Under the motto “CLARK Forklifts: green, sustainable, and strong”, the industrial truck specialist Clark presented numerous innovations in the field of electric counterbalance trucks and warehouse technology at LogiMAT.
President & CEO
The highlights of Clark’s trade fair appearance included three new electric forklift truck series with lithium-ion technology, which are intended to replace and supplement the existing Clark electric forklift truck fleet. With the emission-free electric forklifts, which can compete with internal combustion (IC) engine-powered forklifts in terms of performance, Clark is fulfilling the desire of many operators to make their intralogistics more sustainable and climate-neutral.
At the show, Rolf Eiten, President & CEO at Clark Europe, told Warehouse & Logistics News about the company’s new products and how Clark is becoming more environmentally friendly.
What product strategy will Clark be revealing at the show this year?
It is very clear we will go for electrification, even more than we did before. Recently we have just renewed the industrial forklift range of electrics from 1.6 tonne to 3.5 tonne. Our new generation models are on show on our booth including the 2.5 tonne to 3.5 tonne trucks which were launched for sale on March 19th. We will also be launching a small truck in June or July for volume production.
Tell us more about your new series of electric forklifts, and how they differ from your competitors.
What is different for us is that we now have fully integrated Li-ion technology. That means the trucks can be delivered straight from the factory to the customer or the dealer with the Li-ion technology on board, completely linked to the system in the truck.
How many new products are there going to be this year?
This year we have the 48 volt 3-wheeler and 4-wheelers up to 2 tonnes and we have the 2.5 and 3.5 tonne which are replacing the former range, which was limited to 3 tonnes. In addition to that, later this year we will bring our new electric drive yard truck. This truck is going to replace in many applications the internal combustion truck we have used so far because the outside shape of this truck is like the internal combustion truck. But inside it is an electric drive.
The whole show is about the environment this year. How are Clark becoming more environmentally friendly?
We are following this trend and changing from IC drive to electric drive more and more. Including the Li-ion technology, that also means we bring more efficiency. Maybe this will help to create a greener environment, I hope. I believe the days of IC trucks, at least in the advanced economies in Europe these days, are numbered. It won’t be over tomorrow, but I believe in a couple of years we will see the IC drive die in this market segment. It will be a little bit different in the emerging European countries like Romania or Bulgaria. They will continue for a while to use IC drive. Last but not least, the African markets and the Middle East, they still buy a lot of internal combustion trucks. And that will continue for quite a long time. If we look at it from a worldwide perspective, looking at South America or Central America or Asia, this will still be dominated by demand for IC trucks for a long time, I believe. That means for the time being we will keep up with IC production.
In terms of new technology, how is AI or virtual reality affecting Clark?
Artificial Intelligence is something we listen to; we monitor the market, and we may also monitor what competitors are doing. But so far, we are not jumping onto it. We will just monitor it for a while because whatever we do, it will be for the best support for our customers. We don’t care what we have to do for that, whether we need Artificial Intelligence for it or not. For the customer, it doesn’t matter. He is just counting the benefit he has. Therefore, we are preparing automation, we have test trucks in operation in Korea and America, however, we don’t think this will happen from tomorrow, but we do think that over the next few years, this is something we will see coming more and more in the industry. We are preparing for it, but we don’t think we must have it tomorrow. I believe this process will take maybe around 3-5 years and no more than 10.
How confident are you about your innovations? Do you think they will help workplace systems, ergonomics and the overall working environment?
We think the better the working environment for a driver, the greater his efficiency will be. That means if you look at our trucks, you will see the driver compartment is offering a lot of comfort. From what we hear in feedback from our customers, they appreciate it.
How is Clark doing within the marketplace?
In 2022 and 2023 we had the best sales results ever. That is counting Clark worldwide, not only Clark Europe. So far, we are quite happy. At this moment in time, we are seeing that the market is a little quieter. But after extraordinary growth in the EMEA region in 2021, it is easy to understand that there is some kind of consolidation now. Maybe 2024 will be, at least in the first half of this year, quieter. But I expect it will pick up again later this year.
What is your vision for 2024/2025?
We are preparing a complete renewal of our product range. It is the electrification which is driving us to adapt our products. For example, next year we will introduce to market our new 7 to 8 tonne electric drive Li-ion truck which will be run in parallel to the internal combustion truck. We are preparing a heavy truck range from 12 to 16 tonne capacity but internal combustion. So far, we don’t have that, but we will have it soon. There is another Li-ion truck coming in the range from 4 to 5 tonnes, so there is a lot going on at Clark to be positive about.
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