On 20 September, a High-Tech safari took place with 50 students from the Industrial Product Design programme at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen. During this safari, which focused on product lifecycles, they visited the companies Comecer, Philips and Sparck. 

At Comecer, Sjors de Leeuw gave a lecture on product design and production, followed by a tour of the company where systems are developed for the pharmaceutical industry and nuclear medicine. Sjors also mentioned that a lot of attention is paid to user-friendliness, use of materials and design. The first impression is always important, but above all, the product must be safe. This can only succeed if you involve all disciplines in the production process so that the various team efforts are aligned.

At Philips, the students were taught about technical product testing and user testing. Erik Engels, Group Lead Quality Development Grooming & OneBlade at Philips shared his knowledge on the requirements that a product such as a shaver must meet to be sufficiently robust and safe for everyday use. The fact that every user handles the device differently is also taken into account. Karen den Besten, Group Leader Product Research Centre at Philips explained Philips' approach to user testing: how do we test new products based on what users think of them? How do we know for sure that a product is better than one of our previous products or that of a competitor? Finally, Eric Sloot, Senior Production System Architect at Philips gave a presentation on how robots can assist in production. This was followed by a tour of the factory, during which the students were divided into five groups. They visited the production areas and the room where user testing takes place, known as the 'Marathonsalon’.

According to the students and their supervisors, the presentations and tours were very successful, as it fitted well with their studies and gave them a good idea of how things work in practice.