Special sanding machine Q-FIN wins GERMAN INNOVATION AWARD GOLD

The winners of the German Innovation Award were honoured during a festive gala at the Museum for Technology in Berlin on June 6, 2018 for the first time. More than 250 invited guests from business, politics and the media accepted the exclusive invitation.

Otto Martin Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG was also among the winners of the evening. The company was awarded the German Innovation Award Gold in the competition category “Excellence in Business to Business (B2B)” for the Q-FIN, an innovative special sanding machine for window manufacturing, in the field “Machines & Engineering”.
The special sanding machine Q-FIN revolutionizes window manufacturing. Through fine cross cutting, the wood fibres which run lengthwise are cut at right angles. And that’s at a definition, which cannot be reached with conventional methods. With subsequent application of water-based paints the fibres don’t straighten up again and the surfaces remain smooth. Sealer sanding and subsequent handling can be omitted almost completely. That leads to a considerable reduction in production costs and saves time and money as a consequence.
The “Quality Finishing“ process eliminates the need for in-between sanding which has been imperative until now. This not only reduces the number of work steps, but also eliminates the need for processes that might cause damages, such as transporting, laying and turning the window”, the jury explained.
With the German Innovation Award, the German Design Council has bridged a gap in the award landscape. We are looking for product innovations that have an effect. 650 entries competed for the award, including industrial giants as well as hidden champions and start-ups. All of them have one thing in common: a solution, a detailed innovation or a service that creates real added value.

HOW THE EVALUATION WAS CARRIED OUT
The evaluation criteria of the German Innovation Award cover topics such as the level of innovation, user benefit and economic efficiency. The innovation strategy should take into account aspects such as social, ecological and economic sustainability as well as the use of energy and resources. Factors such as location and employment potential, longevity, marketability, technical quality and function, sustainability and synergy effects also play a decisive role in the selection process. The winners were chosen by a distinguished jury – including physicists, patent consultants, computer scientists, financing specialists, product designers, technology historians and marketers. “This guarantees an individual, neutral and professional evaluation,” stresses Kupetz.
Information on the winners can be found at: www.german-innovation-award.de/preistraeger

“We are absolutely thrilled by the quality of the entries,“ says Andrej Kupetz, General Manager of the German Design Council, for whom innovation is a decisive factor to be promoted in global competition. He is certain that the companies will benefit, because the award is a valuable communication instrument. It is meant to demonstrate the great effort that companies make to develop improvements for the user and make their innovative strength known within the industry, in the professional world and the media.
Prizes are awarded for innovations that provide lasting results. The German Innovation Award not just honours new products, but also those that have been proven to generate added value for the user. Even if it’s about the details of an overall solution, the focus must be on the user and thus on the individual. “This is particularly successful if the future user is involved in product and design development,” explains Kupetz. “A lot of companies have recognized this and rely on special methods that involve the user in the development process in order to create an optimal product which asserts itself on the market exactly for that reason and stands out from competition.”
The German Innovation Award is given in two competition categories: category 1: Excellence in Business to Consumer and 2: Excellence in Business to Business. Moreover a winner in the additional category “Design Thinking“ was determined. The jury awarded Gold, Winner and Special Mention in a total of 40 categories. The products range from bionic gloves, cleaning technologies, fibers for 3D printing, e-car charging stations and coffee lemonade all the way through to IoT platforms.

GERMAN DESIGN COUNCIL – THE AWARDING AUTHORIT
The German Innovation Award is initiated and carried out by the German Design Council, which was established in 1953 by the German Bundestag and founded by the Federation of German Industries. For 65 years now, the foundation has pursued the goal of promoting the competitiveness of German companies.
With its competitions, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and publications, it makes a decisive contribution to the transfer of knowledge on the topics of design, innovation and brand. The Design Council’s circle of founders currently include over 300 domestic and foreign companies employing more than three million people.