Crown Marks 100+ Forklift Design Awards

Crown Equipment Corporation, one of the world’s largest material handling companies, has now earned more than 100 international industrial design awards for its forklifts since 1965.

“The 100-award milestone is humbling,” said Mike Gallagher, vice president of design, Crown Equipment. “We are honored some of the most prestigious design minds continue to recognize the work completed by our team. While the number 100 is easy to focus on, I really believe there are two other hard-to-quantify metrics that really matter to us. The first is the number of forklift operators who have benefitted from our designs whether it is ergonomically, safety, visibility or improved productivity, among others. The second is the number of Crown employees globally who have contributed to Crown design excellence tradition for more than 50 years. It’s a special group of people.”

The Wave, Crown’s Work Assist Vehicle, delivers significant savings through enhanced productivity, application versatility and safety.

The company reached the design excellence milestone with recent recognition from a couple of organizations. The Crown SC 6000 Series counterbalance forklift and Crown PTH Work Assist System both earned GOOD DESIGN Awards from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies. The competition’s jury honored the vehicles for high-quality design in the industrial category. This recognition marks the 15th GOOD DESIGN Award for Crown. The Crown WAV 60 Series won an award from the iF International Forum Design in the “Automobiles/Vehicles” category.

The Crown SC 6000 Series is equipped with a fully adjustable suspended seat for long-term operator comfort, even over long, punishing 8-hour shifts. It was also designed for frequent entry and exit with a low, anti-slip step height, and conveniently placed grip handles. The slim steer column features infinitely adjustable angle settings so that all operators can achieve a custom fit. Even the steer knob features a wear-resistant, cleanable surface with soft-grip inserts that provide day-long comfort.

Austrian company Gebrüder Weiss Transport & Logistik GmbH was one of the companies that field-tested the new Crown SC 6000 during the forklift’s development.

“The robust and durable Crown SC 6000 Series forklift impressed us, both with its functional and ergonomic design, and its reliable and productivity-enhancing technology,” said Werner Drnec, purchasing and operations manager at Gebrüder Weiss. “The four-wheel model is exceptionally versatile and offers great ease of use, impressive hydraulic performance, and superb all-round visibility—even when a cab is fitted.”

The Crown PTH 50 Series is a manual pallet truck capable of moving palletized loads up to 5,000 lbs. It is currently used in a wide variety of material handling environments. The Work Assist System expands its utility with useful storage features and a deployable work tray, thereby allowing operators to position paperwork, tools and boxes at comfortable working height so they bend over less frequently and maintain a faster pace during stock handling applications.

Whether they work indoors or out, the SC Series forklift provides a work environment that makes the operator’s life easier.

The Crown WAV 60 Series is designed with features to help achieve a greater level of safety, efficiency and flexibility for applications where ladders are typically used to access high places, such as those found in retail and manufacturing settings.

Better known as the Wave, the Crown Work Assist vehicle is ideal for workers receiving, shipping and stocking/shelving small loads and/or products in busy, confined spaces, as well as order picking and order fulfillment. It can travel and lift simultaneously so operators can move efficiently around a facility while raising and lowering to the appropriate heights in one smooth, seamless operation. The on-board operating system enables optimum performance and control through intelligent coordination of operator prompts, lift/lower operations, steering and braking, performance levels and other vehicle systems.