Three awards: iglidur PRT slewing ring bearing, igubal split flange mounted bearings and igusGO app win iF Design Award 2026

When industrial products work but are difficult to assemble or operate, this often results in unnecessary downtime, operating errors and additional costs. igus therefore focuses on application-orientated design when developing new products. Three products have now won the prestigious iF Design Award 2026 for this approach: the international jury was impressed by a slewing ring bearing with an integrated 360° angle stop, split flange mounted bearings that speed up bearing replacement in locations that are hard to reach as well as the AI-supported igusGO app, which shows immediately which igus products can be used for designing lubrication-free applications, improving technology and saving costs.

Since 1954, the iF Design Awards have been one of the largest and most important design competitions in the world. This year, an independent jury of 129 leading international design and sustainability experts assessed over 10,000 submissions from 68 countries. The winners of the iF Design Award 2026 in the category industrial product design include the iglidur PRT-04-TS-360 slewing ring bearing from igus. The bearing has a rotation stop that can be adjusted by hand and that allows for defined rotation positions of up to 720° instead of the usual 360°. This allows components to be rotated safely and in a controlled way, for example in machines, automation systems, displays or camera platforms. Another special feature of the design: compared to the previous model, igus has succeeded in making the slewing ring bearing 60% lighter, 50% more compact and 20% more cost-effective. At the same time, the bearing works with igus high-performance plastics so that it does not require lubrication or maintenance, which reduces operating costs.

Save 80% assembly time
The split flange mounted bearings made of high-performance plastic from igus’s igubal series also impressed the international jury of the iF Design Award 2026. They expand the existing product range of split bearings in the series and are designed for bearing points on machines and systems that are hard to reach. The highlight: thanks to their split design, operators can mount the bearings directly on the shaft without removing surrounding components. This leads to time savings of up to 80%. Users of classic flange mounted bearing units can switch to the alternative made of high-performance plastic without any design modifications. The hole spacing of the bearings is identical. The change also saves around 80% in weight. At the same time, the igubal bearings reduce operating costs as they require no maintenance thanks to their lubrication-free design.

Product search with gamification approach
Which igus components could my application benefit from? To answer this question, igus offers a product search and a live chat on the website, catalogues and advice from sales representatives. With the igusGO app, igus now promises an alternative that saves an enormous amount of time. It works as follows: users take a photo of their application, e.g. a coffee machine or agricultural machinery. The igusGO AI can recognise around 1,000 use cases so far, and the number is growing every day. An AI then analyses the application and suggests suitable components from igus. Users can also find out more about applications that have already been realised on comparable machines and with similar components. Via the link to the igus online shop, you can obtain information on the respective product and order or enquire about it. The immersive user experience is a special feature of the design: the app combines the real working environment with a digital analysis, which makes interacting with the technology particularly intuitive. igusGO is available for free, either as an app for Android and iOS or as a web application – in several languages.