News Industrialdesign+Productdesign defortec GmbH

battenfeld-cincinnati Germany GmbH – Hall 16 / Booth B19
defortec provided support in the design and development of modern extrusion systems that are geared towards efficiency and user-friendliness.

EKATO Rühr- und Mischtechnik GmbH – Hall 11 / Booth A67
Together with EKATO, we have worked on innovative stirring systems that impress with their intelligent design and well-thought-out functionality.

Maag Germany GmbH – Hall 9 / Booth A02
In the field of underwater granulators, defortec has contributed to the optimization of technical and ergonomic aspects – for reliable processes and the highest quality.

INTRAVIS GmbH – Hall 11 / Booth A58
defortec provided consulting and design support for INTRAVIS' high-precision inspection systems – for an optimal combination of technology and ease of use.

We are proud of our close cooperation with our clients – and of how visible our contribution will be at K2025.
In addition to the clients mentioned above, many more of our customers will also be represented at the world's leading trade fair.
Would you like to find out more about how we work or about specific projects?
Then please feel free to contact us – we look forward to exciting discussions and new challenges, either online or in person in Düsseldorf.

In general: Capital goods have a good eco-bilance trough excellent serviceability, their long lifetime and materials which can and will be recycled (Steel, Aluminium …). Being in operation for 10-15 years is nothing special for capital goods. We even have seen machines which are close to 100 years and fulfil their duty due to upgrades, such as the latest sensor technology and efficient drive systems.

But beyond that – what can be done?
The focus layed on what is within the reach of an Industrial Designer:

• Reduction of used materials (less materials used, less shipping efforts due to reduced weight)
• Reduction of mechanical parts in the housing: Simpler mechanisms can be used due to the flexible outer shell (which is great for the environment and production costs)
• Less paint, which makes recycling metal parts even easier and less toxic
• Reduction of machine interfaces: A reduced array of really necessary hard-buttons – due to functionality and safety - remain on the machine, while a wireless touch panel on which the operator can fulfil more advanced tasks and can adjust settings, reduces the number of screens used on the shop floor.

The result is a case study of an injection molding machine, which is completely wrapped in two types of metal fabric. Both resistant to mechanical manipulation, such as cuts or flying objects, while providing insight in the process area.
The woven metal mesh provides completely new possibilities in form giving on industrial machines, while reducing panel gaps, weight and carbon footprint.

The possible reduction on the machine housing is massive:
-43% in CO₂ e (-705kg CO₂ e) and
-57% in weight! (-188kg)

Massive reductions are possible


Scale model of the case study

Angelo Schulz (GM defortec) and Samuel Joas (left to right) on the semester show at HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd

Especially with capital goods, which often have several square meters of floor space and are highly complex, it is a challenge to convey a realistic sense of space and the subsequent operating situation at an early stage. With VR, we can bring our designs to life in a virtual space at a 1:1 scale and test operating and service situations – long before a physical prototype exists. This increases efficiency: Concepts can be quickly reviewed before detailed design is completed, which would make changes very costly. And reviewing in virtual reality eliminates delivery times – decisions can be made and communicated quickly.

In developments where millimeter-level decisions can have consequences worth millions, VR creates a new dimension of efficiency.

defortec regularly uses virtual reality in developments to create efficiency benefits for its customers.

Most companies will be subject to reporting requirements in the EU by 2030 - due to the Supply Chain Act and reporting obligations throughout the supply chain, smaller companies, which in turn supply subcontractors or machines and products to companies subject to reporting requirements, will also be subject to reporting requirements. Similar laws are being drafted internationally.

The lively participation during the presentation and the lively exchange afterwards shows us how important and relevant ESG reporting is for current products - and that there are still some uncertainties regarding reporting obligations for many companies. We were able to take a lot away from the discussions - including input for the ongoing development.
However, it is much more important to highlight the fact that very few companies drive forward the development of their products in line with ecological target criteria - although this is where the greatest potential can be leveraged. Product development has a significant influence on the structure of a product, the materials used, joining processes and therefore also recyclability. Sustainable product development can become the key to efficient, economical and ecological action in companies in the future.

Studies conducted during our research project have shown that reducing the ecological footprint can also have positive economic effects - if the products are fundamentally rethought.

The event took place on February 20, 2025 at the house of commerce of Baden-Württemberg as part of the “Offensive Mittelstand” network.

“Angelo thinks and works in a highly innovative way. He combines technical knowledge for product development, market development and customer orientation. A stroke of luck for our company!” says Stefan Grobe, founder, owner and also a member of the defortec management board. The two form a dual leadership team and will steer the company into the future.
“I am very much looking forward to the new challenge of further developing industrial design and product development, especially with a focus on the capital goods sector. Close to current market developments, more efficient cost structures and sustainability issues,” comments the new man at the helm.

