Crown Equipment Corp has won a 2004 silver Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA) for its PE 4000 Series end-control pallet truck.
The electric walkie and rider pallet truck entered the market in June, 2003 at a suggested price range of USD7,800-USD8,800. Its functions include order picking, high-speed transportation and loading and unloading trailers of palletised goods in warehouses.
Members of the PE 4000 design team became warehouse employees and used rider pallet trucks in a commercial warehouse to research operator needs, Crown said.
First-hand experience enabled the designers to better understand the various elements influencing truck comfort, performance and usefulness.
Tough, moulded rubber covers replaced short-life foam rubber covers, enhancing comfort and reducing the impact of contact with power unit covers.
The Industrial Designers Society of America of Dulles, VA, USA, and BusinessWeek magazine co-sponsored the IDEA competition, which drew 1,294 entries from 15 countries.
Crown won a gold IDEA last year for the design of its FC 4000 four-wheel sit-down counterbalanced electric truck.