EUROPEAN manufacturer CLAAS has picked up the internationally-renowned iF Gold Award for Design for its new generation CLAAS LEXION 8000/7000 combine harvester.
Established in 1953, the Industrie Forum Design awards promote excellence in industrial design.
This year's competition attracted almost 7000 entries from 50 countries.
Each entry was assessed against strict criteria for design, innovation, functionality, manufacturing quality, safety and environmental compatibility.
The LEXION 8000/7000 was one of only 75 entries to earn a gold award.
The new harvester caught the eye of the judges, not only for its sheer size, but its appealing combination of ergonomics and design.
The fully-glazed cab, which gives the driver excellent all-round visibility and the larger grain tank, which ensures higher productivity, were especially important factors in placing the LEXION at the top of the winners' podium.
CLAAS Harvest Centre Australia product manager (LEXION) Steve Reeves said the 8000/7000 model raised harvesting productivity standards.
"With its revolutionary APS SYNFLOW HYBRID threshing system and cutting-edge operating systems, this series raises the bar for harvesting performance even higher than before," Mr Reeves said.
"Every aspect has been re-engineered to meet the needs of today's grain producers to ensure increased efficiency, ease of operation and reduced downtime and operating costs.
"It's effectively a new machine that delivers 10 per cent more capacity than the previous 700 Series."
The LEXION 8000/7000 was designed in-house by the CLAAS Corporate Industrial Design team.
"This is the first time CLAAS has directly submitted an entry in the iF Awards and to win gold at the first attempt is an outstanding achievement," Mr Reeves said.
Working in partnership with industrial designers, CLAAS has previously won iF awards for its JAGUAR 900 and 800 forage harvesters, AXION 800 advanced technology tractors, SCORPION telescopic loaders and RTK FIELD BASE mobile GPS station.
