Pantera DI6400, the new down-the-hole (DTH) percussive drill platform from Sandvik Mining, won over a 40-member expert jury to earn top honours in the 2014 Red Dot Award product design category. Pantera charmed a panel of design experts to win the coveted Best of the Best award over thousands of international products in one of the world’s largest and most renowned product competitions. The Pantera is also a nomination for the 2014 International Mining Technology Hall of Fame inductions (www.im-halloffame.com).
Pantera was built to set new industry standards in technology and design and deliver mine operators increased drilling capacity, lower fuel consumption and improved safety. Featuring a distinctive new-look design, the drill range has been developed to take advantage of mining industry trends toward fully autonomous operation.
The Red Dot Award: Product Design is an internationally-recognized quality label for outstanding design achievement and one of the world’s most sought-after seals of design quality.
“This award symbolises our creativity, hard work and innovative spirit,” said Jan Petzold, Vice President of PA UG Drilling at Sandvik Mining. “We’re all so proud that Pantera has received this globally-recognised mark of industrial design quality and we are delighted that it’s getting the recognition it deserves.”
All Red Dot products are evaluated according to the highest standards and judged on the following criteria: Degree of Innovation, Functionality, Ergonomics, Durability, Self-explanatory Quality and Ecological Compatibility.
“The 40 experts assessed the quality of the entries with the utmost care and attention,” said Dr. Peter Zec, initiator and CEO of Red Dot. “Due to their backgrounds, they also assessed the special cultural aspects of the designs from 53 countries. But only the best products receive an award from the jury.”
“We are honoured to be acknowledged by the esteemed panel of judges,” said Markus Reinikka, Design Engineering Manager at Sandvik Mining and project leader for Pantera. “All of us in the design team are proud to be recognised as we are constantly renewing our design approach. This award is more validation of the progress that our company has made over the past few years, development we are extremely confident will continue.”
