From the stalactite cave to LEAN production: 25 years of manufacturing and design at H2O

25 years of H2O - today we are not only looking back on a quarter of a century of company history, but also on an exciting journey full of technological advances – of which we sometimes have to smile about ourselves. Our design manager Andreas Strübe has been with us almost since the beginning. Here he ponders about what design and production looked like 25 years ago, why we had our own stalactite cave and why Polaroids were so important to us.

A little quiz to start our journey through time! Guess:

How was the VACUDEST constructed back then?

1. On a sheet of paper with a ruler and sharpened pencil
2. Digitally - in 2D with many lines in up to 6 system views
3. Digitally - in 3D with an all-round view - like today, only slightly simplified

Did you go for 1? Wrong... 25 years ago there were still some professions and companies that still drew on paper, but not at H2O.

You thought maybe 3? No... unfortunately not. We weren't that far ahead of our time. But thank you for giving us the credit!

2? That's right! Of course, also digital drawing in 2D presented exciting challenges. "There were so many overlapping lines in the flat view that it was difficult to see all the possible collision points. And we only knew whether there was room for all the pipework in the machine after the prototype had been built eventually," says Head of Design Andreas Strübe.

Polaroid photos, stalactite cave and order bell

Three all-round talents designed the systems back then - today there are nine. The VACUDEST went into series production only, once the prototypes had been built and all the necessary adjustments had been made. "Of course, the systems were much smaller back then, our largest system processed 400 litres per hour - today we process up to 5,000 litres per hour. That's why our production was also much smaller. Back then, two employees manufactured the systems. Byheart from the top of their heads!And sometimes with the help of Polaroid photos as manufacturing instructions." In comparison, today 14 people work in a LEAN production environment with state-of-the-art equipment.

And the stalactite cave? Andreas smiles. "We put every system through its paces before it leaves the company for the customer. That was the case back then, and it's still the case today. We have a separate room for this - the technical centre. Back then, this technical centre was not a metre-high experimental hall like today, but a makeshift wooden shed. Since it very quickly became too small for the growing company, the roof of this shed was used as an extension for the water tanks. And because things can go wrong during test runs and tanks at the top sometimes overflew, we affectionately called the wooden shed underneath it the "dripstone cave".

The vision of a wastewater-free future is the DNA of H2O

Andreas has also fond memories of the good old days: "25 years ago, the work was entirely different: you had a broader approachof tasks, you designed, built, wired control cabinets, carried out test runs and commissioned on site. Today, you have to be much more specialised in your area in order to be able to handle the increasingly complex projects.

The H2O family was small and fine, the founding spirit was clearly noticeable. After 25 years, our H2O family has grown considerably. To over 130 employees worldwide right now. But our vision and our commitment to the environment remain unshakableen. H2O's DNA hasn't changed, we've just found more people who share it.

The biggest differences in design and manufacturing, back then and now: