Isabella Palmgren and Emil Vestman researched the necessity of using drinkable water to wash clothes as part of a master’s thesis project at the Chalmers University of Technology. After many prototypes and iterations, they found their mission: To save water and rethink the use of water. The company, Mimbly, was incorporated in Gothenburg, Sweden in June 2017.
Mimbly’s Mimbox is patented recycling technology that connects to and upgrades any brand of professional laundry machines, such as in an apartment building’s laundry room or smaller hotels. By analyzing the water and allowing the best quality water to be reused, the Mimbox reduces water consumption by 70 percent and the CO2 emitted from the laundry water heating process. With water filtration technology, the Mimbox also reduces microplastic pollution by capturing and removing microfibers. Even with all the environmental benefits, the quality of the wash is not compromised.
New Product Development
The young company needed the right tools to grow and further develop, and SOLIDWORKS® and 3DEXPERIENCE Works® fit the bill. Emma Brunnegård, UX Lead and R&D Team Leader notes, “We chose SOLIDWORKS because of its user friendliness, and also because it’s well known in the industry. We’re also connected to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and we think that that will really help us develop new products and also help us with our growth. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is scalable, collaborative, and it’s cloud based, so we can work wherever we want and still share files. We’re curious and looking forward to seeing where the 3DEXPERIENCE platform will take us.”
Connected and Collaborating
Currently, over a dozen employees from different backgrounds from different parts of the world contribute to the company’s growth, and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform keeps everyone connected and collaborating. In 2017 IKEA chose Mimbly from among 1,300 start-up applicants as one of ten companies for its accelerator program. The company’s current mission of helping larger-scale laundry facilities become more sustainable has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
Surmounting Future Challenges
Emil Vestman, Co-founder and Product Development Manager concludes, “The future challenges and possibilities at Mimbly are many. In the short term, it’s about creating Mimboxes for different segments that can handle different types of water. Looking a bit further ahead, we want to expand our product portfolio and create products for different industries that have things in common, such as wasting too much water, emitting microplastics and unnecessary amounts of CO2.
Vestman continues, “And in order to do this, we need to keep coming up with great ideas, have a great team, and also good software tools such as the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to be able to work on projects simultaneously and keep a flow of new things coming out of Mimbly. And these different work streams all have one thing in common: Having a positive environmental impact. That’s the big goal that we at Mimbly work towards.”
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