Klüber Lubrication has won the German Innovation Award presented annually by the German Design Council. The German Innovation Award recognizes innovations that have a lasting impact. The award was initiated by the German Design Council, an organization that has been working to strengthen design as an economic factor for more than 60 years.

The global market leader for specialty lubricants was recognized in two categories: in “Material Surface” for the innovative technology of its hydro lubricants and in the “Design Thinking” category for the equally cutting-edge process used to develop them.

“Our new hydro lubricants represent a revolution in lubricant technology,” says Samira El Allam, innovation manager at Klüber Lubrication. “Using water as a functional constituent in lubricants opens up entirely new applications that offer our customers in various industries sustainability and performance advantages. These advantages range from extremely low friction coefficients to improved workplace safety and sustainability.”

Klüber Lubrication released its first hydro lubricant for gear lubrication in early 2018; hydro lubricants for other applications are currently in development.

In addition to the product itself, the jury also found the innovative and agile development process worthy of an award in the “Design Thinking” category. The new product was created in close and flexible cooperation between various departments at Klüber Lubrication and with customers. An iterative approach and cross-functional staffing enabled the project team to assume new viewpoints in order to identify customer needs early on and translate them into concrete concepts.

For Klüber Lubrication the hydro lubricants project paved the way to innovative project methods. In future, agile methods such as design thinking will be used wherever possible in order to foster innovation.

Klüber Lubrication, set up as a retail company for mineral oil products in Munich in 1929, is today part of Freudenberg Chemical Specialities SE & Co. KG, a business group of the Freudenberg Group, Weinheim, Germany. Klüber Lubrication has about 2,000 employees in more than 30 countries.