The nominations are in for the 2015 International Forklift Truck of the Year (IFOY) awards and they include machines by leading brands such as Toyota, Clark and Jungheinrich.
The annual awards recognise the year’s best materials handling equipment and intralogistics solutions and are selected by an independent jury of international trade journalists.
Newly developed trucks, machines that represent further developments or special models with significant technical improvements that have come on to the European market since December 2013 are eligible for the awards.
“2014 was a CeMAT year with a whole host of innovations,” says IFOY jury chairperson Anita Würmser.
“There was consequently a great deal of interest in entering for the IFOY award.
“Only the best of the best in terms of innovation have made it into the final round.”
A total of 14 truck models and solutions passed the initial round of selections and will be vying for the “Best of the Year” award, to be announced in May.
The award is divided into four categories with one winner to be selected for each category.
The categories and nominees are:
Counter Balanced Trucks up to 3.5 tonnes
• Jungheinrich’s EFG S30s (electric)
• Still’s RX 20 (electric)
• Toyota Material Handling’s Tonero HST LPG (LPG)
Counter Balanced Trucks from 3.5 tonnes
• Jungheinrich’s DFG 540s (diesel)
• Still’s RX 60-80 (electric)
• Toyota Material Handling’s Tonero 3.5 – 8.0 t (diesel)
• Toyota Material Handling’s Traigo 80 4 – 5 t (electric)
Warehouse Trucks
• Clark Europe’s CBX4 people and burden carrier vehicle
• Jungheinrich’s ECE 225 horizontal order picker
• Still’s FM-X reach truck
• Toyota Material Handling’s BT Levio LPE electric pallet truck
• Unicarriers’ Tergo URS reach truck and VNA truck
Intralogistics Solutions
• Jungheinrich’s tugger train solution
• Still’s warehousing vehicle communication concept
Over a one week period in February, the nominated machines and solutions will go through a “Test and Innovation Check” in which jury members will test drive the vehicles and scrutinise the solutions to ultimately determine a winner for each category.
The finalists will be assessed on their innovative quality, technology, design, ergonomics, handling, safety, cost effectiveness and sustainability. The key criteria for intralogistics solutions on the other hand include novel/innovative quality, customer benefit, sustainability and marketability.
The IFOY award winners will be announced and presented on May 5 at the BMW Museum in Munich during the CeMAT@transport logistic trade fair.