German trade magazine materialfluss has held its annual Product of the Year awards in Munich, with Linde Material Handling taking home the top honour for its Linde Xi Roadster, Knapp’s AeroBot system receiving recognition, while SSI SCHAEFER took home four awards.

The awards are organised by Pelemedia GmbH with winners decided by reader’s poll, and this year there were 32 products and projects nominated across five categories within the intralogistics sector.

Linde won the Industrial Trucks category for the Roadster which was launched in August last year and represents an expansion of Linde’s electric counterbalance forklift range.

The vehicle eliminates the need for A-pillars, to improve operator visibility.

The Xi Roadster was named the winner from six nominees in the category which covers innovations in forklifts, logistic trains, pallet trucks, attachments, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and automated guided vehicles (AGVs).

Richard Bozem, senior strategy and portfolio manager at Linde Material Handling, accepted the Product of the Year Award saying: “This recognition belongs to all the Linde MH employees who dedicated themselves to developing this exceptional vehicle with great passion and commitment”.

Knapp’s AeroBot system was named the winner of the Automated Storage and Picking Technology Category.

AeroBot, which was also named the best product at LogiMAT 2025 in the Order Picking, Conveying, Lifting, and Storing Technology category, is one of a new generation of robots AMRs is designed to complement Knapp’s range of automated storage systems.

SSI SCHAEFER was named the winner of the Conveying and Lifting Technology category in the materialfluss awards for its future-proof distribution logistics solution for non-food retailer Schou, which operates a fully automated high-bay warehouse.

SSI SCHAEFER also won first place in the Software category for its WAMAS Emulation Centre, as well as second prizes for Project of the Year for its Racket System Compact at the Transmec Group and in the Storage and Picking Technology for its SSI Carrier.

“The recognition from the readers strengthens our commitment to further advancing our technological ambitions with determination,” says Mauro Lunardelli, head of business unit logistics solutions at SSI SCHAEFER.