Following the two test days of the International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year (IFOY) Award and the nomination of applicants to the final race, which was already considered a special honor, the Test Camp Intralogistics, which took place at the same location, once again saw a high number of attendees.
Representatives from a total of 15 companies received the highly sought-after participation certificates in Hall 4 of the Dortmund Trade Fair. Jan Drömer, the new Chairman of the Board of the VDMA Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association, presented the certificates, which can certainly be considered a preliminary seal of quality, to Agilox, Box ID Systems, Brightpick, Crown, Cybrid, Globe Fuel Cell Systems, HWArobotics, Innok, Jungheinrich, Mysense, Mocci, Ravas, Safelog, SSI Schäfer, and Still. The final winners will be announced on June 14 at the closing gala in Baden near Vienna.
The "Best in Intralogistics" seal, introduced six years ago, aims to recognize the high level of innovation of the solutions and devices nominated for the IFOY Award even before the final rounds. The effort involved in the extensive testing is considerable. The IFOY audit typically begins with the scientific Innovation Check, conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) in Dortmund, the Chair of Technical Logistics at the University of Dresden, the Chair of Materials Handling, Material Flow and Logistics at the Technical University of Munich, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart.
The scientists provide assessments of market relevance, customer benefits, design, and degree of innovation. They also verify the innovations claimed by the manufacturers and, in a comprehensive technology comparison, evaluate whether these are innovative developments, new compositions, or, in their opinion, genuine innovations.
The second part of the audit consists of a survey with practical evaluation, as well as the practice-oriented IFOY test conducted by the specialist journalist and intralogistics expert Theo Egberts. The Dutchman measures the hard facts and compares them with those of relevant competitor products. The devices undergo individually tailored driving or functional tests, including a test protocol comprising 80 criteria that assesses economic efficiency and energy efficiency, sustainability, safety, and ergonomic values.
Will there still be a driver on board in the future?
The audit concludes with the evaluation of the finalists by the jurors and their approved advisors. Based on the Innovation Check, the test results, and their own testing experience, the jury members form a final opinion and then submit their votes electronically and anonymously. However, some applicants occasionally receive the rather cryptic and polite feedback that one of the jurors is refraining from a more detailed evaluation because they find the product in question rather disappointing, or even, in fact, "annoying.".
(Detailed reports, which in no case represent the final result but merely reflect the respective opinion of the author, will follow).
The IFOY Award
The winner of the 2024 IFOY Awards, also known as the "Oscar of Intralogistics," will remain a secret until after the anonymous electronic voting by the jury. The closely guarded secret will be revealed at the IFOY Gala, scheduled for June 14, 2024, in Baden near Vienna.
The IFOY Award is presented by the German Association for Materials Handling and Intralogistics (IFOM) and the German Association for Robotics and Automation (VDMA). Partners include Messe Dortmund and Cascade, the world's leading manufacturer of forklift attachments. CHEP is the pallet partner, and LTG is the logistics partner.
The event partner is the Hermes Business Forum. The organization is based in Ismaning near Munich. The IFOY Award is under the patronage of Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
In 2023, coverage of the IFOY Award reached a nominal total of 4,664 articles in 823 media outlets from 46 countries. The online media reach was 1.6 billion readers.
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