Vikan is a leading manufacturer of hygienic cleaning tools. Their starting point is costumers need with focus on a high level of hygiene via product and behaviour as well as environment.
But even well-established companies may need new perspectives and innovation, and Vikan got that through the collaboration with Artlinco.
Client
Vikan ApS
Services
Insight og Analysis, Technology screening, Idea generation, Concept Development, Design
Job
Because Vikan focuses on both product and user it was a perfect match to team up with Artlinco. Vikan had an ambition of developing the safest, most hygienic cleaning solutions for the food industry. Many of the existing brushes and brooms in the market had compartments for germs to hide.
At the same time they were made from metal components which meant a risk of the metal falling into the food. Therefore, a new concept had to be developed that was able to meet the super-hygiene definition and Vikan’s vision.
Insight
Artlinco always work based on the mantra “everything looks a specific way – for a specifik reason” – we want to give the users what they actually need. This is the reason why we in this project also started researching. We researched how brushes and brooms were used in slaughterhouses and hospitals to discover where in the process issues would occur.
We also spoke to a number of hygiene experts and found out that a classic broom in reality just moves the dust around instead of removing it. With the gathered knowledge we created a solid foundation for how to develop the new brushes and brooms, on basis of the users’ needs.
“This revolutionary invention is at the heart of our UST technology and enables us to provide our customers with the most hygienic brush wear option on the market today.”
Deb Smith, Global R&D Manager, Vikan
Innovation
We developed a series of brushes and brooms that sets completely new standards for hygiene. They are easy to clean and the moulding process is patented, which eliminates bacterial pockets and metal pieces in the food. Every brush has been developed with a specific purpose – during the process we discovered, that to fulfil high hygiene standards, it required that the hairs on the brushes were differently oriented, depending on the needs.
At the same time we worked with zone classifications where brushes and brooms were given a specific colour for a specific purpose to reduce cross contamination as much as possible. The result of the project was the super hygienic brush concept with the suitable name: Ultra Safe Technology.
