Olympia Express turns to Siemens to modernise espresso machine design

For more than 95 years, Olympia Express has designed and manufactured espresso machines with Swiss precision that have gained a reputation for robustness and longevity and have been called the best in the world. Schatti acquired the brand in 2011 and since then has been designing and manufacturing Olympia Express products in Glarus, Switzerland using Siemens' Solid Edge software to build on the company's legacy and find new avenues for innovation and market development.

Thomas Schatti, CEO of Olympia Express, explains: "When we took over the company, the previous owners had designed in 2D, so the data was very useful to us. The decision to switch to the Siemens Xcelerator software portfolio was driven by our need for precision and efficiency. Solid Edge allows us to create highly accurate 3D models which streamline our production process from design to manufacturing, saving time and resources to be on the top of our game. We remodelled all the parts of the machine in Solid Edge and made new models as well as spare parts. We started afresh and built a complete data engineering set. And since then, we have made various design iterations and improvements to the machines."

The primary benefit of 3D modelling with Solid Edge is to speed up the design process and reduce the number of physical prototypes - reducing development efforts by 50% - and freeing up resources for new innovation projects. Olympia Express' engineering team can easily model and quickly 3D print a prototype to get a better feel of the components in various materials. Additionally, the sheet metal design and manufacturing capabilities in Solid Edge are very critical to the development process.

The engineering team also uses visualisation capabilities within Solid Edge for internal communications and, considering that they often need to service Cremina machines that are 50 years old, the exploded view capabilities in Solid Edge are fundamental. These allow the engineering team to provide documentation for assembly and service, so it is easier to see which spare parts are needed and how to replace them.

Olympia Express manages design and engineering data in Siemens' Teamcenter software for product lifecycle management, which enables secure control of revision of engineering data along with enabling efficient and managed design review. The company also uses NX CAM software on the shop floor to prepare its high accuracy components for manufacture.

Schatti explains: "To be on the top of our game, on the shopfloor we use NX CAM to guarantee the highest standards of production, allowing us to produce the components of the coffee machine in excellent quality. We rely on Teamcenter to manage our product data and enhance collaboration across our teams, keeping all design data in one place, including data of our vintage Olympia Express."

Mixing tradition with innovation

While the Olympia Express brand and its Cremina espresso machines have achieved legendary status within the coffee loving community, the company is not content to rest on its name and reputation alone - and has used Solid Edge to help develop Mina, a new portable espresso machine that only needs access to boiling water and fresh grounds to achieve the high-quality beverage wherever they need it.

Solid Edge's 3D modelling tools have enabled the team to efficiently reuse its knowledge and 3D data and create a brand-new product category for the company, launching at World of Coffee this month.

Despite its name, Olympia Express places itself in the "slow foods" revolution. Schatti explains: "Our products make coffee to the quality of an Italian coffee bar with a machine that is just a fraction of the size and cost of a professional machine - the key is that they are built like a professional machine, with the same care, quality materials and careful design. We build our machines for a small eternity - they are designed and built to last multiple lifetimes and their use should be a celebration of making an outstanding coffee."

At the same time, Olympia Express is taking advantage of Siemens Xcelerator to not only maintain its rich product heritage, but also to explore how it can bring innovative and truly sustainable products that will last multiple lifetimes to market that deliver on customers' expectations of a quality cup of coffee wherever they want it.