Allan Leibowitz puts one of the finalists through its paces

Forkliftaction News was among 29 jurors from 19 nations involved in the testing of 15 finalists for this year's IFOY international intralogistics awards. Editor Allan Leibowitz joined journalists from leading logistics publications to help choose winners in six categories. Over a day and a half, judges heard presentations from five manufacturers and put half a dozen machines and products through their paces in the giant Number 4 exhibition hall at CeMAT in Hannover. The selection process began weeks ago, with IFOY's technical advisors subjecting the finalists to a barrage of individually tailored functional tests, including the IFOY Test protocol, which comprises around 80 criteria and determines the cost-effectiveness, energy efficiency, sustainability, safety and ergonomics of the nominees. This was followed up by an audit, the IFOY Innovation Check, conducted by scientists from four renowned institutes and universities. During testing, judges were able to drive the forklifts and use the other solutions, while also clarifying product claims by questioning the manufacturers, all of whom attended the testing. Some notable finalists were Raymond, which brought its Virtual Reality Simulator together with two machines and team of four from the United States, and Ireland's Combilift, which made its IFOY debut with its new Combi-PPT powered pallet truck. As usual, German and European solutions were present in force, with Jungheinrich putting up three finalists (its revolutionary ETV 216i warehouse truck, the Miniload shuttle solution, and the zoneCONTROL safety warning system). Past winner STILL had two finalists - its automated tugger train and the neXXT fleet management solution. CLARK Europe, UniCarriers and Hubtex were also represented in the finals, alongside SAE, Cargometer and previous finalist Torwegge. The start-up category had two very different finalists - ProGlove and the Trône Seating invention previously covered in Forkliftaction News. The winners will be announced on April 26 at the Vienna Hofburg in Austria.