The winners of the SIMA Innovation Awards 2015have been announced with CLAAS winning two awards.

The completely new PANORAMIC cab concept on the ARION 400 tractor, which was launched this year and reached the final round of the "Tractor of the Year 2015" competition, was the recipient of one of two gold medals. The new VARIO cutterbar for combine harvesters also received a special mention.


The new PANORAMIC cab

The key feature of the new PANORAMIC cab is its 2.41 m² windscreen. The windscreen and polycarbonate roof are connected to each other without an upper crossbar. This gives the driver a completely new feeling of space and an unimpaired 90° field of view over the front loader.

The jury also found that the new VARIO cutterbar in the VARIO 930 and 770 models with cutting widths of 9.30 m and 7.70 m for the TUCANO and LEXION combine harvesters offers the required level of technical flexibility to master today's harvesting processes with their regular crop rotations. The crop dividers and rapeseed cutting knives can be attached and detached without the use of tools thanks to the quick-release couplings. The cutterbar table of the VARIO can be steplessly and conveniently adjusted from the cab over a range of 700 mm (-100 mm to +600 mm). Whereas the rapeseed plates previously had to be inserted manually, they are now completely integrated into the cutterbar table on the new VARIO.

The SIMA Innovation Awards are awarded every two years to recognise innovations in agricultural technology and agricultural services. This year, two gold medals, three silver medals and 18 special mentions were awarded. An international jury made up of 21 experts from the agricultural sector was responsible for deciding the award winners. Additional experts including numerous users, researchers and developers were on hand to advise the jury as required.