Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Logistics prize group announces IFOY award winners

Honors go to Jungheinrich, RAVAS EUROPE, SAFELOG with Mercedes, SSI Schäfer, STILL, and Brightpick.

IFOY-Winner-2024.jpg

An independent German logistics prize group has named the six winners of its International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year (IFOY) prizes, awarded Friday in Vienna, Austria.

Top honors went to: Jungheinrich, RAVAS EUROPE, SAFELOG with Mercedes, SSI Schäfer, and STILL, and the IFOY Start-up of the Year Award went to Brightpick. The winners came from a pool of 17 finalists, which had been winnowed down in January from a starting field of 35 entrants.


“The best of the best made it to the final and rarely before have the test teams and jury discussed so intensively and struggled to make the best choice. In addition to novelty value, customer benefit and practicability were ultimately the deciding factors in the final,” Anita Würmser, executive chairwoman of the IFOY jury, said in a release.

IFOY says nominees are not compared with each other, but with their competitors on the market. The group chooses awards winners through a three-step process, including an IFOY test protocol of around 80 criteria, the scientific IFOY Innovation Check, and the final selection of winners by an independent jury of international trade journalists. This year, that jury of 26 international journalists included this magazine’s own David Maloney, editorial director of DC Velocity and Supply Chain Xchange magazines.

The Munich-based group is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, and supported by the Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association and the Robotics + Automation Association within the German manufacturing trade group VDMA. The application phase for next year’s IFOY AWARD starts on August 1.

PROFILES OF THE WINNERS

The winner in the “Warehouse Truck highlifter” category is the EJC 112i from Jungheinrich. The compact highlifter, which can be charged at any power socket, delivered an impressive performance in the IFOY audit, proving its position as the new benchmark in the entry-level segment for pedestrian stackers. The jury was particularly impressed by the intuitive operation, the small turning circle and the exceptionally high lifting and lowering speeds. The residual load capacity of 1,433 pounds at a height of 15 feet is the new benchmark in this class.

After an exciting finish in the “Special of the Year” category, RAVAS EUROPE wins with iCP Carriage Plate Scale with Weighing-in-Motion technology for calibrated weighing of the load during transportation. The basis for iCP is an existing weighing system. The intelligence lies in a smart box and the algorithms developed by RAVAS, which provide reliable measurements even on uneven ground. The decisive factor for the jury's vote was that Legal for Trade customers can bill on the basis of weight with the OIML-certified system.

The highly competitive “Mobile Robot” category was won by the series-based EXV iGo from STILL. The automated pallet truck for production supply and the pre-storage zone can be operated both manually and automatically. It offers a high residual load capacity of up to 3,500 pounds, can lift goods up to 12.5 feet and achieves a remarkable speed of up to 4.5 mph. The quick commissioning in combination with a new, intuitive user interface makes the series-based mobile robot a smart door opener into the world of automated warehouse processes, especially for SMEs, according to the jury.

In the “Stationary Robot” category, the SSI Piece Picking module from SSI SCHAEFER came out on top after a thrilling finish. The robot cell in container format for piece picking takes care of feeding, removal and safety technology. SSI SCHAEFER has found solutions for typical gripping errors, double picks or incorrect depositing. Centrifugal forces, which occur with articulated robots, are also a thing of the past; this is ensured by a miniature gantry robot with suction cups, which moves the gripper to any position on the source and target containers and handles even sensitive goods safely. The jury was particularly impressed by the short set up time of just one day.

SAFELOG won the IFOY AWARD 2024 in the top category “Integrated Customer Solution” for its AGV swarm in the Mercedes Factory 46. The jury selected the future vision of the Mercedes-Benz production system, which was developed and implemented in close cooperation between SAFELOG and the car manufacturer, as the best customer solution of the year. Mercedes-Benz is responsible for the software, while SAFELOG is responsible for the hardware, including around 350 AGVs, and the project implementation. The jury particularly emphasized the high customer benefit: this starts with the low price and the robust implementation, extends to the software ecosystem developed together with Mercedes and ends with an availability of 99.7 to 99.9%, which in practice means 40 hours less downtime.

A total of four young companies competed for victory at the IFOY Start-up of the Year Award. Intralogistics shooting star Brightpick won the race with the world's first autonomous, mobile picking robot Brightpick Autopicker. The AI-based 2-in-1 robot from the company, which was founded in Bratislava in 2021, picks while driving in the rack aisle without the robot having to return to a base station. It can also be used for other tasks such as pallet picking, warehouse replenishment, dynamic storage or normal goods-to-person picking. The jury particularly emphasized this versatility as well as the 50% reduction in picking costs.
 

 

 

 

The Latest

Artificial Intelligence

AI: Is it the real deal?

More Stories

Logistics economy picked up speed in January

Logistics Managers' Index

Logistics economy picked up speed in January

Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded in January, growing at its fastest clip in more than two years, according to the latest Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI) report, released this week.

The LMI jumped nearly five points from December to a reading of 62, reflecting continued steady growth in the U.S. economy along with faster-than-expected inventory growth across the sector as retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers attempted to manage the uncertainty of tariffs and a changing regulatory environment. The January reading represented the fastest rate of expansion since June 2022, the LMI researchers said.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

Disrupting the furniture supply chain: An interview with Jay Rogers

Disrupting the furniture supply chain: An interview with Jay Rogers

As commodities go, furniture presents its share of manufacturing and distribution challenges. For one thing, it's bulky. Second, its main components—wood and cloth—are easily damaged in transit. Third, much of it is manufactured overseas, making for some very long supply chains with all the associated risks. And finally, completed pieces can sit on the showroom floor for weeks or months, tying up inventory dollars and valuable retail space.

In other words, the furniture market is ripe for disruption. And John "Jay" Rogers wants to be the catalyst. In 2022, he cofounded a company that takes a whole new approach to furniture manufacturing—one that leverages the power of 3D printing and robotics. Rogers serves as CEO of that company, Haddy, which essentially aims to transform how furniture—and all elements of the "built environment"—are designed, manufactured, distributed, and, ultimately, recycled.

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of GenAI effect on workforce

Gartner: GenAI tools create anxiety among employees

Generative AI (GenAI) is being deployed by 72% of supply chain organizations, but most are experiencing just middling results for productivity and ROI, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.

That’s because productivity gains from the use of GenAI for individual, desk-based workers are not translating to greater team-level productivity. Additionally, the deployment of GenAI tools is increasing anxiety among many employees, providing a dampening effect on their productivity, Gartner found.

Keep ReadingShow less
warehouse worker driving forklift between racks

German 3PL Arvato acquires two U.S. logistics firms

The German third party logistics provider (3PL) Arvato this week acquired the U.S.-headquartered companies Carbel LLC and United Customs Services, saying the move would grow its client base, particularly in the fashion, beauty, and lifestyle segments.

According to Arvato, it made the move in order to better serve the U.S. e-commerce sector, which has experienced high growth rates in recent years and is expected to grow year-on-year by 5% within the next five years.

Keep ReadingShow less
photo collage of warehouse tech

Supply chain pros are wary of inflation and labor woes

The top worries that supply chain leaders hope to address with new innovations this year include inflationary concerns (68%) and labor shortages (50%), according to a survey on innovation from the third-party logistics provider (3PL) Kenco.

And many of them will have a budget to do it, since 51% of supply chain professionals with existing innovation budgets saw an increase earmarked for 2025, suggesting an even greater emphasis on investing in new technologies to meet rising demand, Kenco said in its “2025 Supply Chain Innovation” survey.

Keep ReadingShow less