A well-known ergonomist says the Crown side-stance feature rates as one of the landmarks in industrial vehicle design.

Authoring a story for the Industrial Vehicle Technology International (IVT) September issue, Steven M. Casey, Ph.D., praises Crown design and engineering in an article, entitled, “Style Counsel”.

The story features photography on Crown products like the RR 5200 Series, SP Series 3000, SC Series 4000 and the Wave. Casey views the Crown RR development as “one of the landmarks” in industrial vehicle design.

Casey says a “stellar example of designer-based innovation was the development of the side-stance electric forklift by Crown in the 1970s.

“ Up until this time all such stand-up trucks were designed with the operator facing the back of the load resting on the forks. This configuration made driving backward (away from the forks) problematic, and the view forward was often blocked by the load.

The author cites the Crown reach truck as one of many ways designers and engineers ‘think outside the box’ to create new products or better solutions.

As president of Ergonomic Systems Design, Inc., based in Santa Barbara, California, Casey and his team focuses on human factors research and design consulting.

A certified professional ergonomist, Casey also is a Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and has more than 20 years of experience in the analysis, design and evaluation of material handling equipment, facilities and work processes.

IVT provides news-driven coverage of the industrial vehicle market and examines the design and engineering of all vehicle classes.

(Sidebar)

Webster’s Definition

Ergonomics: an applied science concerned with the characteristics of people that need to be considered in designing and arranging things that they use in order that people and things interact most effectively and safely – called also human engineering.

“ Why not, industrial designers asked, orient the operator in a side-stance outboard of the truck centerline so that both directions of travel are within a convenient field of view? The idea was pursued and refined, and the side-stance design has since become an industry standard.”