For both of them, the capital goods sector is the innovation engine of the economy. defortec GmbH advises on design and market strategies and creates technologically sophisticated products and interfaces. “Together with our customers, we develop the products of the future. This requires designers with the courage to have a vision,” is how both describe the spirit that unites them.  

The goal of this project is the lifecycle assessment of a product and it’s environmental impact during ist lifespan. The exciting part is, that a new tool should also be able to estimate the environmental impact of a product in development.

During the meeting, the teams shared key insights and advancements in integrating sustainable design principles with innovative software solutions. They reviewed progress on several fronts, including the implementation of life cycle assessments (LCA) and the development of tools that facilitate circular economy practices. Additional software integration, database and data availability was discussed.

The project is on track to deliver influential findings and tools that will benefit various industries, encouraging widespread adoption of sustainable practices. Both partners are committed to sharing their outcomes to inspire broader change towards environmental responsibility.

The project aims to use digital twins to map the entire value chain of a product in real time while it is being designed. This means that conceptual changes are also immediately recognizable in their environmental impact. The costs are also to be included - the bottom line is that such a digital tool gives the drive for greater sustainability an enormous boost. It would also make it easier for SMEs to comply with the sustainability reporting obligation that has been in force since mid-2023.

While macs Software GmbH from Zimmern near Rottweil is responsible for the software level, defortec is involved as an input provider. The aim is to determine which data is needed at which point in time in order to obtain practical results. To this end, defortec is involved with its own projects and ultimately also designs the software's user interface.

About macs Software GmbH

macs Software GmbH from Zimmern ob Rottweil is an owner-managed software company. macs has been a reliable partner for 24 years and is one of the world's leading manufacturers of controlling solutions. With two locations in Germany and a branch office in South Africa and the USA, the company is active on all continents and is the partner for medium-sized and large companies. The macs controlling software for integrated corporate planning supports planning, control and information supply and provides reliable key figures for corporate management. More than 300 customers worldwide use macs software to create plans that are strategically and long-term oriented towards the future.

Clear lines combined with numerous technical advantages - the new VOITH InfibraFiner combines optimal user guidance with a new design.

The specially developed SmartLight on the front of the InfibraFiner is not only an eye-catcher, but also provides information about the machine status, performance and maintenance condition at any time via its light signals. Significantly simplified and time-saving maintenance by the operating personnel is the result of the innovative SmartLight.

Thanks to the compact design and the calm language of form by means of large clean surfaces, the InfibraFiner clearly stands out from its highly complex surroundings.

Compared to conventional refiners, the award-winning InfibraFiner has a significantly higher capacity and is designed to be extremely energy-saving.

The new design combines the modern appearance with numerous technological advantages, which enable a significantly more constant and energy-optimized refining process.

With the aid of three colored illuminated segments, the SmartLight provides information on the machine status, performance and current maintenance status of the refiner at any time and at a glance.

For this purpose, numerous parameters such as temperature, pressure or the vibration profile are recorded and evaluated.

Another focus of the development team was on very high occupational safety and particularly user-friendly maintenance by means of a compact design. The smooth outer surfaces allow easy cleaning. All electronic components and cabling are well protected and integrated into the machine in the control cabinet specially designed for the InfibraFiner.

"We have developed a completely new refiner concept that clearly stands out both in terms of design and performance values. During development, we pursued the highest quality standards. In line with our "Papermaking Vision" design study, the design focused on an appealing appearance, optimized user interfaces and the implementation of a "Clean Design". We are therefore very pleased to have won the Focus Open International Design Award Baden-Württemberg together with the design agency defortec."

Adrian Honig, Product Manager VOITH Paper

"The clear and modular design demonstrates and communicates the precision of the machine" - this was the jury's vote for the "Line 160" extrusion line from Battenfeld Cincinatti. The line consists of different functional units, starting with the extruder and ending with the cutting unit at the end of the line, which produces plastic pipes up to 2.5 meters in diameter. The modularity has been taken even further by defortec: the cutting unit as well as the drawing unit consist of one working element and one control element. This allows the working part to be adapted exactly to customer-specific requirements, while operation and control are always docked identically. It was also important to the designers to always place the operating panels in the same position and to structure the actual user interface in the same way visually. Among other things, the green accent color ensures the visual cohesion of the individual functional units. In the case of the closed units, the green appears very decidedly on the vertical, multi-bent chamfers that accompany the machine's setback to the floor. On the one hand, this recess ensures a visually less massive overall appearance, and on the other hand, it makes it easier to approach the large glass sliding doors, which ensure the best possible accessibility to the actual work area.

Glass is not only present here; basically the entire front consists of glass panels, including the dark gray zones above and below the sliding doors. Glass, according to the designers' experience, is not only less expensive than traditional sheet metal cladding, but more durable and conveys precision and high-tech with its perfect surface. "The play of materials underlines the very high quality and gives the plant both uniqueness and a unique selling point in the world of production machinery," the jury concluded.

