35 years of BPO - then and now
This year, we are celebrating 35 years of BPO! We want to take this opportunity to look back on the journey the company has taken over the years, with an overarching theme ‘then and now’.
Then and now – BPO office
35 years ago, BPO was founded by Oscar Brocades Zaalberg. He spotted a gap in the market with calculating constructions of mass produced, industrial plastic products. It was not common to perform FEM calculations for this product group at the time, and there turned out to be a lot of demand for this service.
BPO grew with more colleagues joining and switched office locations a few times, until it landed on a building at the Voorstraat in the city centre of Delft (left in the picture). BPO then consisted of 15 people.
After some time, there was need for even more office and parking space. BPO got the opportunity to move into a monumental warehouse, which first had to be thoroughly renovated. The work was completed in 2007 and we’ve been at Scheepmakerij 11, Delft (on the right in the picture) ever since!
Then and now – FEM simulations
BPO started out in the late 80s with the then brand new Finite Element Analysis. And finite it most certainly was! The number of elements that could be used was very limited and modeling had to be done manually, entering elements and nodes in coordinates by hand. Screenshots were made with a photo camera, because the software lacked the possibility of printable output.
A lot has changed over the years: midplaning and meshing has become much easier with specialised tools, the number of elements and thus accuracy of modelling that can be achieved has increased exponentially. The number of physical phenomena that can be analysed has increased. Added to this is the integration with Computer Aided Design, which BPO incorporated into its service portfolio in the late 90s. The combination of 3D CAD modeling with advanced FEM simulations and injection moulding simulations gives BPO the best opportunity to provide its clients with a step ahead in development.
But maybe even more importantly: what hasn’t changed over the years? What hasn’t changed is our approach to a project. It is not doing analyses for the sake of doing analyses. It is not modeling for the sake of modeling. It is using the tools at our disposal to give you the best possible product. This cannot be done with tools alone, this requires skill, experience and a passion for product design and optimisation.
BPO: We know how to solve technical challenges in product design… The more things change, the more they stay the same!
Then and now – Exhibitions
BPO, we know how
BPO develops innovative products in an integral process from idea to detailed design.
Plastic product development is our specialty. Since 1987, BPO has been the agency for technical product development. Our team consists of enthusiastic and dedicated employees, including industrial designers, mechanical experts, material and production specialists and project leaders.
Since the start, BPO has been present at a lot of fairs and exhibitions, under which the Euromold, Kunststoffenbeurs and Fakuma Messe. These are leading exhibitions for the plastics, product engineering and processing industry.
In the early days of BPO, internet did not (widely) exist and finding new business opportunities was strongly depending on these exhibitions. Nowadays, it is hard to imagine a working environment without any website, e-mails, LinkedIn and online meetings. We experience that there is still much value though, in speaking to potential clients and relations in the physical world at an exhibition.
Our exhibition stand has been through a journey as well. We like to make an effort in keeping the stand up to date, with recently finished projects, innovative products and our current style.