Distinction for the two innovative coating systems INUBIA B6 and PPD.
Balzers, Liechtenstein, 6 August 2014 – Oerlikon Balzers has beaten some tough competition to become one of the winners of this year’s Red Dot Award. The international panel of judges confirmed the high quality of design delivered by the two coating systems INUBIA B6 and PPD designed by Peter Klien (Design Forum Technik, Liechtenstein).
The two prize-winning coating systems combine leading-edge coating technology with simple handling and shapely design. The Balzers engineers and physicists have succeeded in extending their technological edge with these two systems. The prize-winning machines are already in use at the first coating centres.
Reproducible, decorative layers and ecofriendly processes
The INUBIA B6 coating unit has been designed especially for efficient surface treatment of components in the high-end design segment, where coating quality and appearance, durability, economy and reproducibility are all of equal importance. INUBIA enables fast and flexible coating of the most diverse substrate materials and geometries. The highly decorative coatings are available in many nuanced colours and are used for design elements in many areas including clocks and watches, jewellery, bathroom decor, consumer and entertainment electronics as well as automotive interiors.
The PPD system is the largest of its kind in the world and can process even the largest forming tools in the automotive industry. It is based on the Pulsed-Plasma Diffusion (PPD) process developed by Oerlikon Balzers, which is an efficient and clean replacement for the hard-chrome plating processed generally used in the automotive industry. Using the PPD method, effective protection against wear is provided for tools used by car manufacturers to press car body parts such as doors from flat sheets. Thanks to a combination of hydrogen, nitrogen and electricity, PPD uses no chemical pollutants.
International scale
A panel of forty international experts discussed and assessed 4,815 entries from 53 nations for this year’s awards, distinguishing only those designs that excelled in terms of quality and innovation: among them, the INUBIA B6 and the PPD system. They are on show in the prize-winners’ exhibition at the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen.
