There were once again major celebrations when the all-important words – “And the IFOY Award goes to…” were spoken at the beginning of CeMAT. The names of the winners of the “Intralogistics Oscars” are traditionally a well-kept secret, and even the winners are kept in the dark until the last minute. There were 13 trucks and solutions that reached the finals of the international “Intralogistics Oscars”:
In the end, BYD, Crown, Jungheinrich and SSI Schäfer won the prestigious IFOY Awards in five categories and were presented with the metal and glass trophies to the applause from the 350 guests.
In a tight finish, victory in the category “Counter Balanced Truck up to 3.5 tons” went to the 1.8-ton ECB 18C electric forklift from BYD. In the 80-volt lithium-ion stacker, the international jury selected a Chinese made-vehicle as the world’s best forklift truck of the year for the first time. The determining factor was the overall package offered by the European-type Chinese truck in combination with the value added by the battery technology. Its iron phosphate battery is a genuine USP.
It can be recharged extremely fast, as often as needed and without memory effect, which means it can handle three-shift duty without any problem.
All that needs to be done is to charge the forklift during the breaks.
Jungheinrich had twofold reason to celebrate. The winner in the category “Special Vehicle”, part of the IFOY Award for the first time in 2016, was the EJQ 325. The purposebuilt vehicle from Jungheinrich special build design department was developed for the Deutsche Bahn rail company to permit the loading and separation of the wheel sets for the ICE trains and the wheel set changer. The solution is made up of standard components and impressed the jury above all with its precision. This kind of combination is extremely sophisticated in technical terms and has never before been realised in this form in the segment of industrial trucks.
The Hamburg-based company won its second IFOY in the category “Warehouse Truck highlifter” with the Jungheinrich EKX 516, an 80-volt highlifter. The man-up truck lifts loads of up to 1,600 kg to heights of 17.5 metres. The jury named the high degree of innovation as the main reason for its choice.
The IFOY Award in the category “Warehouse Truck lowlifter” went to the newly developed Crown RT 4020 forklift truck with driver platform from Crown. This vehicle is designed for demanding applications and can lift up to two tons. The key factor in the decision of the jury was the outstanding productivity of the vehicle in the tightest of spaces. “The highpowered threephase drive system, the compact design and the intuitive and highly responsive control elements make the RT the perfect stacker for narrow and busy areas”, were the reasons given by the jury.
In a neck-and-neck finish, the IFOY in category “Intralogistics Solution” was won by SSI Schäfer. For the inplant logistics operations of the NextLevel Logistik GmbHcompany near Schweinfurt, the Swiss provider created a fleet solution complete with Weasel® driverless transport systems. Whether it be for containers, cartons, trays or other products of widely varying sizes up to a weight of 35kg – Weasel handles all the transport jobs between goods receipt, the workplaces and goods dispatch through to waste disposal. In contrast to conventional AGVs, it does without sophisticated sensor technology or complex control systems.
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