TOKYO – Toshiba Group clinched two awards at Japan’s Good Design Award 2021, the annual awards sponsored by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion to honor good design and product quality. The award-winning products are the traction energy storage system for railway with SCiB and the HAORI inverter air conditioner. The product submissions were joint entries by Toshiba Corporation and Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corporation, and Toshiba and Toshiba Carrier Corporation, respectively.
The same products also secured distinctions at the iF Design Award earlier this year. Toshiba Group’s recognition in both prestigious product design awards reaffirms the Group’s commitment to high quality and excellent standards in user-centric designs.
Comments from the Good Design Jury on Toshiba’s winning products:
1. Traction energy storage system for railway with SCiB – joint application by Toshiba and TISS
This regenerative power storage system for railways, the interface for important social infrastructure invisible to the general public, was created through collaboration between engineers and designers, and engages with new issues for B2B products and services. At a time when hiring young engineers is becoming difficult, and the number of skilled engineers working in the field is decreasing, the developers listened closely to opinions from the workplace, and are to be commended for advocating the importance of creating an interface that even inexperienced engineers will find easy to use.
2. HAORI inverter air conditioner – joint application by Toshiba and TCC
To realize air-conditioners that complement interior spaces, the body and the cover were separated, and the structure of the housing reconsidered. The finish is simple, with a fabric cover that can be changed to coordinate with the room. In addition, full consideration was paid to the appearance of the flaps after operation, a source of noise other than the cover. We evaluated this proposal of a new way to combine equipment with fabric and make it part of the interior.