The "Batch D" plant from plant manufacturer Rena Technologies also received an iF Award from the jury. Specially designed for the production of dental implant blanks, the entire processing area is made of acid-resistant polypropylene, the plant packaging is strictly regulated, as is the process technology. A challenge, even for such experienced industrial designers as those at defortec. A large part was made up by the ergonomics optimization including the interface design, which was developed for a large touch screen. Incidentally, the fronts here are also made of glass panels, just like on the extrusion line.

Says the jury, "All the necessary controls are within easy reach in the area of the glass panel and the swiveling touchscreen, emphasizing the system's tidy, clean, safe, ergonomic and technologically modern look."

Read more about Batch D in the detailed case study.

We have collected over 80 national and international design awards - so it seems that what we do is not so bad - and maybe you would like to be awarded with your product soon. We encourage our employees, give them a lot of personal responsibility and coach them with a lot of technical experience to implement your design ideas. We do it together.

As an agency for industrial design, defortec specializes in the design of consumer and investment goods in a wide variety of market segments. However, the design of housings and coverings is not the only task of a versatile design agency. In the case of the U.S. company Synexis LLC, the processing order included, in addition to the Cube & Sphere air purifiers, the redesign of the company logo as well as an extensive design guideline for print and web media.

The trademark included in the logo subtly points out the innovative technology and functionality of synexis devices, while also providing a strong, memorable figurative mark. Here, the four circles stand for the chemical compound of hydrogen and oxygen, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The two larger circles represent the oxygen atoms each of which is bonded to each other and to a hydrogen atom on the outside. The H2O2 molecule is central to the function of synexis devices and is figurative of synexis' success which is why it plays such a present role in Synexis' brand identity.

Thus, in addition to implementing its own product language for air purification equipment defortec succeeded in creating its own independent brand identity for the emerging company Synexis LLC. The collaboration with Synexis offered a rare opportunity to positively influence and realign the visual communication of an entire company through the design of various communication channels.

Defortec is a partner in a research project that investigated the feasibility of a rapid histamine test until 2019. The project partners also include the NMI (Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Tübingen) and Contexo GmbH. The quick test is intended to enable people with histamine intolerance to determine the histamine content of food quickly and reliably.

Histamine in food is a problem

Around three percent of people worldwide suffer from histamine intolerance, or around a quarter of a billion people. In Germany there are about two million people who have to do without numerous foods. Until now, histamine analyses have been laboriously carried out in the laboratory; individual testing was not possible. Since the histamine content of fish, cheese or wine, for example fluctuates depending on freshness or degree of ripeness, laboratory analyses are of little help in everyday life.



Determine histamine at home?

The research project was designed to investigate whether a test principle developed by the NMI can be transferred into a product so that private users can independently and spontaneously determine the histamine levels of their food.

The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics as part of the Central Investment Program for Medium-Sized Businesses (ZIM).

Defortec concentrated on aspects related to industrial design like ergonomics, materials, aspects of production and design. The single-use product is to be manufactured by injection molding with biodegradable plastics. The project, which lasted over two years proved to be extremely complex - not only because of the new test procedure but also because of the demands of miniaturization, mass production capability and the ability to test both liquid and solid foods.

Design Thinking at the start

At the start of the project, defortec invited all project partners to the Design Thinking Workshop, which first defined the target group, their expectations and the use case. The concrete development included extensive series of tests especially with regard to functional and ergonomic aspects. From the CAD drafts new functional models were generated again and again using 3D printing and the use and miniaturization were perfected - after all, the end product should be about the size of an insulin pen.


Usability in focus

The product concept which is currently at the preliminary project conclusion is based on a slim cylinder at the tip of which the solid or liquid samples are taken. The result is optically displayed only minutes later on the integrated test strip. The prototype designed by defortec is very detailed and already optimized for mass production by injection molding. The start of production however, has not yet been determined; NMI is currently working on practical field testing of the process.

It is currently not possible to predict when the histamine quick test will be available as a product suitable for everyday use.

The process is based on laser-supported arc welding in which steel wire is melted and layer after layer is placed on top of each other. To ensure that large parts can be produced in an acceptable time the project aims to achieve an hourly throughput of 5 kilograms of steel. The necessary printing space is also beyond the dimensions of 3D printing, it would have to be 6 meters long, 3 meters wide and 1.5 meters high.

While the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. is dedicated to this aspect the Institute for Integrated Production Hannover is working on quality management. Inline measurement technology is used to detect errors during the printing process and automatically correct the printing parameters.

In addition to the two institutes four other partners are involved. The research project which will run until the end of 2021 is being led by the marine transmission manufacturer Reintjes.

In addition to the size of the installation space, there is a far more complex problem to be solved: stresses in the component caused by shrinkage processes during cooling.

