Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has selected 14 of the company's most notable technological advances or achievements of the past year and designated them to receive its "Best Innovation 2011" award. The list of recipients includes a 1,600 degrees Celsius class gas turbine boasting the world's highest power output and efficiency, and a forklift with a specially developed radiation-shielded cabin for handling contaminated debris resulting from the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.

The "Best Innovation" program is carried out in-company to recognize outstandingly creative new products, technologies or business operations of the previous year. Awards are presented in four categories: "Best New Product Award," "Best New Business Process Award," "Special Award for Best New Technology" and "Special Award for Best Company Image Enhancer." This year 15 candidates for the award were proposed by MHI's own departments and Group companies, and the final selection was made based on criteria including degree of innovative invention, scale of business operation, level of technological advancement and scope of image enhancement.

Five new products were cited for the "Best New Product Award," which is bestowed on new products demonstrating MHI's superlative technological capabilities; among the recipients is a heat-pump water heater enabling usage in ambient temperatures down to -25 degrees Celsius. The "Best New Business Process Award," which recognizes new processes that contribute to improvements in productivity or operational efficiency, was likewise bestowed on four recipients, including improvements to support on-site installation by the customer of the company's gas turbines for use in commercial power generation. The "Special Award for Best New Technology," given in recognition of globally unprecedented technological innovations, was awarded to three recipients; these included a newly developed special technology for measuring the world's most efficient gas turbines. The "Special Award for Best Company Image Enhancer," which cites major contributions to enhancing MHI's technological status or corporate image, was granted to two recipients, including a forklift with a radiation-shielded cabin; two units of this specially developed forklift played active roles in restoration work at the Fukushima nuclear power plant after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The List of "Best Innovation 2011" award

"Best New Product Award"
• M501J Gas Turbine
• Pressurized Container Nozzle Repair Work
• CO2 Capture Plant for Coal-fired Electric Power Station
• "Q-ton ESA30" CO2 Heat-pump Water Heater for Commercial Use
• "ZE15/24B" Gear Grinding Machines

"Best New Business Process Award"
• Production Lead Time Reduction in the Impeller Factory through Profit-planning and Value-chain Based IT
• Improved Support of On-site Installation by the Customer of "DIAMOND SET" Gas Turbines for Commercial Power Generation
• Traffic System Product Operation and Maintenance Business in the U.S.
• Resident Engineer System and Proposal Services for Large-scale Machine Tools Business

"Special Award for Best New Technology"
• Mercury Removal System by NH4CL Injection
• Development of the World's Most Efficient Gas Turbine Measurement Technology (Patented) through Application of State-of-the-Art Technology
• World's First High-precision Non-destructive Inspection Technology for Power Generation Plants

"Special Award for Best Company Image Enhancer"
• RIKEN/HARIMA X-ray Free Electron Laser Facility (SACLA)
• Forklift with Radiation-shielded Cabin

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