blade Made, a spinoff startup from Superuse Studios. A roadside sound barrier has the potential to incorporate a large number of blades into its construction, and extend their life-in-service for another two to five decades, simultaneously eliminating the need for virgin materials.
The blades represent the starting point of the project, while the sound barrier is the final goal. The project is about connecting these two points through various research and design methods. Analysing the blades offers an understanding of the opportunities and limitations of the material, while research into sound barrier design yields insights into what makes a well-performing barrier. Throughout the project, the expertise of experts has been consulted to be able to expand this understanding and make well-grounded design decisions.
Based on this research a design vision is formulated, focussing on aesthetics, circularity and scalability. After the creation of three concepts, the idea for a green urban corridor was selected. This concept has the potential to transcend the simple idea of a sound barrier, and fulfil multiple purposes. It could offer a cleaner and more biodiverse urban area, and create an enjoyable surrounding on the resident side of the barrier.
Through an iterative process, this concept was further developed. The result is a design that is adaptive to the availability of blades and the requirements of the barrier location. Acoustic simulations are used to validate the performance of the design, and physical prototyping steps were taken in order to elaborate upon the production process. Vegetation is incorporated into the design to enhance its aesthetics and acoustics, and to stimulate biodiversity.
The design is applied to a location in Rotterdam to show how it integrates within the urban environment. The flexibility of the design enables it to be constructed in various different locations with varying types of blades. This way, it offers a solution to the blade waste problem anywhere on the planet.
The design was presented to the wind industry at the 2022 WindEurope conference in Bilbao. The design was received well there, and several parties are currently in touch with Blade Made to explore the possibilities for the construction of a Blade Barrier.
To this end, the report concludes with several recommendations toward the realisation of the design.
Designing a reusable packaging solution for KPN
A zero-waste packaging approach for networking equipment used in the B2B segment
KPN, the leading telecom company in the Netherlands, wants to accelerate the journey to become near 100% circular by 2025, in which the reduction of packaging waste plays an important role. To reduce this to virtually zero, a reusable packaging approach is suggested. Additionally, research showed that the return logistics of a number of B2B services are hindered due to a lack of packaging, which causes product damage and a delayed turnaround time.
With insight from the research a packaging prototype was designed and developed to be tested in a first pilot. A ‘ reusable messenger bag’ concept was selected, as it is durable, relatively cheap, size efficient and an already known, and valued packaging concept among mechanics and the refurbishment partner. To support the distribution of the packaging in an effective way, a logistic concept is proposed. This mechanic-centred system architecture ensures the availability of packaging at all times, potentially solving the return issues that were found in the research.
In the pilot, the accessibility of logistics, workflow of employees and the functionality of the product are tested in an actual order of a popular B2B service of KPN. The pilot resulted in a successful proof of concept and a first stepping stone towards the implementation of a zero-waste, reusable packaging approach for KPN. With a small-scale, technical implementation of this concept, it was shown that reusable packaging has the potential to not only reduce packaging waste, but also increase the workflow of involved stakeholders, improve the return logistics of electronics and therefore also reduce costs. This resulted in a positive and profitable business case for further development of this concept.
The biggest limitation was the small and narrow scope of testing (n=1). This made it difficult to actually validate if the return logistics were improved by a reusable packaging, as logistics manifest itself at scale. As a further roll-out of the concept shows to be interesting for KPN, the first next step would be to scale up the testing over the entire VPN service (±1000 orders yearly) to validate the logistic concept and functionality of the product.
...
KPN, the leading telecom company in the Netherlands, wants to accelerate the journey to become near 100% circular by 2025, in which the reduction of packaging waste plays an important role. To reduce this to virtually zero, a reusable packaging approach is suggested. Additionally, research showed that the return logistics of a number of B2B services are hindered due to a lack of packaging, which causes product damage and a delayed turnaround time.
With insight from the research a packaging prototype was designed and developed to be tested in a first pilot. A ‘ reusable messenger bag’ concept was selected, as it is durable, relatively cheap, size efficient and an already known, and valued packaging concept among mechanics and the refurbishment partner. To support the distribution of the packaging in an effective way, a logistic concept is proposed. This mechanic-centred system architecture ensures the availability of packaging at all times, potentially solving the return issues that were found in the research.
In the pilot, the accessibility of logistics, workflow of employees and the functionality of the product are tested in an actual order of a popular B2B service of KPN. The pilot resulted in a successful proof of concept and a first stepping stone towards the implementation of a zero-waste, reusable packaging approach for KPN. With a small-scale, technical implementation of this concept, it was shown that reusable packaging has the potential to not only reduce packaging waste, but also increase the workflow of involved stakeholders, improve the return logistics of electronics and therefore also reduce costs. This resulted in a positive and profitable business case for further development of this concept.
The biggest limitation was the small and narrow scope of testing (n=1). This made it difficult to actually validate if the return logistics were improved by a reusable packaging, as logistics manifest itself at scale. As a further roll-out of the concept shows to be interesting for KPN, the first next step would be to scale up the testing over the entire VPN service (±1000 orders yearly) to validate the logistic concept and functionality of the product.
Moving biocomposites into second gear
Exploring the potential of long fibre biocomposites in the mobility and transport industry
Barilla Sustainable Farming
Implementing an educational framework to increase farmers’ application of sustainable practices
Purchasing from the spot market constitutes a high economical risk for the company, which decided, in 2010, to launch the Barilla Sustainable Farming Projects.
Barilla Sustainable Farming projects support and promote the adoption of more efficient and sustainable agricultural practices while increasing the economic advantages of farmers. Accordingly, farmers sign agricultural contracts with the company, that in exchange for the security to buy the product ask for sustainable practices' application.
