Our Blog

One person’s definition of a glove is not another person’s definition of glove. You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their gloves. Is that an American glove or Canadian glove? Is that a touch sensitive glove? Wait, what? That’s not even funny. Yep, these are the ones with the little silver pad (or pads) on the tip of the pointer finger.

At Xymox, we have 4 core values, integrity, service, results, & employees. The first 3 are business standards that we hold ourselves to, but the fourth, employees, they are what drive our business and help us achieve those standards. Our employees are our lifeblood! We figure, you only turn 40 once, so naturally we threw an epic, week-long, celebration for our employees to show our appreciation for all their hard work (and too much fun was had)!

Cobot = collaborative robot. It is meant to work in conjunction with the employees (not replace them).

We had the honor of being one of the speakers in a training workshop at the 2019 Sensors Expo, "Next Generation Sensing: Printed Sensors". The overall goal of the workshop was to raise visibility of printed sensors. The industry has seen a lot of the challenges in the adoption of sensors and devices; printed sensors look different, they function different, and because of that, it is important to educate people on the benefits of these solutions. Ultimately, the workshop was an opportunity for industry leaders to share their experience in the market; where they see the best fits for printed sensors and why, challenges they have experienced, and what they see will be driving growth. The workshop left the attendees with a new perspective on printed sensors, and hopefully new ideas about how they could use them in their devices.

With screen printing being our core competency, it is critical that we have well trained screen printers. Unfortunately, those are hard to come by, and as Xymox grows, so does our need for qualified printers. Currently, there is not a technical program that teaches screen printing in our area. T-shirt screen printers do have the basic skills of running the machinery, however, the technical precision that we expect takes training. For this reason, Xymox started a school for screen printing where people, with all levels of experience, can be trained to outperform industry standards.

W.H. Brady produced the first membrane switch in their nameplate division in 1977. Seeing the growth potential, W.H. Brady developed "The Electronic Products Division" in 1979, with the primary focus of developing the membrane switch technology; a year later the division was renamed, Xymox.

Since the inception of Xymox there have been continuous product advancements!

Problem:

Company C was looking to design a new touch interface that would be scalable to multiple application platforms, giving various products the same look & feel and only requiring software changes. They have used off the shelf/traditional touch displays in the past, but knowing that user experience is critical to their success, along with requirements of interface functionality in cold temperatures, Company C needed a custom capacitive touch solution. 

*side note: off-the-shelf touch sensors typically come adhered directly to the display, this leaves companies having to compromise their design to fit within standard size offerings. See: Off-the-Shelf vs. Custom

Many companies think about switching their machine interface from membrane switch to touch sensor to give it a more sleek and modern look and feel, but a common obstacle that stops them dead in their tracks is designing a sensor that works in wet environments. Membrane switches can easily be made to withstand various environments without risking damage to the electronics, but there is a common misconception that it is a greater feat to do that with a touch sensor.

Physical interactions with the world around us drive our perceptions of life. The human ability to manipulate our surroundings in a precise manner is what allows for the production of music from a piano, the construction of a building, or the writing of this article. Few people stop to appreciate how much our hands do on a daily basis. In many ways they are the mechanism by which we leave our mark on the world. It is hard to imagine a life without hands or the ability to touch, feel, and manipulate. Whether it be through trauma or congenital malformations, many people in the world are missing one or both of their hands. While humans are incredibly resilient and resourceful, it is easy to imagine the difficulties that would come from such a condition.

Our promise: consistently meeting or exceeding customer requirements, every hour of every day. It’s what we do.