Source: Institut für Integrierte Produktion gGmbH, Hannover

In 2024, however, 15,000 rotor blades are to be taken out of operation in this country, and this number will multiply in the following years. A new strategy is therefore unavoidable, not least because large quantities of balsa wood are used in the high-tech composite components. For example, around 15 tonnes of the valuable light wood is contained in the blades, which are up to 90 metres long. Balsa wood has only about one third of the density of spruce wood, but is nevertheless very pressure-resistant and has a thermal conductivity of about 0.05 W/(m-K) perpendicular to the grain direction. This not only makes the lightweight material a favourite of model makers, it can also be used as an insulating material - as an alternative to rigid polystyrene foam, for example.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research (WKI) is working on a process that splits rotor blades by material - and separates the balsa wood. At first glance, the process looks brute: Directly on site, the rotor blades are cut into ten to twenty meter segments using a vehicle-mounted water jet lance. A mobile shredder breaks these up into palm-sized fragments, which are then sent to an impact mill. Set in rapid rotation, the fragments collide with metal elements, the hard, fibre-reinforced plastic breaks up and separates from the more elastic balsa wood.

The balsa wood recovered in this way is processed by the WKI into lightweight wood fibre insulation mats. With a density of less than 20 kilograms per cubic meter, the material can be used for building insulation.

Another option: The balsa wood is finely ground and provided with a foaming additive. The resulting balsa foam requires no further binding additives and is also suitable as packaging material that can be disposed as waste paper .

Source: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

As innovative the technology, as outstanding the design of this Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) is, as the category of these materials handling vehicles is called. Although a functional and cool, matter-of-fact design language dominates, elements such as the full-surface glass top of the AGV gives the investment goods an emotional component and underline the innovative character of the product.

The jury of the Designaward reddot praised the independent formal language of the industrial design and the visualisation of the new technology that is being introduced into the production processes with the AGV. The expert jury also described the integration of the sensors and signal elements required for automatic systems as outstandingly positive. All this prompted the jury to award "EcoProFleet" 2020 the premium prize "best of the best".

Together with our customer, Dürr Systems AG, we are delighted about this famous design award.

defortec was a winner of this year’s iF DESIGN AWARD, the world-renowned design prize. The winning product, PreMon preform inspection system of the company Intravis won in the disciplineProduct,

in theIndustry & Toolscategory. Each year, the world’s oldest independent design organization,

Hannover-based iF International Forum Design GmbH, organizes the iF DESIGN AWARD.

The product PreMon won over the 78-member jury, made up of independent experts from all over the world, with its completely new and innovative technology for the inspection of transparent, translucent and opaque PET preforms. The competition was intense: 7,298 entries were submitted from 56 countries in hopes of receiving the seal of quality.

For 67 years, the iF DESIGN AWARD has been recognized as an arbiter of quality for exceptional design. The iF label is renowned worldwide for outstanding design services, and the iF DESIGN AWARD is one of the most important design prizes in the world. Submissions are awarded in the following disciplines: Product, Packaging, Communication and Service Design, Architecture and InteriorArchitecture as well as Professional Concept. All awarded entries are featured on the iF WORLD DESIGN GUIDE, in the iF design app and are displayed at the iF design exhibition in Berlin.

We would like to thank our cooperation partner Intravis for the great and successful cooperation. We see this award as a confirmation of the quality of our work and as a driving force for future projects. We look proudly into a successful past and full of confidence in the future and look forward to new projects and challenges.

In the exhibition, well-known and renowned companies, including defortec, show how they set themselves off from the competition through their innovative strength and sustainably strengthen their brands through professional design.

Three times in 2019, Defortec was awarded with the International Design Award FOCUS OPEN:

VOITH Paper | XcelLine, Dürr Systems | AGV, ACSYS Laser Technology | Multishift.

From 11 December 2019 to 16 January 2020, you can view our three award-winning products in this exhibition at the Design Center Baden-Württemberg.

Duration of the exhibition

11 December 2019 to 16 January 2020
New Year's reception on January 9, 2020 at 7 p.m.
Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed on public holidays

Location of the exhibition

Design Center Baden-Württemberg
Steinbeis-Saal, 1st floor in the House of Economy
Willi-Bleicher-Str. 19, 70174 Stuttgart

Admission is free.

The quality management standard ISO 9001 is an internationally recognized standard which defines the requirements for effective quality management in a company in an industry-independent manner. The validity of the standard extends from companies in the service and business sectors to industrial companies and non-profit organizations.

This certificate can be regarded as the foundation stone for the future development of the company by defining and standardizing our working process. The goal of this development is always the process-oriented optimization of the workflows and the constant quality control, which should not only meet the own, as well as the quality requirement of our customers, but in the best case even surpasses it.

We are looking forward to future projects and will continue to work carefully on the compliance and further development of our set standards in order to be able to continue offering our customers the best possible design quality.

