The INGENIA coating system made by Oerlikon Balzers has won the iF Design Award 2013 in the industry/skilled trades category. The jury recognized that Balzers, the technology leader in the area of high-quality coatings, was also a pacesetter in system construction and design.
The award-winning INGENIA system, which made its world premiere in September 2011 at the EMO fair in Hannover, Germany, combines state-of-the-art coating technology and simple operation with eye-catching design. With INGENIA, Balzers’ engineers and physicists succeeded in extending the company’s technological lead by developing a coating system that has the
highest level of power densities and takes up a minimal amount of space.
Helmut Rudigier, Head of Research and Development at Oerlikon Balzers, lauds the performance of the INGENIA system: “We were able to cut the cycle times in half and thus significantly increase productivity. And we accomplished this while doubling the precision of the coating thickness.” In addition, the system can be equipped with the new, unique S3pTM technology, a system developed by Oerlikon Balzers that produces uncommonly smooth coatings that are both extremely hard and wear-resistant. The award-winning system has already been successfully implemented in its first coating centers and by third-party customers. The network is being constantly expanded.
In addition to the system’s high performance, INGENIA is a pacesetter in operation and design. Peter Klien, owner of the company Design’ Form Technik and the head of the INGENIA product-design team, said: “We made a conscious decision to be very conservative in the design elements we used. The result is a straightforward, self-contained product with a clear, intuitive
design that is optimally tailored to the user’s needs.” As a complete unit, INGENIA won over the international jury at the highly regarded German iF International Forum Design Organization based in Hannover. The jury selected INGENIA in the award category of industry/skilled trades.
The award will be presented in February 2013.