On Thursday, at a gala event on the impressive stage of BMW Welt in Munich, the “Oscars” of the International Forklift of the Year Award (IFOY) were presented to Jungheinrich, Locus Robotics (Massachusetts), Noyes Technologies, Robominds, SSI Schäfer and Synaos.
Right on time for the 10th anniversary of the now highly regarded intralogistics competition, which founder Anita Würmser recalls as having started practically with a team "in sneakers" in 2013, around 200 guests, participants, and the host of nominees gathered at the venue located directly next to the Olympic Center and BMW headquarters. In fact, expectations were so high that one of the celebrities had accidentally shown up in a tuxedo a month earlier.
Locus robot with “black tie”.
Michael Nikolaides, Head of Logistics and Networks at the BMW Group, praised the perseverance of the IFOY crew, the organization and testers, who had managed to stay the course even during pandemic times with their extensive audits, scientific classifications and jury sessions.
Automation and robotics now dominate much of the industry, admits Managing Director Anita Würmser. "But forklifts and warehouse equipment are far from obsolete!" Vehicles and equipment are put through rigorous testing by experts like Theo Egberts and Marc Dohmen (Netherlands). "Testing makes the difference," agrees Sascha Schmel, Managing Director of the Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), who, together with Würmser, spearheaded the creation of IFOY. In the beginning, as the managing jury chairwoman explains, there was – to put it casually – the idea of a competition for "four wheels and a lifting frame." Categories were defined, selection criteria refined, and institutes like the Fraunhofer IML were brought in. Over the past decade, 200 submissions and innovations have been examined, and 146 products have been evaluated in the final rounds.
Photos: klk
In the start-up category, "Noyes" ultimately accepted the aluminum trophy from Steffen Bersch (SSI Schäfer), the new chairman of the VDMA trade association, for its nano-fulfillment technology in the field of urban storage systems. This coincided with another appearance by former BMW project manager Marco Prueglmeier, who in recent years has made a name for himself not only with autonomous systems and AI applications, but also with numerous independent ideas.
Andre Kranke (Dachser) gave the laudatory speech in the "Integrated Warehouse Solutions" category, where the jury and testers ultimately gave preference to the flat pack picking system installed by SSI Schäfer at IKEA. In the robotics category, the prize went to the AI-based robotics operating system "robobrain.NEUROS" from Robominds, ahead of the ramp system from "stow." The award for autonomous vehicles (AGVs) went to the developers from Massachusetts at "Locus Robotics.".
In the “Specials of the Year” category, Synaos’ odometric vehicle localization system took the top spot, while in the “Warehouse Trucks” category, Jungheinrich’s “mercilessly” compact ERD220i double-stacker pallet truck came out ahead of Moffett’s E5 25.4 NX forklift truck with its multidirectional 4-way steering system.
Further innovations are planned for IFOY in 2023. A focus will be placed on exoskeletons, and following the great response to the accompanying presentations, the possibility of a kind of "technology safari" will also be offered as part of the test camp.
Klaus Koch
www.ifoy.org