As the world's leading trade fair for machine tools and metalworking technology, EMO 2019 offers a huge range of products from a wide variety of industrie sectors. Around 2200 exhibitors from 44 countries present innovations and new products. Not least because of the large international share of exhibitors, which is around 60%, visitors are given an insight into unprecedented innovation potential. From metal machining to laser technology to serial 3D printing, the EMO 2019 shows the entire spectrum of state-of-the-art processing technology.

defortec is looking forward to a lively customer participation at this leading trade fair for metalworking. Our clients Acsys, Breuning, Licon, Oerlikon and EcoClean present their new, innovative and naturally perfect designed products.

The CEO of defortec GmbH, Stefan Grobe, gives insights into the practice of the design of medical devices and why each product represents a welcome challenge. The interview features important aspects of a successful product development within the field of medical design also as a short view in medical technology trends and international influences.

"The product has a much greater chance, the sooner a designer contributes to it!"

Read the entire interview with Dipl. Designer Stefan Grobe: Why is aesthetics not everything and why are aspects such as security, reliability and good handling in medical design much more important.

Get an overview of defortecs performance. In addition to visionary industrial design, we also offer model making and prototype construction as service. With our professionally equipped workshop and our expertise, we are able to produce quickly and perfectly prototypes, functional and design models.

We create models with a high degree of precision, great know-how and we pay attention to details. This ensures fascinating pre-production models for your presentation or your functional tests.

Download our model making portfolio as PDF here.

The IF design award has been recognized as an internationally label for outstanding design services since 1953. For designers, an award serves as an acknowledgment of their abilities, a meaningful reference and as a medium of communication. For companies, an award with the IF design price is an effective marketing tool. More than 5000 competition entrys are submitted each year. The IF awards enjoys a huge international reputation.

In the period from 24. Until the 26. Of January 2017, the contest entries submitted in the fields of product, packaging, communication, service as well as interior design and architecture will be evaluated in Hamburg. About 60 well-known experts from more than 20 countries choose the award winners according to a clearly structured process based on established criteria.

After the judging, the award ceremony – the IF design award night – will take place on 10. March 2017 in the BMW Welt in Munich. Following the award ceremony, all the prize winners of the IF design awards 2017 will be shown in the comprehensive IF online exhibition on the IF website www.ifdesign.de. Both, the IF winners this year and the prize winners of the past 64 years can be found here. In this online exhibition, you will find pictures and text as well as information about manufacturers and designers – an archive of design history par excellence.

Based on the pioneering developments of the recent years, SPECS presents the first laboratory device for chemical surface analysis under environmental conditions. EnviroESCA enables fully automated, intelligent analysis and evaluation of surfaces under real conditions and creates new applications in industry, medicine and biotechnology.

The new system features an innovative modularity for fast adaptation to different inspection tasks. defortec developed the design of the new EnviroESCA on behalf of SPECS. The asymmetric front design of the device and strong color and material contrasts generates a high quality appearance and thereby an easy integration into contemporary laboratory environments.

Best wishes and every success to the friendly SPECS team at the product launch in San José / USA.

www.enviro.specs.de

defortec developed the design of the new Block Making Machine on behalf of QUNFENG INTELLIGENT MACHINERY CO.,LTD. The machine will be presented for the first time in the course of the international Canton Fair 2015 from the 15th of October to the 4th of November in Guangzhou/China.

The designed unit QFT 10-15 by defortec for the production of concrete and floor tiles combines design and technology. The powerful and dynamic design language combined with an innovative technique generates a unique character that represents a new benchmark in the brick production industry. Defortec created an innovative compression latch for the maintenance doors that ensures safe operation in spite of strong vibrations for the concrete compaction. Transferred to the control panel and other system components, the new design differentiates the brand successfully from competitors. Defortec developed the design and supplied the 3D data of the whole production system.

We wish the complete Qunfeng team a successful fair.

http://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/

http://www.qunfeng.com

It offers a comprehensive overview of all plastics technologies (injection molding, extrusion technique or thermoforming). The user gets a broad overview about all relevant methods, equipment and tools that are needed for the plastic- and processing. Around 1,700 exhibitors present from 13th - 17th October in Friedrichshafen, the whole process chain for the economic parts manufacture of plastics.

A large role is played by automation equipment, for the plastics manufacturing is increasingly becoming integrated into production processes. The forward-looking industry issues such as plastics used in medical technology and resources can be spared are always been among others the focus of this exhibition.

We wish  MILACRON for which we were allowed to be active partners in the past, a successful tradeshow. Hall B3 - Stand 3202

The internationally-oriented event shows the current work from interior, fashion, industrial and communication designers with the latest trends, innovations and concepts.

In the area Research & Industry with symposium and curated special exhibition the specialist visitors from design, architecture, science and industry can under the topic „smart technology – new design“ familiarise themselves with innovative developments from industrial design, science and research.

