IFOY award reveals 2020 finalists

All nominated products and solutions will also undergo the IFOY Innovation Check. Last year the IFOY Innovation Check team was (from left): Prof. Dr. Thorsten Schmidt, Prof. Dr. Rainer Bruns, Prof. Dr. Johannes Fottner and Guido Follert. Source: IFOY AWARD

ISMANING, Germany – The International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year awards (IFOY AWARD) has revealed the finalists for the 2020 recognition.

In the eighth round of the award, the jury will send 17 products and solutions from 16 manufacturers from a field of 32 companies to compete for the best intralogistics products and solutions of the year.

Starting with warehouse trucks and custom-made products for material flow tasks, through robots, drones and software to reach stackers, famous names are in the final round. Bosch Rexroth, Combilift, Crown, Easy Mile, Geek+, Hyster, Jungheinrich, ProGlove, Raymond, Sany Europe, Still and Toyota Material Handling as well as the start-ups cellumation, doks. innovation, ForkOn and Wiferion are all in the running.

All finalists will go through the IFOY Audit at the international IFOY Test Days from February 6 to 13 at the exhibition grounds of IFOY partner HANNOVER MESSE. In the IFOY Test, experts assess the finalists in a standardized procedure.

And in the IFOY Innovation Check scientists assess the innovative value of the nominated products and solutions. The Innovation Check is carried out by specialists from the Dortmund Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML), the Chair of Technical Logistics at the University of Dresden and the Chair of Materials Handling, Material Flow and Logistics (fml) at the Technical University of Munich.

At the end of the IFOY Test Days, jurors from all over Europe, Australia, Brazil and Russia will travel to Hannover, Germany, to inspect the nominated products and test them themselves. For the first time, a jury member from the world’s largest intralogistics market will also vote: Trade journalist Ying Xu will travel from Beijing to Hannover.

The judges will assess the innovative value, technology, design, ergonomics and handling, safety, marketability and customer benefit as well as economic efficiency and sustainability. The jury consists of 27 trade journalists from 19 countries.

“A golden rule of the IFOY test series is that the finalists in their respective categories are not compared with each other, but with their competitors on the market. Only those nominees who outperform their direct competitors in terms of innovation have a chance to reach the highest podium position,” says Anita Würmser, chair of the IFOY Jury.

The trophies will be awarded in seven categories during the IFOY AWARD Night on April 20 at the HANNOVER MESSE 2020.

Here are the finalists, by category:

Counter Balanced Truck

• The Hyster J60XNL with a lithium-ion battery. It was initially designed to take advantage of the shape of the energy storage system, offering benefits such as a low centre of gravity and more space in the cab.
• Still’s new flagship from the RX 60-25/35 series for loads up to 3.5 tonnes. During development, the manufacturer paid attention to the use of energy-efficient technologies as well as high performance.

Special Vehicle

• The Combi-CBE4 from the Irish manufacturer Combilift. The electric forklift truck of four tons with all-wheel drive combines multi-directionality and a compact design.
• Sany Europe’s SRSC45H9A Hybrid Reach Stacker. Users can save costs with this reach stacker for containers, thanks to energy recuperation, an efficient transmission and a weight reduction compared to the previous model.

Warehouse Truck Highlifter

• Crown ESR 1000. Compared to the previous model, the Xpress Lower technology doubles the lowering speed and the new Gena operating system offers performance-enhancing assistance systems and intuitive operation.
• Jungheinrich ERC 216zi. As the first Jungheinrich battery-powered highlifter truck with a fully integrated lithium-ion battery, the new, compact truck design ensures high performance and maximum operating convenience according to the manufacturer.

Warehouse Truck Lowlifter

• Combilift CombiCS. The pedestrian operated truck has been developed for pallet transport in very confined spaces. Thanks to a special tiller arm and a compact design, the vehicle, which is only 1.05 metres long, scores points for safe operation and good visibility for the operator.
• Raymond Corporation Courier 3030. The automated forklift truck can take over transports between production and warehouse. The developers integrated a vision technology that scans the environment 360 degrees around the industrial truck and brings it to a standstill if a person or object blocks the way.
• Toyota Material Handling’s BT Levio LWI160 low-lift pallet truck. The pedestrian operated truck marks the beginning of a new era in design and construction. Developed around the modular Toyota battery system with Lithium-Ion technology, the LWI160 is particularly light, space-saving and energy efficient. Battery system and device merge into one unit, eliminating the need for a conventional battery room.

AGV/Robot

• EasyMile TractEasy. The robot is a highly automated tugger for use both indoors and outdoors. It enables the automation of logistics flows and is designed for a load of up to 25 tons. The vehicle is specially designed to cope with various environmental and traffic conditions in outdoor areas.
• Geek+ C200 Robot Shuttle System. It identifies and picks standard size totes and transports them for picking and packing. The system offers customers added value through self-learning, intelligent route planning, precise navigation and automatic loading.

Intralogistics Software

• Laser Localization Software from Bosch Rexroth. It offers a key technology for autonomous vehicles in intralogistics and production environments, which uses a laser to automatically map the environment and determine the position and orientation of the vehicle. According to the manufacturer, the software enables the fastest and easiest commissioning: mapping with just one click, immediate localization, automatic map update.
• The ProGlove Cloud. The cloud helps companies map a digital twin of their processes to better manage devices, identify logistics challenges, ensure seamless warehouse processes and enable intelligent workflows. With quick plug-and-play software integration, this stand-alone solution can be up and running quickly and is not dependent on ERP or WMS data.

Start-up of the Year

• cellumation’s celluveyor. This is a modular material flow system consisting of hexagonal cells that can be combined to create any desired layout. On the surface, packages can be moved and positioned flexibly thanks to omnidirectional wheels. Thus even complex material flow tasks can be realized.
• doks. innovation inventAIRy X. The system is a combination of a drone, 1D and 2D sensors, a 12-megapixel camera and the doks. software for data acquisition and processing using machine learning algorithms, which, together with an automated guided vehicle, autonomously detects stock levels in warehouses. Users save time and resources in what is normally a highly manual process and can assign employees to value-adding activities.
• ForkOn fleet management software. It is the first manufacturer-independent fleet management software for forklift trucks and other industrial trucks. The cloud-based, user-friendly software-as-a-service platform reduces annual costs by 20 percent by focusing on total cost of ownership according to the manufacturer. Other features such as indoor tracking and load management are also integrated.
• Wiferion develops and sells wireless energy systems for electrically powered industrial trucks. The scalable, modular energy systems are based on the patented, inductive charging system etaLINK 3000. The charging solution does not require plug and sliding contacts and enables efficient, fast intermediate charging of the batteries.