Fully functional device prototype in just nine weeks

Zühlke assists Konica-Minolta with the development of an Office-Collaboration-System.

• Building a fully functioning prototype 

• Low costs due to agile project management 

• International shippable solution for user acceptance tests in only nine weeks

Konica Minolta wanted a fully functional device prototype to present a spectacular new device to its top management and selected international clients. Zühlke delivered on time and within budget.

Time sensitive project

Konica Minolta is a leading office & IT solutions provider with a clear vision: To provide the Workplace of the Future™. This requires innovative new products – and fast prototyping. In this case, there were only nine weeks to build and deliver a fully functional series-like experience prototype of a very complex, multifunctional device. Due to the high function integration level and the lead time of the manufactured parts, there was no time for a second try at it.

Prioritize, re-use and adapt

First, Konica Minolta and Zühlke defined the exact project size and the core functionalities. Then, a collocated multidisciplinary team started working, following a an agile, pragmatic and resultoriented approach: Prioritize, re-use, adapt. After only one integration model to validate the system feasibility, they already built the final prototype device.

Great success for both partners

The result is an innovative multimedia office-collaboration system with single board computer, several audio and video systems, battery operation, biometrics access and a functioning user interface as well as smartphone connectivity, and an extremely high-quality appearance. Thanks to Zühlke’s long track-record of device prototypes, the effort and budget estimations were precisely hit – a great success for both partners.