A comprehensive accompanying program with product presentations, lectures, podium discussions and workshops provides new understanding and many possibilities for exchanges.

Venue:

Leipziger Messe
Messe-Allee 1
04356 Leipzig

At AMB Stuttgart, the leaders of all known machine manufacturers meet. This year again the “art cube” of the mav magazin at the entrance of the exhibition center is their first meeting point.

Under the title "Design meets technology" defortec and other selected industrial design firms present excellent design, innovative ideas and intelligent solutions.

A fair team of defortec will be present over the entire trade fair. We appreciate your spontaneous visit and interesting discussions. If you want to make a personal appointment with us, please send an email to info@defortec.de or log on to 071 57/72 11 20 8. You can find us in the art cube of the entrance area East, Booth E1-100.

Our customers Licon MT (Hall 5-D 56), Oerlikon (Hall 1-C 58) and Kurt Breuning IRCO Maschinenbau GmbH (Hall 3-C 38) for which we could already be active in the past, exhibit at the AMB also.

The international Exhibition for Metal Working AMB, is regarded as the leading industry event and ranks among the world's top 5 exhibitions for this industry. More than 1,300 exhibitors from almost thirty countries will present the latest developments and innovations in machine tools, precision tools and their associated products for metal cutting. Products and machines from the areas measuring systems and quality assurance, robots, workpiece and tool handling, etc. are also on show at AMB.

Lightweight construction and composites are the leading topics at AMB 2014.The areas automotive manufacture, aviation and mechanical engineering are hardly conceivable without composites. The processing of composites such as carbon is extremely demanding and often pushes technology to its performance limits. In order to process materials in line with market conditions, precision, long service lives, use of resources and energy efficiency are promoted. Tool manufacturers and mechanical engineers must confront these challenges and provide efficient solutions as this trend is playing an increasingly bigger role.

The design of the layflat book binding machine smartliner240 by Palamides has been awarded for the third time. After the iF product design award 2014 and the Focus Open 2014, we now have received a Special Mention at the German Design Award for this development. This award, known also as the "prize of prizes" enjoys a special reputation in the industry and is organized annually by the German Design Council.

In addition to the awards in the categories, a "Special Mention" is a work that reveals particularly successful design aspects and handling solutions. During the jury process these products have received the most points, but have been put underneath the winner-products of the respective category. By the Special Mention the company is given a marketing tool to the hand, to communicate the high quality of the product to customers and trade.

The German Design Award enjoys an excellent reputation and is one of the most famous international design awards, as the German Design Council is one of the leading international centers of excellence for design. We are very excited about this award because capital goods are rarely rewarded with this design award. In this moment specials thanks to Palamides for their trust and the successful and pleasant cooperation.

The VDID is the largest professional association of industrial designers. A union of representative, trained, qualified and professionally working industrial designers in Germany. The VDID was founded in 1959 as a professional association. A Membership in the VDID is expression of the proven professionalism of its member. Most important resource of the VDID are the comprehensive skills and great practical experiences of its members.

The objectives and tasks of the VDID stand for economic success and social security for independent and salaried members and the prospects of the next generation. Objectives are among others the continued support of the development of the profession as well as teaching the importance of industrial design for prosperity in business and society.

The duties of the VDID include the definition of the profession and the localization of discipline in economic policy context. This job description is the basis for alliances with neighboring disciplines and interest groups in the creative industries, the development of common goals and tasks.

VDID Codex of industrial designers - Adopted and published!
The VDID has developed the Codex for industrial designers. This was adopted in 2011 on the VDID General Assembly and was first published in printed form end of September 2012.

The VDID Codex of industrial designers formulates the roles of VDID members as active partners in business and society. The professional Code of VDID will not only serve its members as an orientation aid and reasoning, but also the contacts, clients and decision-makers in business and industry.

After the first very successful presentations on site, we are optimistic to continue to expand our customer portfolio in Asia. The quality and professionalism of defortec work and the general reputation of German design in Asia makes the service of design development internationally more and more interesting.

To improve order processing, we founded an cooperation with a Chinese design office on spot, what offers good communication and professional handling of orders in China. "These new impressions of China are also for our own development of great value," said Stefan Grobe.

Anja Egerland studied engineering design at the Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal. The Master of Arts in Engineering Design provides an in-depth study of the technical design. Students are trained very early in practical cooperations in the field of design for investment goods. Mrs Egerland worked in her Master-Thesis intensively in the field of health and safety engineering in cooperation with the company Dräger in Lübeck.

Markus Schönecker studied Integrated Design Processes at the Coburg University and graduated as a product designer, Master of Arts. He focused his bachelor's and master's thesis on complex systems in the field of Medical Design. His thesis of a mobile dental unit for outdoor dental treatment received a special mention at the Lucky Strike Junior Design Award 2013. Prior to joining defortec he was hired by at-design in Fürth, working on design developments for Siemens in the areas of automation and healthcare.

