InMotion Eurocucina

INMotIon
TIomoS – ENjoy ThE BEAuTy of movEmENT.
With Tiomos, a vision has become reality.
The hinge for the door to the future. Page Il
MoveMents
GRAss movement
systems are the heart
of modern furniture.
GRASS movement systems make
furniture come to life. But that’s
not all. GRASS offers all the ingredients
for the functional design of
modern living spaces. Form and
function combine to form a harmonious
whole.
tutti a Milano.
off to the eurocucina
2012 exhibition.
130 exhibitors have registered for
this year’s Eurocucina exhibition.
Exhibitors are likely to showcase
innovative ideas, creative design,
new technologies and holistic quality.
What we look forward to: our
new, tried and tested movement
systems will appear in many of our
customers’ quality furniture.
What matters to GRAss is
perfect movement inside.
Slide, hinge, flap and corner cabinet
systems from GraSS are
brand-name prod ucts that bring
the furniture of prestigious manufacturers
and exclusive cabinet
makers to life. MoVED BY GraSS:
the quality label that enables our
customers to stand out from the
crowd.
EUrocUcINa 2012
fRom ThE IDEA To ThE fINIShED PRoDucT.
Product Manager Tarek Uttukar on the culture of
cooperation. Page llI
The new evolutionary hinge system for the furniture trends of tomorrow.
Tiomos for the door to the future.
Never before has a hinge system featured so many trendsetting aspects as Tiomos. Go to
pages II/III to see everything about the evolutionary system with revolutionary kinematics and
the stepped damping control mechanism concealed in the hinge arm.
Dynapro and Tiomos have been awarded the quality seal for good design.
Two Red Dot Awards for GRASS.
This is not the first award for GRASS.
But it is welcome news. It strengthens
our belief and motivation. Of the
4,252 entries from 1,636 companies in
57 countries only the best were rewarded.
Amongst them were the Dynapro
concealed slide system and the Tiomos
hinge system. Our thanks go to the
jury and, above all, to those who have
driven the development of these movement
systems: our customers, product
cUSToMEr MaGaZINE
INTEllIGENT BRAND cooPERATIoN
Harald Klüh on ingredient branding and a brand cooperation
far beyond the normal scope of collaboration. Page lv
managers, engineers and production
experts as well as all members of staff.

mikko Kubierske, Head of Product
Management for Hinge Systems,
on the development of Tiomos.
About timely ideas
and their attraction.
Tiomos: a great and inspiring challenge for Product Management.
Mikko Kubierske has a sense of humour.
And to counter a common prejudice:
for a technically-minded German, the
man has a strong and wry sense of
humour. That comes across at the very
beginning of the interview about his work
on Tiomos: “We often get ahead of ourselves
when thinking about the future.
But we shouldn’t miss out on the
present.” A good example of Mikko
Kubierske’s ‘here and now’ approach is
quick to follow: “Two or three years ago
Tarek Utturkar and I flew to Chicago in
order to interview customers about
our Tiomos concept. A heavy blizzard
forced us to land at New York, with an
unplanned overnight stay. We were not
very pleased, thought of our customers,
the delay and the time wasted – in other
words, the future. And then we realised
that at long last we had time and leisure
to share our ideas. When we arrived in
Chicago the next day, the luggage with
our first Tiomos prototype was missing.
However, in spite of that, we were able
to get our customers all fired up by our
ideas about Tiomos – and quite a few
of them were born during the previous
night.”
Mikko Kubierske
Head of Product Management
Hinge Systems
“Tiomos is the
new benchmark in
hinge technology.”
only a few years ago
tiomos would not have
been possible.
The actual start of the development of
Tiomos, according to Mikko Kubierske,
was in 2006, although the idea of a
new hinge generation had been around
since 2001: “As a result of the merger
of GRASS and Mepla-Alfit we were able
to combine our competencies and unify
our visions. At that time there was no
satisfactory solution on the market
for an integrated damper without pins
or adapters or similar additions. And
nobody wanted to go as far as talking
about adjustable damping technology
within the hinge. And yet that was
precisely what Markus Herper, Tarek
Utturkar and I wrote into our first joint
briefing catalogue – together with many
other criteria which we are fulfilling
today.”
the entire damping tech nology
is integrated and
concealed in the hinge arm.
One of the outstanding characteristics
of the new hinge system is the choice
of adjustment levels for the Soft-close
closing damper. Mikko Kubierske and
his colleagues had ‘sleepless nights trying
to integrate and conceal the entire
damping technology in the hinge arm’.
