Jungheinrich, STILL and Toyota are among the forklift brands that have been nominated for the International Forklift Truck of the Year (IFOY) Award 2015.

From all the entries, the jury has chosen 14 trucks and solutions from Clark, Jungheinrich, STILL, Toyota Material Handling and Unicarriers for the final round.

Newly developed trucks, trucks that represent further developments or special models with significant technical improvements that have come onto the European market since December 2013 were eligible for the award.

"2014 was a CeMAT year, with a whole host of innovations. There was consequently a great deal of interest in entering for the IFOY Award," says Anita Würmser, chairperson of the IFOY jury. "Only the best of the best in terms of innovation have made it into the final round."

IFOY AWARD 2015 nominees

Counterbalance trucks up to 3.5 T
- EFG S30s, Jungheinrich (electric)
- RX 20, STILL (electric)
- Tonero HST LPG, Toyota Material Handling (LPG)

Counterbalance trucks from 3.51 T
- DFG 540s, Jungheinrich (diesel)
- RX 60-80, STILL (electric)
- Tonero 3.5 - 8.0 t, Toyota Material Handling (diesel)
- Traigo 80 4 - 5 t, Toyota Material Handling (electric)

Warehouse trucks
- CBX4 people and burden carrier vehicle, Clark Europe
- ECE 225 horizontal order picker, Jungheinrich
- FM-X reach truck, STILL
- BT Levio LPE electric pallet truck, Toyota Material Handling
- Tergo URS reach truck and VNA truck, Unicarriers

Intralogistics solutions
- Jungheinrich: The company created a tugger train solution at VEMAG Maschinenbau GmbH, starting with requirements analysis and extending through the precision planning and organisation of processes, all the way through to vehicle selection and provision. The logistics solution comprises tugger train loading, supplies to the production areas and the return transport of empties with the help of a tractor.
- STILL: In just nine weeks, STILL installed a raw materials warehouse, complete with all automatic components, for the Kuraray Trosifol company in Troisdorf near Cologne. In the sophisticated material flow concept, semi-automatic shuttle vehicles communicate with automatic reach trucks for the first time in a highly compact rack-channel warehouse.

The trucks that are ultimately chosen for the IFOY Award 2015 depend mainly on the results of the IFOY Test and IFOY Innovation Check, which all nominated trucks have to undergo over a period of one week at the grounds of official logistics partner Hellmann Worldwide Logistics in Osnabrueck.

The IFOY test measures the hard data and compares it with the data for rival machines. The IFOY Innovation Check, prepared by the specialists from the Dortmund-based Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML), focuses solely on innovations and the degree of innovation relative to the market. In addition, the jury members drive all nominated vehicles themselves, putting them through their paces during the IFOY test week.

Among other things, the IFOY Award assesses innovative quality, technology, design, ergonomics, handling, safety, cost effectiveness and sustainability. The key criteria for intralogistics solutions include novel/innovative quality, customer benefit, sustainability and marketability of the solution.

The winner in each category will be chosen in March by a jury made up of internationally known trade journalists and leading logistics media from 13 countries. The IFOY Award will be presented on 5 May at the BMW Museum in Munich during the CeMAT trade fair for transport logistics.

A limited number of free tickets are available for the IFOY Gala and can be requested from the IFOY head office (email: anita.wuermser@ifoy.org).