We are pleased to welcome Anja Egerland and Markus Schönecker as new, knowledgeable employees.

We are pleased that the Layflat bookbinding machine by Palamides received another design award. This time it is awarded by the Design Center Baden-Württemberg which evalutates  the design quality, functionality, innovation contents as well as the ergonomics and usability aspects. Intention of the competition is to identify trends in design scene and tracing innovative and progressive solutions. A further evidence for our work quality due to industrial plants that are rarely honoured  with the Focus Open Award.

The Focus Open - the International Design Award Baden Württemberg - is an integral part of the competitive landscape in Germany. Designers from around the world submit annually their most innovative products and concept solutions and face the competition for outstanding and sustainable design. The prestigious design award enjoys high reputation at home and abroad and is particularly appreciated for its reliability and non-commercial orientation.

The winning products will be awarded as part of a remarkable event in the cultural center of Ludwigsburg. Under the leadership of Christiane Nicolaus, Director of the Design Center Stuttgart , the FocusGold and Focus Silver will be awarded to the product managers. A special highlight will be the presentation of the Mia Seeger Prize 2014. This prestigious award honors young designers and is organized by the Mia Seeger Foundation.

The German Design Council nominated three defortec projects for the German Design Award 2015.
The board honors with this nomination the product comprehensive design of Ferrmomatic Milacrons’ injection molding machines F-series and Elektron series, the high-speed milling center Liflex II 444 from Licon and the lay flat bookbinding machine smartliner240 from Palamides.

The German Design Award is one of the famous international design awards and enjoys highest reputation. The nomination is a vast opportunity for defortec to compete with other well-known candidates from the design sector and to win eventually the prestigious design award. The council’s longstanding experience in the processes ensures that none but the excellent products, manufacturers and designers are nominated for the German Design Award. This nomination is already a great honor for defortec.

The innovative machine generation EcoCWave developed for cleaning parts with aqueous media will
be introduced for the first time at the fair parts2clean. Key features of the EcoCWave are universal application capabilities ranging from coarse to fine cleaning, plus its minimized footprint as well as its optimized cleaning quality while cutting per-unit costs.

To discover at parts2clean from 24-26th June  2014 located at the Stuttgart Exhibition Centre.
Dürr Ecoclean GmbH - Hall 5 - Stand C18/D17

The technical committee is concerned with the revision of a directive from 1986. This directive achieves increasingly importance for industrial designers and engineers.

Due to the rapidly advancing implementation of the factor design during the entire development phase, it is necessary to adapt the VDI / VDE 2424 to today's requirements and future development processes. Because only the early and professionally coordinated integration of the factor design ensures the medium and long-term market success of developed products.

Graduate designer Stefan Grobe enriches with his technical expertise the VDI committee that is currently dealing with the basic work for the development of the new directive. Among other things this directive includes the human-product interaction , influences of industrial design in the product development process and the organizational integration and function of design in a company.

The winners are High-speed machining center - Liflex II444 - from Licon, Industrial cleaning machine - EcoCCore - from Dürr, Lay flat book binding machine - smartliner240 - from Palamides and Injection molding machines - F-series - and - Elektron-series - from Ferromatik Milacron.

Togehther with our customers we are very proud about this awards and we take the opportunity to thank all the involved development teams for the successful cooperation.

The awards ceremony – the iF design awards night 2014 – is to take place during Munich Creative Business Week, on 28 February 2014. The iF gold awards for outstanding design skills will be announced at the awards ceremony where the gold award winners will receive their iF gold trophy, designed by Herbert H. Schultes.

Over more than 60 years, the iF design award recognizes outstanding design by a jury of international experts with an design, industrial or educational background. The huge international iF design award reputation of is owing on high quality competition entries.

The award winners from all iF design awards 2014 are on show in the comprehensive iF ONLINE EXHIBITION at the iF website: www.ifdesign.de. This includes both the current iF design award winners and those from earlier years. Products are presented with images and descriptions and with information on manufacturers and designers: a one-of-its-kind archive of design history.

The German Design Council organized the 5th German Brand and Design Congress on 11-12 November 2013 in Stuttgart under the motto “Designing New Markets”. The congress realting to investment goods centered around successful internationalization strategies of German companies that focus on brand and design – in times of global markets, sustainable entrepreneurial success can be secured only through clear differentiation from the competitive environment. Small and medium-sized companies, which can strongly profit from a consistent design strategy, were especially addressed with questions around the quality promise Made in Germany, property rights, intercultural branding and employer branding.

The German Brand and Design Congress 2013 were sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Baden-Württemberg, and were organized in cooperation with the Design Center Stuttgart.

Impressions of the 5th German Brand and Design Congress.

Our client Dr.Fenning Biomed is presenting its highly innovative laboratory equipment for sepsis detection, at the medica 2013 in Düsseldorf. defortec created therefore the new appearance of the fully automatic testing device. F-Microlab sepsis offers a revolutionary system to prove sepsis or blood poisoning. In contrast to the long conventional process, the analysis is significantly faster, which improves the healing process substantially.

