SCHAEFFLER RECEIVES THE “RED DOT DESIGN AWARD“ IN TWO CATEGORIES WITH OPTIME

The innovative Condition Monitoring solution OPTIME has been rewarded with the “Red Dot Design Award” this year in two categories. The jury, composed of designers, professors and journalists from various specialized areas, has given awards to OPTIME in the “Intelligent Product” and “Industrial Design” categories, confirming the product’s exceptional design, its functional structure and the high degree of innovation demonstrated by Schaeffler’s digital service solution. “Our passion for technology and innovation is a key element in our DNA”, declared Dr. Stefan Spindler, industrial CEO of Schaeffler AG. “The awards received by OPTIME demonstrate that we can successfully expand our range of products with digital services that give priority to benefits for our clients”.

Clients benefit from developments focussed on solutions

With these awards, Schaeffler joins the list of “Red Dot Design Award” winners, which includes leading businesses from around the world. “OPTIME’s ‘Red Dot Design Award’ has made all of us who participated in this project very proud”, said Rauli Hantikainen, the head of the Industry 4.0 Strategic Business Field. “In order to develop OPTIME, we established an ecosystem of partners, who each possessed the main technologies and expertise in their respective fields. At the same time, we collaborated closely with our pilot clients, since the ruling principle for agile product design is to achieve the maximum benefit for our clients”. Schaeffler collaborated with LINK Design, of Finland, a member of the network of associated companies, in the design of the OPTIME sensors and in the user experience of the OPTIME application.

“As we advance in our digitalization program, it is fantastic to see how, with this ‘Red Dot Design Award’, we have gained recognition in the marketplace”, commented Denis Wiegel, head of Sales Management and Industrial Marketing. “OPTIME is proof of our transformation, and shows that in Schaeffler, we do not just think creatively, we also develop revolutionary innovations, with a diversified, flexible team that collaborates as equals with internal and external partners. And this is just the start”.

Efficient and profitable production processes

With OPTIME, Schaeffler pursues systematically its ambition of contributing actively to give form to digital transformation. Digital services that generate added value for their clients, based on Schaeffler’s expert knowledge, play a fundamental role in this sense. OPTIME is a wireless IoT solution that makes Condition Monitoring of machinery efficient and profitable as part of production processes. Installation and start-up are so easy that several hundred units can be integrated with no problem in a single day. Schaeffler summarizes the advantages offered by OPTIME as the principle “Plug. Play. Predict".

The innovative Condition Monitoring solution OPTIME has been rewarded with the “Red Dot Design Award” this year in two categories. The jury has selected this IoT solution in the “Smart Product” and “Industrial Design” categories, confirming the exceptional design of the product, its functional structure and its high degree of innovation.