Blog · Case study
From a lunchtime idea to a U.S. patent
A machine builder had a problem, an idea scribbled out with a fork at lunch, and a partner who could make it real. We filmed Herrmann Ultrasonics and their customer Pinnacle telling that story on the plant floor, from the first problem to the patent on the wall.
- Directed
- Shot
- Interviewed
- Edited
We handled the project from planning through the final edit.
The final piece
Herrmann Ultrasonics · Patent Story
The finished case study: one problem, one solution, one patent, told by the people who solved it.
- Our role
- Directed, Shot, Interviewed, Edited
- Client
- Herrmann Ultrasonics
- Featuring
- Pinnacle, their machine-builder customer
- Format
- Case study video, 2:28
- Setting
- Production floor and engineering office
- Interviews
- Two, one from each company
- Proof on screen
- Machine demo, CAD model and the U.S. patent
How we make case studies
Built to turn a technical win into a story.
Engineers solve hard problems. Case studies make sure buyers understand them. Here’s how we get there.
Problem, solution, result
Every interview is planned around a simple arc, so a technical story still lands with someone who isn’t an engineer.
Both sides of the story
We interview the customer and the supplier, so the result comes from the customer’s mouth, not your marketing.
Show it working
We film the machine running and the product in hand, so viewers see the solution, not just hear about it.
Proof on camera
Patents, CAD models, before-and-after parts: we capture the details that make the claim believable.
Plant-floor ready
We set up around running equipment, noise and safety rules, and stay out of the way of production.
Interviews that feel natural
Two-camera setups and a relaxed conversation help engineers and executives sound like themselves.
About the shoot
How we made it.
The challenge
Pinnacle builds the machines that produce rolls of wipes for canisters. The loose tail at the end of each roll was causing rejects as rolls moved up the conveyor into automation. The usual fixes, glue and other tabbing methods, cost product or added mess.
The idea
At lunch, looking at competitors’ products, Greg at Pinnacle picked up a fork and started thinking about ultrasonic tooling shaped like it. He took the idea to Steve at Herrmann Ultrasonics and asked if anything like it existed.
The solution
Herrmann ran a feasibility study to find exactly how much force would bond just the top two layers of the roll and no deeper, so every wipe stays usable. The result replaced adhesives with a clean ultrasonic bond, using a compact 35 kHz system with closed-loop feedback that keeps results the same from day one to day thirty.
The result
The solution earned a U.S. patent, and Pinnacle now offers it as standard on its machines.
How we filmed it
We set up two-camera interviews right on the production floor, with the machines as the backdrop, and interviewed one person from each company. Then we filmed the two walking the floor together, demonstrating the tabbing on a real roll, and close-ups of the CAD model and the patent itself, so every claim in the interviews has something on screen to back it up.
On set