Nikon’s NEXIV VMF-K Wins Red Dot Design Award for Product Design Excellence
Nikon Corporation has announced that its NEXIV VMF-K Series high-performance video measuring system has been honoured with the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2025, one of the most internationally recognised seals of quality for outstanding product design. The accolade is awarded by Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Germany, an institution that has been celebrating innovation and excellence in industrial design since 1955.
The NEXIV VMF-K Series is engineered to deliver automatic, high-precision dimensional measurements of semiconductor and electronic components. Designed for maximum accuracy, repeatability, and speed, the system leverages Nikon’s decades of optical expertise to meet the increasingly stringent quality assurance demands of the semiconductor industry. While optimised for semiconductor manufacturing, the NEXIV VMF-K also offers substantial benefits for adjacent markets such as advanced packaging, substrate production, wafer inspection, and probe card inspection—all sectors where precise metrology is critical to ensuring product performance and reliability.
Award-Winning Design for Demanding Applications
The Red Dot Award is recognised globally as one of the most prestigious endorsements of design excellence. This year’s competition attracted thousands of entries from over 60 countries, covering a diverse range of industrial, commercial, and consumer products. Submissions are evaluated by an expert panel of international jurors, who assess each product on criteria including innovation, functionality, ergonomics, and durability. The NEXIV VMF-K was selected for its harmonious integration of advanced measurement capabilities with an intuitive, ergonomic design that supports efficient operator workflows in precision manufacturing environments.
According to Nikon, the VMF-K’s design process prioritised ease of use without compromising technical performance, ensuring that even highly complex measurement routines can be executed quickly and reliably. The system’s architecture supports automation and data connectivity, enabling it to play a central role in smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0-driven quality control strategies.
Meeting the Evolving Needs of Semiconductor and Electronics Manufacturing
The semiconductor industry is undergoing rapid transformation, with increasingly smaller, more complex components demanding ultra-precise measurement. Errors measured in microns can have significant downstream impacts on product performance, yield, and profitability. The NEXIV VMF-K’s optical and computational systems are optimised to handle these challenges, allowing manufacturers to maintain rigorous standards while improving throughput.
In sectors such as advanced packaging, where miniaturisation and integration are pushing measurement tolerances to new limits, the NEXIV VMF-K provides a reliable solution that balances speed with uncompromising accuracy. In substrate and wafer inspection, its automated capabilities reduce inspection times, while in probe card inspection, it ensures that even the smallest contact points are accurately measured and verified.
Design Recognition as a Competitive Advantage
Winning the Red Dot Award not only underscores the VMF-K’s technical capabilities but also its role as an aesthetically refined and user-friendly industrial instrument. The award serves as an important differentiator in a market where equipment performance and usability directly impact operational efficiency.
As Nikon continues to develop cutting-edge measurement technologies, the recognition from the Red Dot jury reinforces the company’s commitment to delivering solutions that excel in both engineering performance and design quality.
The official presentation of the award will take place at the Red Dot Gala in Essen, Germany, later this year, where the NEXIV VMF-K will be showcased among other 2025 winners in the Red Dot Design Museum, one of the world’s largest exhibitions of contemporary design.
For more information: www.industry.nikon.com
