Case study:
Quooker

About Quooker

Quooker is a Dutch company that introduced the product category of boiling water taps. The company was founded in 1970 by Henri Peteri and his son Niels Peteri. Their ambition is to provide boiling water to as many households as possible in a smart and responsible way. At the headquarters in Ridderkerk (The Netherlands) over 500 people work every day on new technical ideas and design solutions to make the taps even more efficient, user-friendly, and beautiful.

The project

Quooker was experiencing rapid growth and was facing a capacity shortage in designing and building new production machines. They were looking for a mid-tech sector production machine builder, combining engineering and assembly capabilities and could provide practical solutions for the production of discrete products. The machine’s sensor tubes have a similar shape to cigars and are a part of the manufacturing process in need for a new solution.

The challenges

In the original set-up of Quooker two machines were used to produce the sensor tubes. After pressing the cap on the tube, a separate machine was used to weld the cap the cap onto it. After production the quality of the weld was tested within a third leak testing machine. Quooker contracted ATD to design a simplified machine to shorten lead time and increase capacity. The welding is done with a high-class laser, which required extra attention to safety.

The solution

ATD Machinery co worked with Quooker within Solid Works to create a machine that met their needs. After a brief preliminary study, ATD presented several options, and Quooker chose the most innovative one. ATD was responsible for the mechanical and electrical design and construction of the machine, while Quooker handled the laser welding and testing process and the development of the PLC software. The new machine replaced three machines built by Quooker, and its production capacity was more than twice that of the previous machines. The risk analysis showed that the shielding needed special windows and sealing for the high-class laser.

The collaboration with ATD Machinery resulted in a perfect high-quality machine and a productive and creative collaboration that will continue for years to come.