Today the complex and concealed inner
workings of the high-tech hinge work like
a Swiss timepiece and impress through
their unique damping characteristics.
The closing action is smooth and even
in all of the movement phases, starting
from an opening angle as small as 20°.
“The size and weight of the door do not
matter,” emphasises the Head of Product
Management, and he goes on to say:
“The determining argument for adjusting
the damper without tools was that many
different door sizes and dimensions exist
in the furniture industry. Doors should
close evenly and quietly, whatever their
size. It was also important that there
should be no rebound effect. Today we
know that this was the right decision,
without a doubt. This solution will prevail
in the market and with it GRASS sets
a new benchmark in hinge technology.”
Perfect form with fascinati
markus herper, Head of Development at the Competence Centre for Hinge
only those who think ahead will get
Markus Herper is also a ‘Tiomos man’
who was involved from the beginning.
That, and the first exchange of
ideas with Mikko Kubierske and Tarek
Utturkar, he remembers very well: “We
talked a lot about movement in general
and about the movement of doors. People
intuitively feel whether a movement
is beautiful. They feel it in themselves, in
other people, in moving objects and also
out of sight, but highly effective: the Tiomos adjustable damping technology.
in the kitchen. We, as technically-minded
people, always want to know how something
works and how it could function
better. That led us to the subject of
Galileo who is considered the inventor of
modern kinematics. That inspired us to
think further than we had up until then.
So a little of this man’s fascinating mind
has also gone into Tiomos.”
optimum leverage forces
for minimum gaps.
The new kinematics concealed within
Tiomos is an other small stroke of genius.
Thanks to physically optimised leverage
movements, it is extremely easy to open
furniture doors. In addition, the unique
kinematics facilitate exceptionally even
reveals with minimum gaps. These unique
characteristics of the new hinge system
reveals offer completely new opportunities
in furniture design.

INMotIon. THE cUSToMEr MaGaZINE.
ng properties.
Systems in Reinheim, on the kinematics in Tiomos.
ahead.
Perfect alignment with a
twist of the wrist.
Markus Herper is pleased about the
successful options for the fine adjustment
of Tiomos hinges: “Vertical and
depth adjustment is continuous and
self-locking using a worm gear principle.
The third dimension is equally as
easy, and adjusts the overlay and sets
the stop limit. Compared to many other
rather more sensational advantages of
Tiomos, this does not sound too impressive
at first. However, when considering
the installation of a high-quality kitchen
with its expensive front panels, and
thinking about extremely narrow reveals,
then the picture becomes clearer and the
benefit obvious.”
the path to a uniform
formal vocabulary.
When talking about high-quality living
room and bathroom furniture, Markus
Herper remembers, as so often, the
lengthy discussions with furniture manufacturers
and designers: “A uniform
formal vocabulary is of immense importance
for how design is perceived. Our
customers have told us often enough
how important it would be to have just
one hinge system for moving a wide
range of different doors. And that is
what we have managed to do.” The
systematically extended Tiomos range
covers movement solutions for glass,
mirror and aluminium frames through
to variable wide-angle applications and
provides perfect movement in virtually all
applications. Markus Herper concludes:
“The Tiomos 160° wide-angle hinge can
be used for standard wide-angle solutions
as well as for doors with zero protrusion,
a fact that reflects our idea of systematic
economy, making the hinge system particularly
attractive to the trade.”
Markus Herper
Head of Development
Hinge Systems
“Tiomos is currently
the best possible
movement solution for
furniture doors.”
Tarek utturkar, Product Manager for Hinge
Systems, on the culture of cooperation.
continually amazed.
The project team travelled to every continent
to visit over two hundred customers
during the development phase of Tiomos
in order to establish their needs and
to obtain their feedback during various
stages of the development.
tiomos is an evolutionary
new development.
Tarek is overwhelmed by the three-year
development process and the results
it achieved: „When talking to customers
and their designers you sense the
enormous potential of as yet unrealised
ideas.“ Tarek Utturkar is very fond
of remembering the times when they
presented the first prototypes with adjustable
damper technology within the
hinge arm: “I glanced at the faces of
the designers and engineers present
up to the moment when we presented
the damper adjustment, and every time
their eyes widened in amazement. That is
simply unforgettable.” In addition to
these customers, Tarek Utturkar mentions
the GRASS’s designer, Stefan Am-
brozus. “The early involvement of Stefan
was immensely helpful for the overall
project. Thanks to his work we were able
to achieve our vision of a consistent design
throughout the entire product range
with its various hinge types.
