However, research and development for miscea had already begun in a small garage in 1999 by a German engineer and his Dutch partner. They had the idea to create a completely touch free operated faucet that could dispense not only water but, also multiple fluids such as soap, lotion and disinfectant. The very first patent for this idea was filed in 1999, but development turned out to be more comple
x than had been anticipated. How do we make a reliable touch free user interface? How can we ensure liquids with different chemical compositions are able to be dispensed over a long period of time? After years of development, the first product, called the alpha faucet, went into production and the company began to commercialize the idea. The alpha faucet enjoyed mixed success. Customers loved the concept but it was too complex to use and suffered from various quality setbacks. During a Amsterdam trade exhibition in 2006, the idea to improve the design blossomed which initiated the design process on a completely new unit, while keeping in mind the customer feedback received over the previous years. A successful partnership with the award winning designer, Mathis Heller was formed. He conceived the idea of the new innovative user interface. This became the miscea CLASSIC, which went on to win numerous accolades including the IF design award, Red dot design award in the “Best of the Best” category, as well as many others. During the ISH 2007 exhibition in Frankfurt, the first miscea CLASSIC prototypes were presented to a broad audience and production of the system began later that same year. The miscea CLASSIC enjoyed instant success amongst customers with a concern for hygiene, primarily professionals within the medical, food, and laboratory branches. The miscea CLASSIC system’s ease of use, efficiency and cleanliness are considered all important aspects by these professionals. An important contribution to miscea’s overall success was made with the patented pouch refill system which, complies with the guidelines of the German Robert Koch Institute. However, not all aspects were considered a success. Installation of the system component was considered particularly cumbersome. In 2009 miscea engineers collected all the commentary of installation partners regarding improvements, and set out to redesign and improve the system component of the miscea CLASSIC system in a way that would better accommodate to user needs. This resulted in a much more attractive overall design that was compact, flexible and reduced installation time. As order volumes continued to grow, the company needed more space to combine its various business operations which were spread over Augsburg, Düsseldorf, The Netherlands, and Switzerland where production was taking place. After evaluating different locations, Berlin was chosen as it is a popular destination for business relocations and has many universities and technical colleges, where qualified technical staff can be easily found. In August 2011, miscea moved into a large facility located in Großbeeren, just 3 km from the city of Berlin, to accommodate further growth and centralize an expanding R&D department, production facility and all business operations. Here miscea’s dedicated team of engineers continue their work in developing additional products and servicing customers. An important part of the overall know-how developed over time, is the electronics required to make a reliable sensor based touch free interface. After years of development miscea launched its new interface in January 2013, which is probably the fastest sensor based user interface available anywhere in a faucet. In 2013, miscea was celebrating its 10th anniversary. The company remains committed to continue developing advanced products and service its customers. With two new product innovations presented at the ISH in Frankfurt during March 2013, this will lay the foundations for the next decade of innovative products. After 10 years, the company extends a special thank you to its customers, dedicated staff, distribution partners and suppliers who have all made our success possible!
