A new production machine was needed, 6 m high and 27 m long. Three quotations were asked. The desired production process was comparable to a process from the textile industry that already one hundred years ago had surprisingly high output volumes while driven by steam. The desired new production machine had to be computer-controlled and consist of: multiple input units, buffer units, XYZ-tables, positioning of components and semi finished products, printing units, hotmelt glue systems, cutting systems, a stacking unit for the various final products and protection in accordance with CE standard.

According to all three machine builders the expected output would not equal what had been possible a hundred years ago. All three tried to get their quotation accepted, mentioning the complexity of the hardware, software and the controlling systems.

Innovative approach with another machine builder

Given the very disappointing price-performance ratio, a deal was made with another, innovative machine builder: Robert Oosterling (owner Joint Innovation Ltd.) would design the process and the controlling systems, while the machine would be built by the machine builder. The design took one month.