Technical creativity

In October this year the Pluckr, an innovation developed by TOP, won the Food Valley Award. It is a very cleverly designed machine which can remove grapes from their stems at terrific speed without damaging the grapes in the process.

Designing a machine requires not only technical insight and skill, but also a specific kind of creativity and inventiveness which not every engineer has. And the story behind the development of the Pluckr illustrates that extremely well.

How can you destem grapes without damaging them? Various ideas were tested but the breakthrough only came after one of our engineers had been doing some DIY at home using a jigsaw. Seeing the rapid motion of the saw, he hit on the idea of using the same technique to shake the grapes loose – and that principle resulted in the conception of the Pluckr.
Making the connection between a jigsaw and shaking grapes loose demonstrates creativity, but a different kind of creativity than I myself have. Let’s call it ‘technical creativity’. To me, this characteristic is what makes someone a truly great machine designer. Not only we, but also the whole food industry are desperately looking for people like that!
Another interesting fact about the Pluckr is that it did not actually evolve from the need to destem grapes; it was originally intended for red berries. Over time, the focus was shifted as it became apparent that the potential market for loose grapes (e.g. for in salads and snack tubs) is much bigger.

Dennis Favier is professional Food Designer and Creative Director at innovation company TOP BV. The company translates technological innovations into interesting applications.