The entire application cycle is included in the requirements profile for new product
development. That is the hallmark of GraSS products.
Tarek Utturkar
Product Manager
Hinge Systems
“People intuitively feel
whether a movement
is beautiful.”
our developers set out to create a product
innovation with special functions, variable
operating comfort and timeless design.
Durable stability in every position.
Stepless, self-locking
height adjustment.
Minimum gaps and reveals.
Newly developed movement sequences enable
smaller gaps and reveals.
Utmost stability.
Strong connection thanks to 30 per cent
more contact surface.
tool-free damper adjustment.
consistent closing action irrespective
of door size and weight.
Seite II/III

Seite VI
harald Klüh, Global Brand Manager at GRASS, on ingredient branding.
Brand + brand = added value.
Intelligent and systematic brand cooperation
for a perfect win-win situation.
At the very beginning of his presenta tions
Harald Klüh writes a strange equation
on the flipchart in the GRASS training
room. In large numbers he writes:
1+1 = 3. “This brief equation sums up
the idea behind ingredient branding,”
the GRASS global brand manager explains.
“The interaction of brands can
achieve what appears to be mathematically
im possible, namely added value for
both parties.”
In an ideal case each brand stands for
a specific competence. FERRARI stands
for sports cars, ROLEX for watches,
KLEENEX for tissues, BANG & OLUFSEN
for audio systems, WELLA for hair cosmetics,
RECARO for automobile sport
seats and GRASS for movement systems.
This brand competence cannot
be at tained in a few months, but in most
cases reflects a reputation which has
grown over a number of years. For this
reason, the large brands already have a
headstart when it comes to their reputation,
as people feel they know what to
expect from the major brands. Large
brands can be trusted. This reputation
has to be earned. “Competence cannot
be bought even with large sums of
To be recognised as an ingredient brand, GraSS products have to be clearly marked. only then
can our customers profit from the competence of our brand and considerably enhance the value of
their own products with GraSS movement systems.
money,” the brand manager explains.
“Trust in the ability and know-how of a
company does not appear overnight. It
is a process which takes years.”
In the case of GRASS, customers can
place their confidence in the company’s
more than 60 years of experience and
expertise as a developer and manufacturer
of functional movement systems.
But that’s not all – over the past decades
GRASS has had a considerable
influ ence on the developments in the
entire furniture industry with its innovative
product solutions. As a result,
GRASS is now a familiar name throughout
the industry and has an evolved,
positive reputation.
our customers can bask
in the reflected glory of the
competence of the GRASS
brand, provided that our
movement systems can be
identified as GRASS products.
This is the aim of ingredient branding:
marking components or assemblies,
which act as major elements of a fi nal
product. “INTEL is certainly the best
example,” enthuses Harald Klüh. “Over
the years, ‘INTEL inside’ has become a
globally known quality standard, which
is definitely regarded as an added value.”
Ingredient branding is of interest
when two fields of competence can be
har moniously combined. If, for example,
the new FERRARI model incorporates
RECARO seats, or the latest STOSA
kitchen features GRASS movement systems,
then brands can profit from one
another. “Basically it is all about two
strong brands joining forces for a mutual
boost, cooperating to create an
added value which each brand cannot
achieve for itself,” explains the brand
expert.
GRASS recently concluded a brand cooperation
agreement with STOSA Cucine, a
renowned Italian kitchen manufacturer,
which extends far beyond the normal
scope of collaboration. In addition to
product identification, the agreement
also includes joint trade fair attendance
and marketing activities. “We are convinced
that both brands will grow as the
result of their interaction,” Harald Klüh
explains. “For STOSA, our brand competence
provides a great deal of differentiation
potential, and in turn we heighten
the awareness of our brand. This is what
I call a true win-win situation.”
INMotIon. THE cUSToMEr MaGaZINE.
harald Klüh
Global Brand Manager
“MOVED BY GRASS.
Our customers are already
able to stand out from
the crowd with this seal
of quality, in particular
far ahead of those who buy
their systems in the Far East.”
Legal notice: owner, editor and publisher:
GraSS GmbH | a-6973 Höchst/austria |
Grass Platz 1 | www.grass.at | info@grass.eu
Design: GraSS Marketing and communication
Editors: die3 – agentur für Werbung und
Kommunikation GmbH, www.die3.eu.
Subject to printing errors.