FSW Design Limited have won an award at this years Plastics Industry Awards for Best Industrial Product design, our 3rd award and 5th time nominated!

At the event at the London Hilton Hotel, Philip Forrest Smith collected the award from TV star Dara O’Brian for Best Industrial Product Design. The product, a revolutionary blow moulded ballast board for the rail industry, was designed for Trojan Services Ltd and looks to replace the current offering constructed from concrete.

Trojan Services Limited (TSL) specialise in marketing innovative products for the rail industry and other civil engineering applications. TSL commissioned FSW Design Limited to work on a specific problem they had identified.  Currently 1.8 metre long concrete ballast boards retain ballast, which is used at the side of a railway line.  These are held in place by steel posts, which are either piled or set into concrete foundations.  The ballast boards are exceptionally heavy and consequently very difficult for contractors to manoeuvre into position and install.  TSL set FSW Design the challenge of designing a unique ballast board, which would be lightweight, simple to transport and install, but still meet the rail industries functional criteria.

The key objective of the design development programme was to identify suitable materials and manufacturing processes.  It was important that the finished product could be made in appropriate volumes to meet the demands of the market and at a price that was competitive with existing concrete boards.

After detailed research and drawing on knowledge from previous projects, blow moulding was identified as an appropriate route for manufacture. Because blow moulding is a low-pressure process we were able to produce inherently durable components with limited in built stresses created by the manufacturing process. We, also, were able to repeatedly produce a double skinned moulding which had numerous kiss off faces linking the inner and outer skins to increase strength and rigidity.

The final product is a completely unique ballast board system branded TroBord and manufactured in recycled HDPE. It is lightweight and can be produced competitively at high volume. Each board has interlocking features so that one board can be connected to the next creating a rigid structure. The board is flexible in design so that it can use existing fixings or be specified with extruded composite polypropylene wood fibre posts. The product is fully recyclable and has the environmental benefit of replacing large volumes of concrete. TroBord has proved a huge success with the rail industry and solves the current health and safety issues created by concrete ballast boards.

FSW are pleased to announce that they have won Design Week’s Industrial Product Design Award for the second year running.

Attending a black tie event at London’s Hilton Hotel, FSW’s Philip Forrest-Smith and Scott Bennett collected the award, beating Seymour Powell to the post in front of major design practices such as Apple Inc, Virgin Atlantic, Seymour Powel and Fitch.

FSW collected the award for their design and development of the Razor Deck product for the construction market.

FSW wanted to design a product that would meet the gap in the construction market for a lightweight, self-erecting platform. Razor deck had to fold down as compactly as possible, needed to avoid using detachable parts to prevent components being lost when in use, and it had to be possible for a single user to deploy the system.

Following our recent success at the Design Week Awards 2008 and the Plastics Industry Awards, the Razor Deck Self Erecting Tower has been specifically selected for the Prize of Prizes!

The Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany is the highest official design award given in Germany. It is awarded by the Federal Minister for Economics and Technology and organised by the German Design Council.

It is not possible to submit an entry for the Design Award. Instead, products must be nominated either by the Ministries or Senators of the Federal States or by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Moreover, the products must already have won a national or internal award. thus, the Design Award is known as the Prize of Prizes.

FSW scooped their second Design Award of the Year at the Plastics Industry Awards with their design for the Power Pod – a transformer for power tools. Beating off competition from Kinneir Dufort Design, London Associates, Product Partners and Satherley Design Associates.

The Power Pod was described by the judges as a “visually appropriate design, completely right for its intended use”. They also said it had a “good rugged look, materials and shape with good styling”.

Partner, Philip Forrest-Smith collected the award at the London Hilton. Philip commented “At FSW we pride ourselves on our level of technical knowledge, so its great to receive an award that has been judged by a panel of specialists from the Plastics Industry”.