The best designers of the red dot design award 2007: Urs Benninger, Reto Baumgartner and Thomas Hefti

The Swiss company Thommen Medical AG and the Zürcher Hochschule Winterthur together received the red dot: best of the best from this year’s red dot award: product design awards for their SPI MONO torque ratchet. This singular, patent-pending development demonstrates the growing significance of design in medical technology and the successful cross-industry use of new materials and technologies. We talked to the designers Urs Benninger, Reto Baumgartner and Thomas Hefti.

What inspired you to create this special product and what was your intention behind it?

We wanted to simplify the proper cleaning procedure of this type of medical instrument for users so that these can do without the laborious disassembly and reassembly.

What does being awarded the red dot: best of the best mean to you?

It’s a great honour and joy to have received this distinction. It motivates us to continue developing high-quality products that are convincing in terms of function and design.

What particular challenges do you think designers are facing in this day and age?

Fulfilling expectations for technical functions as well as for easy and intuitive handling – the whole with of a form that speaks to the eye and the heart of users.

As a designer, what would you still like to accomplish in the future?

To continue developing products that facilitate the daily work of users and that serve the well-being of patients.

What do you think is the economic significance of design?

Given the great quantity of competitors, players can only distinguish themselves through their own design. For that reason, the economic significance of good design is continually growing.

Spi Mono: To the point – the interpretation of precision

The SPI®MONO torque ratchet is an instrument for use in the surgical and prosthetic fields, during dental implant surgery. Its design combines a new approach with a logical language of form. The most important feature is its construction: in contrast to similar torque ratchets, which are comprised of a number of sub-components, this ratchet is manufactured as a onepiece instrument. It does not have to be disassembled for cleaning and maintenance and then re-assembled – preventing the possibility of malfunction due to incorrect re-assembly and of losing sub-parts. The torque ratchet is made from a high-strength titanium alloy used also in the aerospace industry. The alloy undergoes a special surface treatment that makes the torque ratchet resistant to corrosion by disinfectant solutions, and thus ensures durability and a long service life. With its sophisticated ergonomic design and its very light weight, this torque ratchet sits naturally in the hand and offers both good grip and comfortable handling for daily use in surgery. Its language of form imparts a high degree of functionality, thus giving this kind of a medical instrument a new, very clear and high-precision appearance.