Design is problem solving 

PUMPS: Be – Think – Innovate. These three words are the Grundfos vision statement, expressing the values the company wants to communicate to its customers. When a new product is launched, it is crucial that the design of the product accords with the vision. Design is not styling – design is problem solving.

Denmark’s Grundfos, the world’s leading manufacturer of pumps, frequently wins awards for the industrial design which lies behind the company’s pumps. Last year Grundfos won the Danish Design Prize for its waste water pump SE1/SEV. The judging panel noted how the pump had been designed with special consideration for the environmental problems connected with waste water. The pump is easy to handle, has a smooth, dirtrepellent exterior and is easy to clean. The pump is also durably constructed for a long service life, and the cooling function provides maximum flexibility so it can be used both in and out of water.

     “To Grundfos it is very important that our products express the values which are built into our vision: Be - Think - Innovate,” says Kim Klastrup, Group Senior Vice President and responsible for branding and global marketing. “When we launch a new product it must meet the promise that our vision expresses. It must hit all three words because otherwise we compromise on our promise.”

The procedure
To fulfil market expectations as well as meeting the company’s requirements of itself, Grundfos follows a 7 step procedure each time the company markets a new product:

“It is a process where everybody can take action and adjust the product throughout the procedure,” says Klastrup. “The design process thus becomes an integrated part of production and marketing. We do not separate these things. To Grundfos, design is not a question of styling things in a certain way. To us design is about solving a problem.”

Designed to save money
20% of the world’s electricity is used to run pumps. Large industrial pumps, small circulation pumps, waste water pumps and pumps for water supply. Pumps of all kinds.

     “20% of the world’s electricity consumption is a lot. Really a lot,” says Kim Klastrup.

“When we started toying with the idea of our latest circulation pump Alpha Pro, we had a clear aim: Not only did we want to optimise the operating efficiency – we wanted to aim for a genuine low energy construction which could compete with other “green” energy solutions. With Grundfos Alpha Pro we succeeded in making a pump which uses only a sixth of the electricity consumption of a conventional pump. It corresponds to an annual energy saving of between 50 and 80 Euro per pump for the entire service life of the pump.

     In European homes alone there are around 100 million circulation pumps. If they were exchanged for new circulation pumps, the saving in electricity would correspond to the combined annual energy consumption of Berlin and Hamburg.

     “AlphaPro represents a completely new way of thinking about pumps. Permanent magnet technology is used, electronic control is built in and the hydraulic effect has been optimised on a number of points. The result is an energy labelled construction in class A, where performance, function and operation form a synthesis. It is good design because the task has been solved optimally”.

In 2003, Grundfos received the Industrial Design Prize for an immersion pump which is able to run on renewable energy. The pump is used for water supply in places where the electricity supply either is nonexistent or where the voltage can fluctuate. The pump can be run using a wind turbine, solar cells or a simple generator. Kim Klastrup, Branding Director of Grundfos, proudly shows the fountain at the Grundfos headquarters in Bjerringbro, Denmark. The fountain is run by solar cells and the company’s solar pumps.