(Düsseldorf/Parsdorf, September 10, 2025) At K 2025, KraussMaffei, in collaboration with its partners LEONHARD KURZ and Rühl, will unveil the future of lighting technology. The “FrontIQ Light” combines design, function, and protection in a single, highly integrated manufacturing process. At its core is ColorForm technology, which utilizes a precise polyurethane surface that is applied directly to thermoplastic components within the injection mold.

Conventional headlights require expensive hard coating. In contrast, the "FrontIQ Light" features an inline-applied PUR layer that protects against UV radiation, stone chips, and chemicals. The coating can be adjusted with precision to within a tenth of a millimeter. It enables variable haptic effects and even has a self-healing effect for fine scratches. “With our ColorForm technology, KraussMaffei is revolutionizing front lights: from design freedom with printed films to precise 3D forming – all in one intelligently networked complete solution,” explains Dr. Frank Szimmat, Managing Director KraussMaffei Technologies.

The mold-integrated film deep-drawing process is a world first. The film is three-dimensionally shaped directly in the mold. This allows for maximum design freedom, from elegant depth effects to individual surface patterns. Precision is ensured by an automation solution that cleans the films in advance, positions them exactly, and shapes them to fit perfectly. Thanks to integrated automation, the gripper features a heating process that makes deep-drawing of the film possible in the first place. This innovation ensures extremely precise and uniform heating of the film, thereby ensuring maximum quality and perfect fit in the mold. Despite its complexity, the process operates smoothly, as all steps are delivered from a single source.

What makes it special: The combination of several thermoplastics, decorative film, and PUR surface opens up almost unlimited design possibilities. Brilliant depth effects, individual patterns, and durable protection are created directly in the mold - without any subsequent painting processes. The surface is designed using films printed using thin-film technology, which are back-injected into the mold using a sheet-to-sheet process with transparent and black polycarbonate. “Automotive design today is more expressive and emotional than ever before. With concepts such as ”FrontIQ Light," we are taking design to the next level – seamless, sustainable, and full of new possibilities. Light becomes a language. Surfaces become a brand experience," says Luitpold Haarländer, Head of Sales Management Automotive at LEONHARD KURZ.

KraussMaffei supplies ColorForm technology as an integrated solution, covering automation, PUR technology, and injection molding. The result is a fully integrated process: design, function, and protective layer are created directly in the mold without any additional reworking.

At K 2025, visitors can experience the technology live on a GXW 650 with a reversible plate. A 3K demonstrator in the design of a 720-millimeter-long headlight will be on display at the LEONHARD KURZ booth in Hall 5, A19.