The Jungheinrich EKX 513-515 man-up turret truck.

Jungheinrich has introduced a new version of its EKX 513-515 man-up turret truck to the North American market.

Jungheinrich product manager Paul Moffatt said the Munich, Germany-manufactured models had RFID technology as a standard, built-in feature.

An RF transmitter and receiver was placed underneath the forklift and a capsule-sized transponder buried in the warehouse floor. The capsule was programmed to issue commands whenever a forklift passed over it.

"We can change virtually any driving parameter of the truck that way, with appropriate programming in the capsule," Moffatt said.

The transponder can tell the forklift to "slow down, limit lift height and sound the horn".

The older version of the same model was introduced in 1997. A Jungheinrich US spokesperson said differences in the new version include better performance, improved ergonomics and higher productivity.

Jungheinrich AG spokesperson Jan Kaulfuhs-Berger, of Hamburg, Germany, said there were no significant differences between the EKX forklifts for the European and US markets (Forkliftaction.com News #302).

Separately, the German manufacturer launched the EJE range 1 and 2 pedestrian trucks at Bauma 2007 in Munich last month. The range 1 pallet trucks have capacities up to 2,000kg. The range 2 pallet trucks have capacities up to 2,500kg.

Both ranges come with a newly developed multifunction tiller head.
"The main difference of the tiller head is a so-called 'rocker switch'. With this rocker switch, the user [can] lift and drop the tiller safely and easily in any position," Kaulfuhs-Berger said.