Curtain up for the nominees of the IFOY Awards 2016

In the Warehouse Trucks "lowlifters" category, the jury made nominations for Crown and Jungheinrich. The Crown RT 4020 pallet truck with driver's platform, which was only launched in October 2015, carries two tons and is the latest Crown product in this category for years. Its top speed is 12.5 km/h. With a chassis width of just 780, it is easy to maneuver in tight spaces, such as when loading and unloading trucks. Another nomination goes to the enhanced Jungheinrich EZS 5100 tugger train solution with GTE trailers, which was presented in February last year. With a towing capacity of ten tons, the EZS 5100 is a high-performance tug for every application. The electro-hydraulic auto-lift of the GTE 312 trailer lifts loads cleanly and quickly and ensures that each trailer can be controlled individually.

Jury nominates special vehicle from Jungheinrich and Still

The first nomination in the new IFOY category goes to the Jungheinrich EJQ 325. Deutsche Bahn in Dortmund presented a special task to the engineers of Jungheinrich's special construction department: the development and realization of a device for changing IC/ICE wheelsets. The task was to precisely pick up and separate the ICE wheelsets and the wheelset changer, each weighing 2.5 tons, over a stroke of 550 millimetres. The particular challenge lay in the longitudinal and transverse travel with a 2.4 meter long load in an aisle only 2.9 meters wide. Still received another nomination for the CX-S 16 horizontal order picker. The standard machine is also equipped with a vacuum pump, a crane jib and tube lifter from Schmalz to move loads weighing up to 40 kg. Two pallets are lifted to an ergonomic height of up to 785 mm using a scissor lift. With the suction tool, one person can pick, handle or palletize bulky products or heavy items such as cartons, bags, buckets, barrels or small load carriers easily and regardless of location.

Three system solutions from Crown, SSI Schaefer and Still in the running for "Intralogistics Solution 2016"

In the intralogistics system solutions category, concepts from Crown, SSI Schäfer and Still qualified for the final round this year. Crown is competing with a QuickPick Remote solution for Jumbo Supermarkten, the largest private supermarket chain in the Netherlands with over 580 locations. The Veghel distribution center picks around 1.4 million long-life groceries per week and ships them to 171 Jumbo locations. The fast-moving consumer goods business is highly competitive and on-time delivery depends on smooth processes in Jumbo's picking and distribution chain. Tests had already shown that driverless transport systems could not achieve sufficient efficiency gains. As a result, Crown designed a semi-automated solution based on GPC 3000 order pickers with the IFOY award-winning QuickPick Remote. Each Crown GPC 3000 transports four roll containers. With the help of a color coding system, the pickers put together articles for several locations at the same time. The picking process has also been partially redesigned. As a result, Jumbo has achieved a 7.5 percent increase in productivity with a significantly lower workload for employees. The conversion of the next Jumbo distribution center in Elst is already being implemented. SSI Schaefer wins a nomination for the internal fleet solution with Weasel automated guided vehicles (AGVs) at NextLevel Logistik GmbH near Eltmann, near Schweinfurt. Whether containers, cartons, trays or other products of various sizes up to 35 kg - at NextLevel Logistik, Weasel is responsible for all transport tasks between incoming goods, workstations, outgoing goods and waste disposal. An in-house transport system was created for the fashion logistics service provider operating in the rapidly growing e-commerce segment which, unlike conventional AGVs, does not require elaborate sensor technology or complex control systems. The complete hardware and software for the system was installed and put into operation within just three days. A special feature: automatic RFID bulk reading in the incoming goods area. A major advantage for NextLevel Logistik is the flexibility and simple scalability of the solution: Weasel is not rail-bound and can therefore be flexibly integrated into existing infrastructures. As business increases, the solution can grow with it and seasonal peaks in performance can be easily managed with additional Weasels. Still: With around 430 million packages stored annually, the storage capacity at the Miehlen logistics center of Heuchemer Verpackung GmbH & Co. KG was exhausted. In the extension building, the Hamburg-based intralogistics specialist Still implemented a new 18-metre-high channel warehouse with four PalletShuttle and two MX-X order picking forklifts in the high-bay warehouse, optimizing the interaction between the two logistics centers. External warehouses were closed and all logistics were centralized in Miehlen. The IFOY award-winning iGoEasy system, a combination of an automated EGV-S high-lift truck and an iPad as a configuration and control unit, was used to flexibly organize recurring transports for production disposal and buffer provision. As the system integrator, Still not only planned and installed the entire system, but also fine-tuned the shuttle, racking, conveyor technology, forklifts and driverless transport systems. Innovative: The shuttles are equipped with sensors for overhang detection, which minimizes the distance between the goods so that valuable storage space in the channels is used optimally. This increases the storage density for pallets with overhangs by up to 50 percent. Decision made at the IFOY test at CeMAT preview in Hanover

Which vehicles and solutions will win the IFOY Award 2016 will depend on the results of the IFOY Test and the IFOY Innovation Check, which all nominated vehicles will have to undergo for a week in February at the premises of IFOY partner CeMAT in Hanover. The IFOY Test measures the hard facts and compares them with those of the competition. The IFOY Innovation Check, which is compiled by specialists from the Dortmund-based Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) and the Chair of Machine Elements and Technical Logistics at Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg, focuses exclusively on the innovations and their classification in a market comparison. In addition, the jurors drive and test all the nominated devices themselves during the IFOY Test Week.

