For yarn testing instruments, function comes first. And USTER TESTER 6 fulfills this priority in every way, through comprehensive, precise and fast measurement capabilities. But then – perhaps akin to an individual looking to buy a new car – factors such as shape, color and brand image can also come into play for the textile mill customer.

Unique instrument, unique look

The USTER® TESTER 6 is the pulse of a new generation in yarn testing. The high accuracy and reliability of its measurements are crucial in assuring the commercial value of spinners’ products. This sixth generation of the USTER TESTER incorporates the USTER QUALITY EXPERT, an essential tool for quality management, creating the brand-new Total Testing Center. Accurate laboratory test results from the USTER® TESTER 6 are the starting point for Total Testing. This data is combined with real-time information from yarn clearers monitoring 100% of mill production.

The underlying principles of precision and reliability in its operation are also reflected in the quality materials and high standards of manufacturing applied in its construction. An important element of USTER’s product development strategy focuses on creating a unique and distinctive style. Specifically, this means instruments and components are deliberately designed to incorporate special shapes and profiles that are unique. This policy has been in place since at least 1987, when the USTER TESTER 3 became the first instrument to feature a distinct ‘rounded’ appearance. It continued with the curved front section of the USTER® TESTER 5, establishing a clearly-recognizable look which sets the USTER® evenness testers apart from others.

“Functionality, reliability, accuracy and user-friendliness have always been the top priorities in USTER product development, and this approach continues now and in future. However, we also admit that it’s our ambition to manufacture the best-looking instruments too,” says Gabriela Peters, Product Manager Yarn Testing within Uster Technologies.

What customers want

Just as with a new car, mill managements are proud of their purchases in yarn testing instruments: there is always an emotional element in the choices they make. Laboratories worldwide feel the satisfaction that USTER TESTER 6 confirms their status in the industry, as a major player for whom quality is paramount.

In fact, elegant design has been integrated into USTER product developments for decades. The brief is to combine aesthetics with user-friendly ergonomics, so that creations – however stylized – will never detract from the primary needs of functionality and usability. Now, that style commitment has been formally acknowledged with the Red Dot Award 2016 for industrial design. But USTER customers will already recognize the same style concepts in products such as the USTER QUANTUM yarn clearer.

Excellence has its reward

Only products which stand out strongly for their design excellence can earn the sought-after quality seal from the international Red Dot jury, inaugurated in 1955. For the 2016 awards a total of 5,214 products and innovations entered from 57 countries. Professor Dr. Peter Zec, founder and president of the Red Dot Award, says: “With their performances, the Red Dot winners not only demonstrated an extraordinary design quality, but they also showed that design is an integral part of innovative product solutions.”

The Red Dot product design competition this year saw 41 experts from all over the globe gathering in Germany at the end of February. The jury members included ICE and Transrapid designer Alexander Neumeister, fashion icon Jimmy Choo and automotive design legend Chris Bangle. During the jury session all entries were examined on site.

Products were registered in 31 categories: from consumer electronics, furniture, jewelry or watches to interior decorations and lab technology. Global brands such as Google, Apple, Sony, LG, Philips, Kartell or Artemide regularly submit entries, but 2016 was the first time that USTER has put forward a product for consideration.

Night of honors

A glamorous award ceremony and after-show party will be held on July 4, 2016, with 1,200 guests expected to see the winners receive their certificates. Their products will also be exhibited in the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen (Germany).

Winners of the Red Dot Design Award 2016 will also be set down for posterity in the Red Dot Design Yearbook 2016/2017. In this publication, the USTER TESTER 6 is described as follows: “Gloss and matt chrome finishes together with black components reflect the technical dimensions of the tester.”

Says Peters: “We are proud to be a winner of the Red Dot Design Award 2016 but it will always make us even more proud when customers report how the USTER TESTER 6 has helped to sustain their business success thanks to the Total Testing Center and other innovative features. Positive feedback of this kind is the best award USTER could ever receive.”

About the Red Dot Design Award:

In order to cover the wide scope of design in a professional manner, the Red Dot Design Award is broken down into three distinct disciplines: the Red Dot Award, Product Design; Red Dot Award, Communication Design; and Red Dot Award, Design Concept. The Red Dot Award is organised by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany. With more than 17,000 entries in 2015 alone, it is one of the largest competitions in the world. It was in 1955 that a jury convened for the first time to assess the best designs of the day. The name and branding of the awards were developed in the 1990s by Red Dot CEO, Professor Dr. Peter Zec. Since then the sought-after “Red Dot” is the revered international seal of outstanding design quality.