The intelligence of equipment has become a unique selling point during the last couple of years. Jammed coffee machines that personally send a message to the service engineer, printers that automatically order a new cartridge up to even installations that automatically slip plants… plenty of possibilities. If processes can be automated such that they require no (or barely) any human hands a large profit can be booked.

Leading role

The development of new, intelligent products that communicate by means of the Internet is an exciting, intensive and each time unique process whereby many different partners need to be able to properly cooperate. Sioux is not afraid of the leading role in these kinds of projects. By creating clusters and entering into new forms of cooperation during the last couple of years our role has changed from ‘merely’ a supplier into a fully-fledged partner who dares to participate in a risk-bearing manner. This other position also has an effect on the work relations. In the interest of the end product both partners should be willing to cooperate in an honest and open manner. This is a way of working that suits Sioux perfectly.

In practice

Ben Bormans, business development manager at FEI Company:

“Sioux led, in a consortium of suppliers, the software development of a very compact table-top model electron microscope, the Phenom. Together with the NTS Group and FEI Sioux has also invested in the development hereof. We wanted a product that would be ten times cheaper than our large microscopes, would not require service and would require only 3 pages of instructions. It was actually this simplification that provided a big challenge. Our specifications in the area of user convenience and speed required the architecture and implementation of the software to be state-of-the-art.”

“One of the largest cost savings has been realised by the remote solution for testing and maintenance. With regard to the maintenance critical components are monitored online and periodically some test samples are measured. As a consequence service people in the field are no longer required. When the equipment fails, the customer sends it back to us and we will ship a new one.”

“We challenged Sioux to convert Machine2World® into Microscope2World for the Phenom. The result is an embedded, closed system with a touch screen and buttons which are also used by digital cameras. Output of the images, however, takes place by means of a USB stick. A beautiful product. In five years time this will be a business worth EUR fifty to seventy million.”