With the slogan “A History of the Future” the Hamburg intralogistics company STILL celebrates their 100th anniversary this year. Flashback: On the 1st February, 1920, Hans Still opens his repair shop for electric motors – it is the beginning of a century long success story of inventive talent, customer focus and service orientation.

Founder Hans Still uses the growing understanding for the challenge of his customers to develop his own products – such as the “Matador light station”.

Over the past 100 years STILL has time and again shown an acute perception of the current requirements and challenges of their customers, influenced the industry with their innovative power and courageously set out on the path towards future-oriented business fields.

Only a few years after being founded as a repair workshop for electric motors, STILL presents their own products, such as the “Matador light station”, at the Leipzig Fair in 1924. The development and repair of electric motors, generators and transformers remains the core business for many years. After the end of the Second World War STILL introduces an innovative electric truck – the EK 2000 – and thus achieves the breakthrough as a manufacturer of industrial trucks. This is followed by the first forklift truck made by STILL. The EGS 1000 electric forklift truck marks the beginning of a new era.

The electric truck opens up new fields of application wherever zero emissions and energy efficiency are a priority. The passion for efficient electric motors has an effect right up to the development of IC engine powered trucks. From the very beginning, the drive concept of IC engine trucks is diesel-electric. The low engine speed enables fuel-efficient operation.

The introduction of the first electric forklift truck in 1949, the use of fuel cells or lithium-ion technology are only some of the milestones which establish STILL as the partner for successful intralogistics solutions based on electric power. When the new RX 60-20/35 electric forklift truck is launched in 2019, STILL once again assumes a pioneering role: independent tests certify that the forklift truck has a productivity which exceeds that of any other IC engine forklift truck of the same capacity class ever tested.

Convinced of the enormous added value for customers, STILL is massively pushing the possibilities of automation solutions and assistance systems in the new millennium. The OptiSpeed truck control concept profitably combines both trends. It ensures the best possible travel speed at all times depending on lift height, direction of travel and load. The automation project at Kuraray Trosifol wins the coveted International Forklift Truck of the Year Award (IFOY Award) in the category “Intralogistics Solutions” in 2015. Only one year later STILL presents the world’s first autonomous order picker iGo neo CX 20 and is the first industrial truck manufacturer to use robotics in intralogistics as standard.

Quality, service and customer orientation were the maxims of the company’s founder Hans Still and continue to be the main pillars of the company today. The introduction of digital service portals such as the STILLReport as a web-based fleet management tool or the web application STILL neXXt fleet, are only two examples of the innovative power in the service sector.

Time and again STILL demonstrates a subtle understanding of their customers’ needs and converts this knowledge into new products: The introduction of the first clear-view mast in the nineteen-seventies, for example, significantly increases the safety of both driver and his surroundings. A further milestone is the introduction of the lateral battery change on the RX 20 and RX 60 electric forklift truck models, which significantly improves the trucks’ efficiency and once again defines the standards that have now become the industry norm.

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