The Barilla Sustainable Farming project spread throughout the Italian farmers successfully; then, the company decided to expand these sustainable projects abroad. One of the two scopes of this graduation project is to export the Barilla Sustainable Farming projects abroad to increase the number of contracted farmers further.
However, despite many contracted farmers, Barilla still faces a significant issue: the tools and the Sustainable Farming practices developed by the company are not understood and thus adopted by farmers holistically. The scenario creates relevancy for this graduation project that aimed to apply the design methodologies to find a creative solution.
Then, the problem is defined in exporting the Sustainable Farming projects abroad while convincing farmers to adopt the Sustainable Guidelines developed by the company.
The project started from in-depth research on the countries' agricultural systems where Barilla could export the Sustainable Farming Projects and passed through semi-structured interviews with farmers to gain insights on possible design directions to convince them to apply the sustainable practices.
Then, with a conjoint definition on the two pieces of research (one for each scope), the final design direction was defined: creating an educational framework that aims to create engagement, understanding, and participation on the Barilla Sustainable Guidelines. Accordingly, the solution is a platform that allows farmers to learn, via different activities, all the company's guidelines, which should be applied while cultivating.
In the end, in compliance with the educational model, the company's interest would be relevant in implementing the Barilla Sustainable Farming in countries with a rearward agricultural level. Therefore, the most relevant countries have a lower educational and technological level among the studied countries. Consequently, after developing the educational framework, namely how farmers should learn the guidelines, a roadmap has been developed for implementing the educational framework in two different countries: Turkey and Russia.
Besides the academic core of the project, the main goal is to create a creative direction to investigate new possibilities further to expand the Barilla Sustainable Projects abroad. Then, the primary aspiration of the project for an actual application would be to create inspiration to explore new possible strategies Barilla may consider in the future. ...
Purchasing from the spot market constitutes a high economical risk for the company, which decided, in 2010, to launch the Barilla Sustainable Farming Projects.
Barilla Sustainable Farming projects support and promote the adoption of more efficient and sustainable agricultural practices while increasing the economic advantages of farmers. Accordingly, farmers sign agricultural contracts with the company, that in exchange for the security to buy the product ask for sustainable practices' application.
The Barilla Sustainable Farming project spread throughout the Italian farmers successfully; then, the company decided to expand these sustainable projects abroad. One of the two scopes of this graduation project is to export the Barilla Sustainable Farming projects abroad to increase the number of contracted farmers further.
However, despite many contracted farmers, Barilla still faces a significant issue: the tools and the Sustainable Farming practices developed by the company are not understood and thus adopted by farmers holistically. The scenario creates relevancy for this graduation project that aimed to apply the design methodologies to find a creative solution.
Then, the problem is defined in exporting the Sustainable Farming projects abroad while convincing farmers to adopt the Sustainable Guidelines developed by the company.
The project started from in-depth research on the countries' agricultural systems where Barilla could export the Sustainable Farming Projects and passed through semi-structured interviews with farmers to gain insights on possible design directions to convince them to apply the sustainable practices.
Then, with a conjoint definition on the two pieces of research (one for each scope), the final design direction was defined: creating an educational framework that aims to create engagement, understanding, and participation on the Barilla Sustainable Guidelines. Accordingly, the solution is a platform that allows farmers to learn, via different activities, all the company's guidelines, which should be applied while cultivating.
In the end, in compliance with the educational model, the company's interest would be relevant in implementing the Barilla Sustainable Farming in countries with a rearward agricultural level. Therefore, the most relevant countries have a lower educational and technological level among the studied countries. Consequently, after developing the educational framework, namely how farmers should learn the guidelines, a roadmap has been developed for implementing the educational framework in two different countries: Turkey and Russia.
Besides the academic core of the project, the main goal is to create a creative direction to investigate new possibilities further to expand the Barilla Sustainable Projects abroad. Then, the primary aspiration of the project for an actual application would be to create inspiration to explore new possible strategies Barilla may consider in the future.
Improving the Picnic Runner’s Experience
Applying user experience to vehicle design
Nequi, a FinTech from Colombia, wants to be the digital bank of millennials. However, their most popular feature is cash withdrawals - hindering Nequi’s goal of a digital banking experience.
|| GOAL.
This project addressed the problem: “How to increase Nequi’s relevance in the quotidien life of its users?”
|| PROBLEM DEFINITION.
Field research revealed a country where 90% of all transactions are done in cash (in the Netherlands this is 45%) and where there is a cultural tendency not to trust banks. For many Colombians, cash is safer than cashless. How can Nequi thrive if no one trusts or accepts cashless payments?
|| APPROACH.
Instead of focusing on the user's individual experience with cashless, this project addressed the topic as a collective experience and focused on building an ecosystem for cashless payments.
|| SOLUTION.
Nequi-qui builds sellers’ trust about cashless and at the same time invites users to pay with Nequi - creating a Nequ -ecosystem in the quotidian of its users. ...
Nequi, a FinTech from Colombia, wants to be the digital bank of millennials. However, their most popular feature is cash withdrawals - hindering Nequi’s goal of a digital banking experience.
|| GOAL.
This project addressed the problem: “How to increase Nequi’s relevance in the quotidien life of its users?”
|| PROBLEM DEFINITION.
Field research revealed a country where 90% of all transactions are done in cash (in the Netherlands this is 45%) and where there is a cultural tendency not to trust banks. For many Colombians, cash is safer than cashless. How can Nequi thrive if no one trusts or accepts cashless payments?
|| APPROACH.
Instead of focusing on the user's individual experience with cashless, this project addressed the topic as a collective experience and focused on building an ecosystem for cashless payments.
|| SOLUTION.
Nequi-qui builds sellers’ trust about cashless and at the same time invites users to pay with Nequi - creating a Nequ -ecosystem in the quotidian of its users.