A Center for Tinkerers and Inventors
Ranging from tiny micropumps in hand pipettes to sleek laboratory devices and powerful models for use in industrial processes, KNF pumps are as diverse as their areas of application. But one thing they have in common is that they all originate from their design engineers’ minds. The way in which these designers work has changed radically throughout KNF’s history.
Some of KNF’s very first pumps are developed in the early 1960s in a shed behind the company’s main business premises in the suburbs of Freiburg. It is only after KNF relocates to Freiburg-Munzingen in 1969 that it has enough space to set up a “proper” engineering department. In the years that follow, this department becomes a true innovation powerhouse and a meeting point for KNF’s tinkerers and inventors.
Freiburg-Munzingen in the early 1980s. Picture a group of men in white lab coats standing deep in conversation around a drawing board, thick clouds of cigarette smoke hanging in the air. The weekly team meeting is taking place in the engineering department, and general manager Erich Becker, managing engineer Heinz Riedlinger and some of his design engineers are discussing the latest projects. They are talking about how a metal sheet is missing here and a screw support is needed there, before returning to their respective workplaces.
After these “drawing board meetings”, the only sound that can be heard in the engineering department is the scraping of razor blades on paper as the engineers scratch off ink blots or skillfully try to turn them into something meaningful. Only rarely does a member of staff from another department stray into the engineers’ office. Although the engineering department works closely with the sales, purchasing and prototyping teams, it is its own little world back then.
The design engineers are completely hidden behind their huge drawing boards, which are dotted across the large room. Their hand-drawn DIN A0 designs are stored in wall cabinets. The blue printing machine is in the basement, and finding a specific original drawing in the engineering department can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Only the staff in charge of the filing system know how to navigate the cabinets and pull-out shelves to locate the right document.
Today, all that’s needed to find a design are a few clicks. Each KNF Product Center has its own engineering department, which focuses on meeting the needs of the specific market. It is here that KNF’s engineers develop new products and tailor existing pumps to customer requirements. These days, the work is completely computerized and adjustments to projects are made on screen using detailed 3D-models and simulations.
During the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, KNF even goes a step further. Since in-person meetings can not take place, models are developed during video calls between the sales department and customers. Solutions to tricky technical problems are found quickly without staff having to leave their desks. Nevertheless, sharing ideas is just as important now as it was 40 years ago when design engineers met around drawing boards in Freiburg-Munzingen.
The world of engineering has changed. It is now faster, more digital and, above all, more collaborative than ever before. These days, innovations are designed in cooperation with specialists and partners from research, science and industry. And yet KNF continues to owe its success to the bright minds of its indispensable design engineers and their ingenious ideas.
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