Wanted: Green use of plastic plain bearings, as entries open for igus manus award 2025

Smart engineers with great ideas for using plastics are invited to apply for the 12th manus award 2025, the igus® award for creative, ambitious and sustainable uses of plastic plain bearings. Now in its 21^st year of competition, it has a strong sustainability focus, and the winners will receive up to 5,000 euros in prize money.

Engineers increasingly need to balance cost efficiency while improving the carbon content of products. Avoiding using lubricants in engineering designs can help. “In a recent study with RWTH Aachen University, we demonstrated for the first time that lubrication-free plastic plain bearings successfully master both challenges compared to classic, lubricated metal bearings,” says Rob Dumayne, dry-tech® director at igus® UK.

Polymer plain bearings with integrated solid lubricants can improve both the environmental/ functional balance and cost-effectiveness of products and eliminate the risk of contamination. “As part of the 12th manus award, we want to find out how companies around the world are making the switch from traditional metal plain bearings. Where could polymer plain bearings technically improve the application? And what are the ecological and economic effects – has it saved money as well as carbon?” says Dumayne.

Independent jury rewards courage and creativity
The 12th edition of the annual awards for the novel use of polymer plain bearings is all about cost savings and sustainability. There must be at least one functional version of the device that shows the technical benefits, as well as the ecological and economic advantages of the plastic plain bearings. The winners will be decided by an independent jury of experts from research, the trade press and industry. They place particular emphasis on courage and creativity in entries, which can lead to high marks. The winners will receive prize money of up to 5,000 euros.

The application deadline is January 17, 2025.

manus award goes global – 36 countries take part
The manus award has developed into an increasingly important international event. In 2023, igus® received 480 submissions from 36 countries. The golden manus was awarded to the US company J&M Manufacturing for an agricultural plough equipped with lubrication-free and environmentally friendly polymer plain bearings. The silver manus went to the French company Aufratech for an exoskeleton that enables fatigue-free operation of high-pressure cleaners. The bronze manus was won by Fiedler Maschinenbau und Technikvertrieb GmbH for a new type of high-pressure cleaner for municipal vehicles, and the green manus award went to Rockinger Agriculture GmbH, which developed a maintenance-free and lubrication-free ball coupling for loader wagons, manure spreaders, tippers and field sprayers.

Entry conditions, the application form and an overview of previous winners can be found at: www.igus.co.uk/info/manus-award