4D Insights

South African entrepreneur Henlo van der Westhuizen, in partnership with 4D Systems, has developed a premium espresso coffee machine, merging art, engineering, and functionality. Inspired by outdated coffee-shop technology, Van der Westhuizen set out to enhance the coffee experience through advanced engineering. His vision focused on cost-effectiveness, sustainability, and innovative technology, leading to a product comparable in price with mid-high range espresso machines but with added telemetry. Committed to sustainability, his machines are designed for exceptional service life, enhanced by telemetry and data reporting. This journey led to the essential collaboration with 4D Systems for the machine's display technology.

Airinspace, based in Élancourt, France, was founded in 2002 with the objective of develop a way to provide the cleanest air in space. By developing air purifiers and airborne surface disinfection machines, they provided safe environments for humans in space, initially on the Russian space station Mir and later at the International Space Station (ISS). Today, the French company’s air purifiers are depended upon in hospitals across the world (circa 50 countries) to keep vulnerable patients safe from air and surface contamination as well as by research laboratories needing to mitigate potential airborne particles and microorganisms from disrupting their results. The product design team’s emphasis on the product’s ergonomics and aesthetic needs to be matched with an equal touch-screen experience also.

Based in Nantes, France, Ledixis designs DMX controllers for lighting control on TV and cinema sets for its brand Exalux which targets commercial customers. It is a balancing act to cost effectively develop new product lines & revenue sources. It requires assessing the overall sales potential of a new product against the development cost to bring that product into the market. Rapid prototyping and the ability to turn an idea into a final product quickly are necessary to keep development costs low. Ledixis was presented with this challenge when they were required to develop a custom DMX controller for a customer, while having to avoid using costly hardware & software.