Tonight (Monday, February 23) the recipients of the Ninth Annual Product Design and Development Engineering Awards will be announced at an awards presentation at Chicago's Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel. The awards are sponsored by Product Design and Development magazine.

These awards recognize the best and the brightest in the engineering field and acknowledge design ideas that show the most innovation, creativity, and promise for improving our world. Readers of Product Design and Development, which is circulated nationally to 160,000 design engineers, served as the judges of the awards program. Selections were made from 50 finalists featured in the magazine's December issue. Voting was done through reader ballots, which were verified prior to tabulation.

Three awards will be given to the design teams that earned the most votes from readers. Kathy Quinlan, publisher of Product Design and Development, and Len Vermillion, managing editor, will present the awards during a reception in the Crystal Ballroom. The Gold Award is $2,500; the Silver, $1,500; and the Bronze, $1,000. In addition, a crystal globe a symbol of how engineering is improving our world - is given to each design team.

Last year, Herbst LaZar Bell Inc. won the top honors for its ZOLL AED Plus. The ZOLL AED Plus is an automatic external defibrillator with CPR and resuscitation guidance capability for use by the general public and law enforcement. It's engineered to be an easy-to-use lifesaving device for virtually anyone. Its design is meant to be non-intimidating and intuitive, looking more like a child's toy than a scary medical device. To operate the ZOLL AED Plus, the user follows simple voice/graphic prompts to assess the situation and perform CPR or defibrillation in case of cardiac arrest. The unit focuses on the American Heart Association's lifesaving protocol.

The Silver Award went to AK Coatings for its flat rolled stainless and carbon steels coated with AgION antimicrobial compound. The compound suppresses the growth of a variety of destructive microbes including bacteria, molds, and fungi. Antimicrobial-coated steel is suitable for a variety of applications from medical and food equipment to appliances and HVAC systems. The Bronze Award was presented to Medtronic Neurosurgery for its adjustable STRATA valve. The adjustable STRATA valve is an implantable hydrocephalus shunt component designed to provide controlled CSF flow from the ventricles of the brain to the peritoneal cavity in the treatment of hydrocephalus.

For further information regarding the awards program, contact Jennifer M. Cerruto, senior associate editor, Product Design and Development, at (973) 292-5100, ext. 526.SIDEBAR:

Are You In The Final Round?

Three companies will triumph and be awarded Product Design and Development's Engineering Awards tonight. Selected by the readers of Product Design and Development magazine, the winners will be chosen from the following 50 finalists. Dresser Instruments
Nymotion LLC
Plast-O-Matic Valves Inc.
ITT Industries, Cannon
Magnasphere Corp.
Parker Hannifin, Fluid Controls Div.
Beswick Engineering Inc.
Miller Fall Protection
Spring Health Products
Durel Corp.
Phoenix Contact Inc.
Control Technology Corp.
KVH Industries Inc.
Rockwell Automation
Haydon Switch & Instrument
InterlinkBT LLC
Hoffman
Hach Co.
Kollmorgen, Danaher Motion
Flowserve Corp., Flow Solutions Div.
Diebold Inc.
Devcon
Datakey Electronics Inc.
Pentadyne Power Corp.
BEI Duncan Electronics, Div. BEI Technologies Inc.
Tyco Electronics Power Components/Raychem Circuit Protection Group
Nexen Group Inc.
Reactive Metals
Colder Products Co.
Swimming Technology Research
Henkel Loctite Corp.
TruSeal Technologies Inc.
Keen Mobility
Kerk Motion Products/Deltec Inc.
Turck Inc.
Bunting Magnetics Co.
ThinGap Motor Technologies
Banner Engineering
Exair Corp.
SolidWorks Corp.
Norgren
Trombetta Motion Technologies
Animatics Corp.
De-Sta-Co Industries
Micro Motors Inc.
Moen Inc.
Tyco Electronics Power Components/Coev Magnetics Group
Parker Hannifin Corp.
Lumberg Inc.
Ironwood Electronics Inc.