IFOY Awards reward innovation, efficiency

VIENNA, Austria – Cargometer, Jungheinrich, ProGlove, The Raymond Corporation, Still and UniCarriers Europe all walked away with prizes at the International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year Award (IFOY) this weekend.

After months of selection and testing the winners were announced on April 26 in the Vienna Hofburg (Austria). Winners’ representatives received their trophies in front of more than 600 invited guests from business, politics, science and the media. The 29 jurors had nominated 15 solutions and devices in six categories for the seventh round of the worldwide intralogistics competition and voted on the winners after a three-part audit.

Cargometer GmbH won the Intralogistics Software award for its On-the-fly Freight Dimensioning. The Austrian company provides a tool for freight dimensioning on moving forklifts. 3D object measurement is performed by cameras installed on dock doors, allowing for fast and accurate freight dimensioning.

German manufacturer Jungheinrich AG won for the most innovative truck in the Warehouse Truck category. The ETV 216i reach truck is the world’s first with a fully integrated lithium-ion battery. It convinced the jury not only with its performance, but also with its design. Because the conventional lead-acid battery was replaced by a smaller lithium-ion battery, completely new design possibilities arose for the developers.

US forklift truck specialist The Raymond Corporation won the Special of the Year category for its Virtual Reality Simulator. With the help of virtual reality glasses, forklift drivers can be trained and tested on a real Raymond truck. The solution not only provides a realistic view of the working environment, but also generates data for individual training of the forklift drivers. The Raymond simulator also took home an innovation award from MHI at Modex in 2018.

The AGV & Intralogistics Robot award went to Still GmbH. The Hamburg-based solution provider was recognized for its LiftRunner tugger train with the LTX 50 tugger and automatic loading and unloading. The cost-effective and easily scalable solution was simply implemented, but offers the user great benefits, for example in supplying a production line.

UniCarriers Europe AB won in the Counter Balanced Truck category. The TX 3 3-wheel truck has a load capacity of 1.6 tons and was recognized for its low energy consumption, excellent all-round visibility, comfortable all-electric steering and ergonomic improvements. The most important innovation: a free-swinging, ergonomic armrest, available with either a mini steering wheel familiar from the reach truck segment or a normal steering wheel.

The new Startup of the Year award went to Munich-based manufacturer ProGlove (Workaround GmbH). The company’s intelligent glove scans barcodes and 2D codes. Its innovation is a powerful scanner of the size of a matchbox, which can be clicked easily on a glove, leaving the operator with both hands free for work.

“In the start-up category, which was offered for the first time, as well as in the five other categories, the decision was hard again. The three-part audit during the IFOY TEST DAYS showed that some of the nominees were way ahead of their competitors on the market in terms of degree of innovation and customer benefit,” said Anita Würmser, managing chairwoman of the IFOY jury.

The awards are decided based on the IFOY Audit. The devices and solutions are subjected to individually tailored driving or function tests, including the IFOY Test protocol, comprising around 80 criteria, and the scientific IFOY Innovation Check. In addition, jurors and advisory teams assess the finalists personally before voting. The nominees are compared not with each other, but with their competing devices on the market.

The IFOY Award is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy and presented by the Association for Materials Handling and Intralogistics.