Outstanding design quality - microScan3 emerges victorious in the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2016

SICK’s microScan3 has received the Red Dot Award, the international accolade recognizing outstanding design quality. A total of approximately 5,200 products and innovations from some 57 countries were submitted and assessed by a jury. This coveted seal of quality is awarded to those products whose exceptional approach to design makes them stand out from the rest. It was SICK’s safety laser scanner that led to the company emerging victorious in the Product Design category.

“The microScan3’s standout features are not only its clear distinction between functional areas and the control panel, but also its clearly arranged design”, said the Red Dot jury. These factors are what give the product its intuitive user handling and combination of design and function. The award looks at three different disciplines in order to recognize the variety of approaches that are taken to design and assess them as appropriate: Product Design, Communication Design, and Design Concept.

microScan3 safety laser scanner

The microScan3 safety laser scanner provides reliable protection for hazardous areas. The innovative safeHDDM™ scan technology combines a compact design and a wide sensing range in one device. Even in dusty environments and with ambient light, it is extremely reliable. Thanks to standardized interfaces, its smart connectivity saves costs during cabling. Using the Safety Designer software, the microScan3 can be intuitively configured and is convenient to commission. It also indicates its operational status clearly via the multicolored display.

Red Dot Design Award

Involving 41 experts from across the world, the Red Dot Award: Product Design assures professional assessment with input drawn from freelance designers, professors of design, and specialist journalists. Working on location, the independent jury of experts takes a strict but fair approach to assessing every single entry on the basis of criteria such as degree of innovation, formal quality, functionality, and ecological compatibility. According to Professor Dr. Peter Zec, initiator and CEO of the Red Dot Award: “Through their achievements, the Red Dot winners not only prove their ability to produce an outstanding level of design quality, but also demonstrate that design is an integral part of innovative product solutions.”

More than 17,000 products and innovations were submitted in 2015 alone, making this competition one of the biggest in the world. In addition to the accolade itself, which will be awarded on July 4, 2016 in Essen, Germany, the winners will be given the right to show the Red Dot on their products as a seal of quality.

The winning products will go on display together in a four-week special exhibition, “Design on Stage”, at the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen, before becoming part of the permanent exhibits.

SICK is one of the world’s leading producers of sensors and sensor solutions for industrial applications. Founded in 1946 by Dr.-Ing. e. h. Erwin Sick, the company with headquarters in Waldkirch im Breisgau near Freiburg ranks among the technological market leaders. With more than 50 subsidiaries and equity investments as well as numerous agencies, SICK maintains a presence around the globe. In the fiscal year 2015, SICK had more than 7,400 employees worldwide and achieved Group sales of just under EUR 1.3 billion.