Prince Philip award to Chch entry

Press, 25 February 1986, Page 6

Prince Philip award to Chch entry

A Christchurch firm, Tait Electronics, Ltd, won the prestigious Prince Philip design award for its mobile two-way radio at a ceremony in Auckland yesterday.

The T5OO series radio won the award ahead of five other finalists, including three others from Christchurch.

Prince Philip presented the award and said that the quality of the finalists’ products compared favourably with those in a similar British competition held recently.

“If these are a fair reflection of the quality of industrial design in New Zealand I can say it is good news for New Zealand industry, the export trade and very good news for the national economy,” he said. Simplicity of design, low cost and export potential put the radio ahead of the other finalists.

The radio was designed for 70 per cent of the world’s market and earned $ll million in exports in the last year. Mr Ray Vickers had led a team of 20 since 1982 to design the radio. Breaking new technological ground and finding appropriate staff caused problems, he said. The design stages were “hard going” at times because resources had to be devoted to other projects running at the same time. The managing director of Tait Electronics, Mr Angus Tait, said the award was recognition for the big investment of money and people in the project and a coup for Christchurch manufacturing.

“This sort of thing makes people realise that a substantial chunk of manufacturing is based in Christchurch,” he said.

While the cost was kept

down by semi-automation in the factory, the firm had built up a staff of about 500 since being established in 1969, said Mr Tait.

The Prince Philip Award was instituted by the New Zealand Design Council in 1981 to recognise and promote outstanding design. Since presenting the original award on his last visit, Prince Philip has taken a keen interest in the annual lineup of finalists and confirmed the judges’ decision yesterday.

The three other Christchurch finalists were a wool-drying control unit made by G. W. Streat, Ltd, a range of electrical switches and plugs for the British market made by P.D.L. Industries Ltd, and a range of optical-fibre communications cables manufactured by Austral Standard Cables Pty, Ltd.