Club Car: Precedent™ Golf Car

Sundberg-Ferar assisted Ingersoll Rand’s Club Car division with the design of an entirely new flagship golf car: the Precedent™. The challenge was to re-invigorate golf car sales by enhancing the vehicle’s aesthetic design and functional features.

Sundberg-Ferar conducted robust observational research to fuel the creative process and ultimately developed a golf car design that is visually distinctive, great to operate, and supports Club Car’s premium price point. Patented innovations include the Monsoon™ canopy, which collects rainwater and funnels it down the upright supports and out the underside of the car, helping golfers stay dry.

Ames True Temper: Pruning Tools

Sundberg-Ferar helped Ames True Temper design a line of innovative pruning tools that include the hand pruners shown here. S-F’s research revealed opportunities to improve the ergonomics of the grips while at the same time creating a unique visual element (the “finger ring”) that distinguishes these premium pruners at the point of purchase. Men’s and women’s versions were designed to optimize comfort, addressing differences in hand and finger size.

Calphalon: Kitchen Utensils

Facing competitive pressure that threatened placement at major retailers, Newell-Rubbermaid’s Calphalon brand selected Sundberg-Ferar to revamp the design of their kitchen utensils. S-F leveraged its deep knowledge of the kitchen environment and user-needs to design a line of products that combines evocative forms and materials, with a contemporary color palette. This suite of utensils has maintained a significant retail presence for over 5 years.

Carrier Corporation: edge™ Thermostat Line

Sundberg-Ferar worked with United Technology Corporation’s Carrier brand to develop a groundbreaking line of programmable thermostats. This innovative design addresses consumer and trade professionals desire for simplicity by rethinking the graphic user interface (GUI), making it easier to use than any comparable device. The edge™ is also thinner, with an iconic style that can be customized to match residential design themes.

Casabella: eclipse™ Cleaning Tools

Casabella, a manufacturer of premium home cleaning products, asked Sundberg-Ferar to develop a line of environmentally friendly cleaning tools. The result was eclipse™, combining improved functionality with dramatic styling and cradle-to-grave sustainability.

S-F conducted extensive consumer research to understand perceptions about “green products”. These findings led S-F to design a line of products that are made from recycled soda bottles (giving them their distinctive green color). eclipse™ is also designed to be long-lasting, require fewer chemicals for cleaning, is 100% curb-side recyclable, and is made in the U.S.A.

Alsons: In2ition® Showerheads

Sundberg-Ferar worked with Masco Corporation’s Alsons brand to develop a combination hand-held/fixed showerhead design. Alsons had access to a patent for a combination showerhead, but had been unable to identify the right styling to generate interest with top retailers. S-F created an original design that won placement at Home Depot, and then assisted in the design and engineering of a family of differentiated In2ition® products.

Sears Kenmore and Kenmore Elite Visual Brand Language

Working with both Sears and Electrolux design staffs, Sundberg-Ferar helped design and prototype an all-new Visual Brand Language for both the Kenmore and Kenmore Elite lines of major appliances

This effort included the development of new graphics and signature brand details to address all the major product categories for Sears.

Chrysler Corporation: Graphical User Interface Design

Sundberg-Ferar assists Chrysler Corporation with the development of their automotive touch screen interfaces. Working closely with Chrysler’s design staff, S-F GUI designers create interfaces that are intuitive to use, and can be applied across many vehicle platforms. Graphic solutions support the brand personality and styling theme of each vehicle.

Blitz U.S.A.: Genesis Product Strategy: Blitz Box

Blitz U.S.A. has been the industry leader in gas cans for over 20 years. Blitz asked Sundberg-Ferar to identify market opportunities beyond its current business, to leverage manufacturing capacity and grow its bottom line.