Among other things, the IFOY Award evaluates innovation value, technology, design, ergonomics and handling, safety, cost-effectiveness and sustainability. For Intralogistics Solutions, the main criteria are novelty value and innovation, customer benefit, sustainability and marketability of the solution.

The winner of each category is chosen by a jury of 25 renowned trade journalists and the leading logistics media in 16 countries around the world. The IFOY will be awarded at the opening ceremony of CeMAT, the world's leading intralogistics trade fair, on May 31 in Hanover.

IFOY AWARD - Nominations 2016 at a glance

Category: Counter Balanced Trucks up to 3.5t- ECB18C, BYD Europe (electric) - C-5 four-wheel LPG, Crown (LPG) - Traigo 48 Lithium Ion, Toyota Material Handling (electric)

Category: Warehouse trucks "highlifters" (warehouse trucks)- EKX 516, Jungheinrich - EXV-SF 16i, Still

BT Staxio SPE 140L, Toyota Material Handling

Category: Warehouse Trucks "lowlifters" (warehouse trucks)- RT4020, Crown - EZS 5100 + GTE 312, Jungheinrich

Category: Special Vehicle- EJQ, Jungheinrich - Ergopick, Still

Category: Intralogistics Solutions (system solutions)

Crown: For the Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo Supermarkten, Crown implemented a semi-automatic picking system for 1.4 million fast-moving items at the distribution center in Veghel based on GPC 3000 order pickers with QuickPick® Remote.

SSI Schaefer: Within just three days, SSI Schaefer implemented a highly flexible and cost-effective internal fleet solution with Weasel® automated guided vehicles (AGVs) for the fashion logistics service provider NextLevel Logistik GmbH in Eltmann near Schweinfurt, which operates in the fast-growing e-commerce segment.

Still: At the Miehlen logistics center of Heuchemer Verpackung, Still implemented an extension with a PalletShuttle high-bay warehouse and took a significant step towards process automation with the iGoEasy system, conveyor technology and a variable number of shuttles in the high-bay warehouse.

Members of the jury: Martin Althoff, Editor-in-Chief Logistiek Totaal (Netherlands), Vladimir Antonov, Editor-in-Chief Sklad i Technika (Russia), Snejina Badjeva, Editor-in-Chief LOGISTIKA magazine (Bulgaria), Theo Egberts, IFOY Tester and owner of Buro Andersom/Andersom Testing (Netherlands, without voting rights), Sven Bennühr (representative), Deutsche Logistik-Zeitung (DVZ) (Germany), Thilo Jörgl, Editor-in-Chief LOGISTIK HEUTE (Germany), Anders Karlsson, Editor-in-Chief Transport & Logistik iDag (Sweden), Klaus Koch, Editor-in-Chief of Logistik&Fördertechnik, Handel Heute (Switzerland), Allan Leibowitz, Editor-in-Chief of forkliftaction.com (Australia), Valeria Lima de Azevedo Nammur, Editor LOGWEB Magazine (Brazil), Glenn Lund, Editor-in-Chief Moderne Transport (Norway), Peter MacLeod, Editor-in-Chief SHD Magazine (England), Bernd Maienschein, Editor-in-Chief MM Logistik (Germany), Marilena Matei, Editor-in-Chief Tranzit / Tranzit Logistica (Romania), Anton Mizunov, Editor-in-Chief Skladskoj Komplex (Russia), Maurizio Peruzzi, Editor-in-Chief Il Giornale della Logistica (Italy), Isabel Rodrigo, Editor-in-Chief Logística Profesional (Spain), Hans-Joachim Schlobach, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief BUSINESS+LOGISTIC (Austria), Sascha Schmel, Managing Director of the VDMA Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association (Germany, without voting rights), Sabine Schulz-Rohde, Editor-in-Chief of Beschaffung aktuell (Germany), Sebastian Śliwieński, Editor-in-Chief of Warehouse Monitor (Poland), Heres Stad, Editor-in-Chief of Logistiek (Netherlands), Jarlath Sweeney, Editor-in-Chief of Fleet Transport (Ireland), Mats Udikas, Editor-in-Chief of Transportnytt (Sweden). Anita Würmser, logistics journalist and Managing Director of wuermser.communications, chairs the jury. Martin Schrüfer, Managing Editor-in-Chief of the trade journals Materialfluss and LT-manager, is a member of the jury's advisory board.