I.D.milano Product Design - Fimer Case Study

Fimer Spa.

01 FIMER welder
02 TELSEY gateway
03 MOTOROLA cellphones

"Sparks Fly"
Fimer, a family-owned manufacturer of high-tech welding machines needed to update their product line to reflect the advanced inverter-based technology in their machines and drive their company into the 21st century.

The Challenge
Fimer wanted to create a product that truly reflected the characteristics of their MMA or "stick" welding machines – robust, reliable, modern, and technologically advanced. Additionally, they needed an intelligent strategy that would enable them to apply a single design language to not just one welder, but a whole family of welders. Further, they wanted to do this without a significant cost increase.

The Solution
After the kick-off meeting a cross-functional team was created that incorporated the I.D.milano designers and engineers from both Fimer and I.D.milano. The designers quickly identified the main problem with the aesthetics of the old design (see image below). The painted sheetmetal, while offering a low manufacturing cost, did nothing to communicate the latest high tech inverter technology that lay inside the machine.

I.D.milano and Fimer collaboration created a strategy for machine configuration from one family to the next. Over the years, various welders had been added to their vast range in an ad hoc fashion. This was an excellent opportunity for Fimer to consolidate both designed structural parts as well as purchased hardware.

Further, I.D.milano worked with Fimer to eliminate several hardware items by incorporating additional functional features within the new plastic housings. For example, the old sheet-metal designs used 4 rubber feet with 4 screws and washers. In addition there were 2 large moulded insulators for the brass anode and cathode. The development team eliminated the need for all these parts by integrating them seamlessly within the new plastic parts.

The Result
Fimer now have a structured family of 26 welders that are accomodated within the same family of 4 modular housings which this development created. The machines were first shown to the public at the Schweissen & Schneiden tradefair in Essen, Germany. Fimer has received positive reviews and experienced a strengthening of their market share since the introduction of these machines. You can see this family at www.fimer.com. Below you can see a machine from the old family next to one from the new one.