S-F deployed its Genesis process to identify “high opportunity” categories to grow Blitz’s business. The resulting product strategy identified unmet needs in new categories, which S-F designers populated with new-to-the-world product solutions, including the Blitz BOX. The Blitz BOX is a unique storage product offering organization, mobility, and convenience on the go; from the garage, to the workshop, to dorm rooms, and vehicles. The Blitz BOX can be wall mounted for space-saving storage.

Schlage: AD-Series Electronic Locks

The Schlage Division of Ingersoll Rand asked Sundberg-Ferar to assist with the design and engineering implementation of their new premium family of electronic locksets. Schlage’s vision was to develop an adaptable, scalable, and networkable set of locks for commercial environments. S-F’s challenge was to satisfy the aesthetic and technical requirements of the numerous stakeholders in the purchase and ownership chain, both today and in the future.

The result is a series of components that can be mixed, matched or upgraded to take advantage of a wide variety of electronic access technologies, all the while maintaining a consistent and attractive visual brand language.

Stryker: InTouch™ Critical Care Bed

Stryker asked Sundberg-Ferar to help them set a new standard for the appearance and fit & finish for the high acuity hospital bed market. Stryker had developed multiple new state of the art technologies that needed to be tastefully integrated into the new bed. Additionally, S-F needed to consider current and emerging hospital style trends, and reconcile the hospital staff’s need for efficiency with the patient’s need for emotional and physical comfort.

Overall, the new athletic styling, integration of new technologies and the world class fit and finish have driven tangible market distinction. Results include a prestigious 2008 Medical Design Excellence Award and extraordinary sales growth in a tough competitive market.

The Faucet Queens: Latitude Hand Tools

The Faucet Queens asked Sundberg-Ferar to develop a line of hand tools for women, seeing an opportunity in the retail channels they served. Sundberg-Ferar conducted research with women utilizing focus groups and in-home observation. In order to make traditional tools work, we observed that women had developed multiple compensatory behaviors, like choking-up on a hammer, or pounding a nail with the butt end of a screwdriver.

Observations like these led us to develop a set of tools with the right fit, feel and combined functionality for women.

NuStep: T5XR Recumbent Cross Trainer

NuStep, a leader in physical therapy solutions for cardiac rehab clinics and wellness centers, asked Sundberg-Ferar to help them develop an aesthetically and functionally unique design for a new generation recumbent cross trainer. S-F’s involvement included turn-key industrial design and engineering of all visible components as well as the design of the graphical user interface (GUI).

S-F worked closely with the technical and marketing teams at NuStep to develop an appearance and feature set that was uniquely differentiated from the competition and was flexible enough to adapt to multiple models and trim levels. In 2009, the T5XR won a prestigious Medical Design Excellence Award.

Masco Cabinetry: Merillat CoreGuard™ Sink Base Cabinet

Sundberg-Ferar conducted a Genesis™ strategic innovation exercise to identify new product opportunities in the kitchen cabinet category. CoreGuard™ was one of the concepts to emerge from this exercise and is the first of many concepts slated to go into production.

As a result of extensive research, we observed that a significant number of U.S. homes had water damage in the under-sink cabinet. S-F encouraged the Merillat brand to go to market with a water resistant sink base cabinet. Bucking traditional wisdom and manufacturing paradigms, S-F and Merillat together created an entirely new cabinet construction methodology. The CoreGuard™ product has given Masco Cabinetry a first-mover advantage with a unique and patented technology that solves a critical market need in a highly competitive category.

Liberty Hardware: Bathroom Safety Products

Liberty Hardware, a Masco Division, asked Sundberg-Ferar to re-invigorate its line of bathroom safety products by innovating new functional and aesthetic solutions to allow individuals to lead extended lives at home, without the need for personal caregivers.

The Transfer Bench and Shower Seat products exemplify the essence of the new Bath Safety line, communicating confidence, independence, and safety without appearing clinical or geriatric. Features include intuitive operation, hand-holds with tactile surfaces, and flexibility for use in showers and bathtubs.