Touting plastics to the Amish

Here's a bit of marketing that caught my eye today: Igus Inc. is touting how a manufacturer of horse-drawn farming equipment is using one of its plastic products as an alternative to a traditional metal part. The release notes that the farm equipment maker is using iglide plastic plain bearings on a "crumbler" mechanism, a tool used to crush clods of dirt during the tilling process. Customers for the tools are primarily Amish communities. "The bearings replaced a system of metal shafts and collars that required messy lubricants and frequent maintenance," the release notes. I imagine that if the parts work, if they last a long time without needing to be replaced, and if they aren't too colorful, they'll be accepted just fine by the Amish customers.