Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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French university students' waterproof toilet tissue dispenser wows competition judges

As SCA and its brands prepare to take part in the Volvo Ocean Race - thought to be the toughest sailing competition there is - the company challenged industrial design students all over the world to develop a product that will protect Team SCA's toilet tissue from the seawater and other very wet environments.

Following an extensive review process, a waterproof dispenser designed by a team of five students from ENSAM University in Paris, was declared the winner.

Offered with a choice of two different attachment solutions: a suction pad or a hook, the dispenser is made from a soft, lightweight and impact-resistant material that keeps the toilet tissue free from humidity through the use of silica gel. It has been developed into a prototype that will be further evaluated by the judges.

"Thinking about the extreme environment on board - and aside from the challenge of developing an easy-to-use dispenser that is completely waterproof - we thought portability would be an important feature," says Inés Ballano Vicente from the winning team. "That's why we developed the two different attachment solutions."

SCA has a long tradition of innovation and has fuelled product development within its Tork assortment via observational studies and customer partnerships. The student competition is another example of this ambition to continuously identify new insights and solutions -which is particularly relevant for Tork since its customers in the food industry need to be effective and efficient when facing wet conditions within their businesses.

Åsa Kalentun, Director European Product Management at SCA Hygiene Products says: "Our innovation must solve real needs based on actual insights. "How we get to that understanding is in fact less important. You could call our innovation process 'vanity-free'. As long as we get the job done, the approach can vary. And why shouldn't it? Our customers face a great variety of daily challenges and our innovation process must relate to that."

The Volvo Ocean Race will start on October 4th 2014 in Alicante, Spain and finish in Gothenburg, Sweden, on June 27th, 2015. SCA and Tork are participating with a boat and are working in close collaboration with the designated team facing extreme conditions over a long period of time.

www.teamsca.com / www.sca-tork.com

24th July 2014