The honor adds to Crown’s impressive list of more than 50 product design awards, unmatched in the material handling industry. Over the last 16 years, Crown has received 14 IDEA awards from the IDSA. In the latest competition, co-sponsored by BusinessWeek, only 65 products earned a gold or silver IDEA from the nearly 1,500 entries.

IDEA Jury Chair Chris Conley, IDSA, co-founder and director of Chicago-based consulting firm, Gravity Tank, spoke highly of Crown, the TSP 6000 Series and all the award winners.

“With the rapid changes occurring in technology, commerce and society, it takes real leadership to define meaningful new products and services and deliver them to the market,” said Conley. “Consumers expect new products and services to not only serve their needs, but to delight them. The 2006 IDEA winners represent the best of global product design and the best people and firms working to realize design’s potential in everyday life.”

Crown set out to design a Turret Stockpicker that would enable operators to transport, store and pick palletized goods in very narrow-aisle (VNA) environments and better enhance cube utilization than any lift truck on the market.  Their groundbreaking design impressed the IDSA as well as customers.

“We’re obviously honored to be recognized by our peers in industrial design,” said Crown Vice President – Design Center Mike Gallagher. “We’re equally thrilled that our customers have found the design of the TSP 6000 to be so beneficial to their business. We set out to create a Turret Stockpicker that exceeded all existing standards for VNA trucks in the industry, and that’s exactly what our customers are telling us we’ve done.”

Crown’s industrial design core team visited 65 sites in North America and Europe to research the needs of lift truck operators, distribution center managers, third party logistics operations and backroom warehouse facilities. Designers learned that operator tasks have become unique, differing not only between customers, but also in the sequence of tasks between operators within a warehouse. Addressing this range of tasks in a single truck required unprecedented flexibility in its design.

“In VNA applications, flexibility means productivity,” said Crown Senior Marketing Product Manager Matt Ranly. “The three-point design of the TSP 6000 offers tight turning radiuses, yet it’s designed to perform a multitude of tasks throughout the warehouse including picking, transporting and staging.”

“From its ability to blend multiple task simultaneously, to the MoveControl™ seat that swivels to four different positions for optimum flexibility, to the Mono-Mast created to minimize twisting and swaying, everything about the TSP 6000 was created to enhance operator comfort, confidence and productivity,” said Mike Gallagher. “We’re proud the TSP 6000 is continuing the Crown legacy of innovative design that meets our customers’ needs for dependable lift trucks while enhancing their bottom line.”