The compact and automatically device enables blood tests by the doctor on-site. Within 25 minutes the resulting dates are available. This enables a biological Lab-on-Chip-System, which has been developed by scientists at the Fraunhofer-Institut of Physical Measuring technology IPM in Freiburg. The Lab-on-Chip is evaluated in a device that works fully automated. The only thing the doctor needs to do is to put the blood test into the system and to wait for the result.

We wish the very nice Dr.Fenning Biomed team a successful exhibition with their new f-microlab sepsis.

www.fenningbiomed.de

Creativity for a good cause: defortec was involved in an artistproject of Herzenssache, a children charitiy project from SWR, SR and Spardabank. The development of our luminaire atmophero just concluded successfully.
atmosphero presents our planet in its unique and radiant beauty and brings it into our field of vision and consciousness. The main idea of atmosphero is a free-floating sphere in the space of a cube. The sphere signifies our planet earth, which seems to be floating in the surrounding of a light atmosphere. The sphere is shaped out of the light effects of atmosphero and simulates the protecting atmosphere of the earth, which appears a moment later similar to polar light or northern lights.

atmosphero is made of a range of reflective stainless steel surfaces with spherical openings, which are lighted from two high-power - LEDs in the whole colour range by turns. The infinite repetitive mirroring shapes an optical sphere which seems to float in this cube. From every point of view new delightful light- and mirror effects can be seen and also the whole surrounding is full of atmospheric light. The dynamic colour change from the light source can be operated individually.

Light is life. atmosphero, movie to iluminair
http://youtu.be/zClxD1uGEnY

Up to now the light is an individual item, but since we got first enquiries, we are currently planning to make a small-scale series - if we also arouse your interest, please contact us!
Beside industrial companies that participated the project Herzenssache also well-known people like Mario Adorf, the SWR Tatort-Team Ludwigshafen with Ulrike Folkerts and Andreas Hoppe, as well as SWR Tatort-Kommissarin Eva Mattes alias Klara took part. Furthermore all-round genius and luminary of the German humor Otto Waalkes, the TV cook and cook artist Johann Lafer, the SWR3-Comedian-heroes Michael Wirbitzky und Sascha Zeus and a master of political cartoons Rolf Henn alias LUFF.

All unique luminaires from Licht.Gestalten2013 can be seen in an exhibition in the KUNSTBEZIRK Gustav-Siegle-Haus in Stuttgart from 3.12. – 15.12.2013. Highlight of the project is an auction from Eppli at 16.12.2013, 4pm – 8pm, where all the luminairs can be bought for the good cause.
From 28.11.2013 on it‘s possible to give your bid at www.Licht.Gestalten2013.de, www.eppli.com and via mail.

Link to online auction
http://auktion.eppli.com/item/id/defortec_GmbH_design_for_technology_atmosphero_38440.html

We are pleased to announce another interesting event, which will take place at 11. -12. November 2013 in Stuttgart. Under the motto - Designing New Markets - it will be hold this year in the „Haus der Wirtschaft“  organized by the German Design Council. This important congress is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Baden-Württemberg, and is organized in cooperation with the Design Center Stuttgart.

The series of congress is yearly organized by the German Brand and Design Congress and has developed to a high-class event in field of design management and brand management. Since it started in 2009, it became a dialog forum of brands, in which high-level representatives with a different industry background discuss about Brand Management Processes.

Our clients Illig Maschinenbau, Ferromatik Milacron and Moldmasters are presenting their new products, which are created in cooperation with defortec, at K-trade fair 2013, this year. Those innovative design developments can be seen from the 16th - 23rd October in Düsseldorf.

Our clients Illig Maschinenbau, Ferromatik Milacron and Moldmasters are presenting their new products, which are created in cooperation with defortec, at K-trade fair 2013, this year. Those innovative design developments can be seen from the 16th - 23rd October in Düsseldorf.

Illig is showing its new control terminal, which was created under the aspects of design, ergonomics and cost-efficiency. You can find that devlopment in hall 03/stand A 52. Our long-standing client Ferromatik Milacron is presenting 6 injection molding machines in its impressive trade fair appearance. They are showing consistency in design and are an impressive example for successful Corporate Design development. Those complex units can be seen in hall 15/stand C06. The company Moldmaster, which belongs to the group Milacron is presenting a second vertical injection unit E-Multi on its F 160. Its design is already adapted to the new injection molding machines. You can find Moldmasters in hall 1/stand A39.

We wish our clients a successful trade fair with their new products!

Illig Maschinenbau GmbH&Co.KG: hall 03, stand A52

Ferromatik Milacron Maschinenbau GmbH: hall 15, stand C06

Moldmasters LTD: hall 1, stand A39