Why Design Matters

Clauss AirShoc Lawn & Garden Line

The Clauss AirShoc Lawn & Garden Line Wins 6 GOOD DESIGN Awards.

Design is joy.
Design is engaging.
Design is passion.
Design is cool. (not in the cold sense of the word)
Design makes products sell.

Yesterday, Acme United Corporation (ACU – $9.52) announced that it won six GOOD DESIGN awards for its Clauss AirShoc line of garden products.

GOOD DESIGN is an award from the Chicago Athenaeum, Museum of Architecture and Design and is one of the oldest and most important design competitions worldwide. This year the Museum received more than 500 submissions from 36 countries. It’s extremely unusual that an entire product family wins 6 awards at once and is in fact the first time this happens to my knowledge.

The AirShoc Line

The Company spent over 3 years researching, designing, developing, manufacturing and improving the new AirShoc line with impressive results.

The loppers, hedge shears, branch saws, grass and garden shears have Titanium-Bonded Non-Stick blades which prevent saps and adhesives from sticking to the blades. The product family features Microban antibacterial treated blades and grips to protect the user as well as the plants themselves. The AirShoc grips are engineered to reduce the impact and fatigue of cutting through branches, etc.

Finally, the AirShoc line features break-through “Tool-Less Blade Change” allowing the user to change from a bypass blade to an anvil blade to a snip in seconds. The Tool-Less Blade Change technology also makes sharpening and clean up a simple process.

GOOD DESIGN Matters

Acme United’s iPoint battery powered pencil sharpener won a GOOD DESIGN award back in 2006. In 2010, its successor, the iPoint Evolution did the same thing. The Company expects to sell about $10 million worth of iPoints… this year alone.

Conclusion

In order to sell a product, it used to be sufficient that it worked well. In 2010, consumers have an almost endless choice of impeccable working products. As a result, Companies need to go that extra mile to manufacture outstanding items that have additional features and a fabulous design.

A product doesn’t sell because it wins a GOOD DESIGN award, it sells because it HAS a good design.

The AirShoc garden tools are now in full production. Orders are being received with initial shipments beginning in the first quarter of 2011.

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1. I like Acme United because it’s fundamentally sound with over $63 million dollars in sales and $2.5 million dollars in earnings in 2010. At the same time I expect the Company to grow substantially over the next few years as it’s bringing incomparable (really!) cutting products to the market. Download your copy of the latest Company Report.
2. Global Green Solutions Inc. is developing Greensteam; a commercial-stage, high-efficiency combustion system that generates industrial steam and electrical power from waste biomass. Read our latest updates on Global Green Solutions.
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