Toyota Material Handling has received a German Design Award 2018 for one of its R-Series reach trucks.
The BT Reflex vehicle was commended by the German Design Council panel for its clean and functional design, achieving the top award in the Excellent Product Design category.
The panel of the prestigious awards consists of an international jury, whose aim is to reward unique designs that provide added value.
“For me, designing forklifts is about placing the human being at the center. Our challenge in this is expressing good ergonomics in the actual design, so that the driver experiences it to the fullest,” said Magnus Oliveira Andersson, head of design at Toyota Material Handling Europe, who has been continuously improving the product since 1995.
The BT Reflex reach truck has a long history, and was first equipped with a simple interior. Following the rise of the philosophy in the 70s and 80s to respond to customer needs across different industries and design products with the user in mind, the updated design from BT was focused on the comfort of the driver. This led to the first iF design award for outstanding ergonomics in 1982 for the BT1350E reach truck.
Over the years, the models have been improved according to the Toyota value Kaizen (continuous improvement).
October 27, 2017
