Synthetic applications expert Bolidt’s latest development has been its experience and
innovation centre that it will officially open in October this year, writes Samantha Fisk
Bolidt wanted to stay ahead of the game and a few years ago decided that the next step was an[ds_preview] experience and innovation centre. »It started with five people sitting in a shed thinking about how to adapt to society«, explains Rientz Willem Bol, CEO, Bolidt.
The centre has been designed to cater for the future needs of all of Bolidt’s customer portfolio. »We have to keep up across all of our value streams«, highlights Bol. As it isn’t just the maritime sector that the company works with and for this Bolidt wanted to create an area not just to produce new systems, but to also provide a creative thing space for new ideas for the market.
The centre consists of labs for testing new products and also an innovation hub for designers to discuss new ideas to bring to the market. Bolidt has recently invested in younger designers to help Bolidt bring fresh ideas and thinking to the company.
The innovation hub has already brought new products, one of them being the integration of LED lighting on cruise ship decks, which has also gained interest from other sectors. »After it was introduced on to cruise ships the yacht market also wanted this as well. With one owner wanting to be able to control the lights from his smart phone«, says Robert van Aarle, sales & business development manager, Bolidt. The first installation of the LED lighting was on board two TUI cruise ships.
The company still utilises its old building where it conducts more specialised tests. Also, to meet with future green requirements, Bolidt is also looking at bio materials that it can use to replace materials that it currently uses in its products.
Growth with yachts
Further developments from the hub will potentially see a new sensor coming to the market that can take weight measurements of an area that has a sensor placed beneath it, using wireless technology. Van Aarle notes that in the future this type of sensor will be suitable for many applications on board a variety of vessels.
Jacco van Overbeek, director maritime division, highlights that the maritime division of the business has seen strong growth both in the cruise sector and super yacht markets of the business and is a key player for these areas. Going forward, he says that Bolidt aims to continue to grow in these areas and to be the market leader.
»The superyacht market is also a booming business at the moment and there we are growing. We are doing a lot of work to replace the original teak decks with our Future Teak system«, explains van Overbeek. Van Aarle also notes that this year the company is seeing a steady demand from both newbuild and retrofit contracts with new cruises ships under construction and also retrofits from the super yacht market with its Future Teak product. Overbeek also notes that as the ships are getting larger, so is the demands of what is going on board, with owners really pushing the envelope of what can be achieved on board a cruise ship.
Norwegian-based ship interior design specialist YSA have also seen this reflected with owners wanting more exuberant designs and features on board. Catherine Smith-Kelland, senior interior & textile designer, YSA highlights that one of the challenges of this has been to create spaces on board that are more personal passenger and not to feel a part of a crowd on board.
YSA have also been involved with the Chinese cruise ship market with a recent contract from Genting. She notes that the design styles from this market are different to those from Europe and the US markets.
Bolidt is also seeing contracts come through from more expedition vessels that are now starting to be constructed. One notable contract has been for the Hurtigruten expedition vessels, »Roald Amundsen«, the first of these vessels was delivered in 2018.
Samantha Fisk
