Crown Earns Another Design Accolade Among World's Most Recognized Brands
Forklift Manufacturer Wins IDSA IDEA for Crown ESR 5000 Reach Truck
NEW BREMEN, Ohio - Crown Equipment, Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Panasonic and Herman Miller. When it comes to product design excellence, forklift manufacturer Crown Equipment doesn't take a backseat to anyone. The company - along with some of the world's most recognized brands - was honored this week by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) with an International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) for the Crown ESR 5000 Series of narrow-aisle reach trucks used throughout Asia and Europe.
This is the fifth consecutive and eighteenth overall IDEA for Crown. No other company has won more IDEAs in the Commercial and Industrial Equipment category in the last 10 years than Crown.
"Great products come from great thinking," said Mike Gallagher, vice president of design, Crown Equipment. "It's always gratifying to be recognized for our efforts. It's one more stamp of credibility for the design staff and Crown employees who are driven to create not only great and innovative products but also great experiences for our customers. We will continue to pursue this goal with thoughtfulness and zeal."
Isabel Ancona, one of the competition's judges and a user experience consultant, wrote in her evaluation of the Crown ESR, "Strong product strategy and user research, combined with elegant and practical design solutions, has created a very accessible and effective vehicle. There are several details that demonstrate a solid understanding of the various workflows and user needs-creating a safe and usable 'workspace' for the driver, [providing] more visibility, [simplifying] user interface controls, and [including] visual cues on the truck for safer driving."
Since the 1960s, Crown has earned more than 50 design awards. In the past decade alone, IDSA recognized Crown with an IDEA for these products:
o 2009 Gold IDEA: Crown GPC 3000 Series Order Picker
o 2008 Gold IDEA: Crown RC 5500 Series Stand-Up Counterbalanced Lift Truck
o 2007 Gold IDEA: Crown ST/SX/WF 3000 Stacker Series
o 2006 Silver IDEA: Crown TSP 6000 Series Turret Stockpicker
o 2004 Silver IDEA: Crown PE 4000 Series Rider Pallet Truck
o 2003 Gold IDEA: Crown FC 4000 Series Sit-down Counterbalanced Lift Truck
o 2000 Gold IDEA: Crown WP 2000 Series Walkie Pallet Truck and Crown SC 4000 3-Wheel Counterbalanced Truck
The 2010 IDSA IDEA program received 1,855 entries. Only 37 entries earned the gold designation. Submissions came in from Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom and the United States.
According to the IDSA, the 2010 IDEA jury was comprised of 18 world-renowned designers and design thinkers. It spent weeks previewing entries online and two-and-a-half days of face-to-face evaluation and debate. Judging criteria in the Commercial and Industrial Equipment category focused on six areas of industrial design excellence: innovation; benefit to the user, benefit to society and natural ecology; benefit to the client, visual appeal; and, appropriate aesthetics.
About Industrial Designers and IDSA
Industrial Designers create satisfied customers by designing products, interfaces and services that are desirable, accessible, comfortable, ecologically responsible, innovative, safe and easy to use. In this way, industrial designers have a quiet but profound presence in almost everything people encounter during their daily lives.
Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is the voice of industrial design committed to inspiring design quality and advancing the design profession through education, information, community and advocacy. Founded in 1965, IDSA is a professional membership organization with more than 2,300 members in 27 chapters in the U.S. and internationally.
About Crown Equipment Corporation
Crown is one of the world's largest lift truck manufacturers. Crown's award-winning line of lift trucks maintains a reputation for exceptional product design, engineering, and manufacturing. From the smallest hand pallet truck to the highest lifting turret truck, Crown seeks to provide users with safe, efficient and ergonomic lift trucks that lower total cost of ownership and maximize uptime. Headquartered in New Bremen, Ohio, Crown manufactures lift trucks that are sold throughout the world.
For more information, visit www.crown.com.
