*950 participants attend *14 nominated products and solutions undergo assessment
51 innovations, around 950 participants over six days, daily highlight tours and an interesting congress programme with panel discussions: The IFOY Test Days and the Test Camp Intralogistics came to a successful end last week in Dortmund, with 14 products and solutions from twelve companies nominated for an International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year Award (IFOY AWARD). The nominees underwent six days of multi-level testing. Among them were new developments from Cargotec Engineering, Jungheinrich, Locus Robotics, Magment, NAiSE, Noyes Technologies, robominds, SICK, SSI SCHÄFER, STILL, stow robotics and SYNAOS.
These and numerous other companies took the opportunity to present their total of 51 innovations to potential customers at the TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS from March 21 to 23. The B2B visitors – most of them in management positions in logistics, industry and trade – travelled to the Ruhr metropolis for hands-on testing as well as intensive networking discussions without the hustle and bustle of the trade fair in the more than 10,000 square metre hall of IFOY partner Messe Dortmund. From forklift trucks and warehouse technology equipment to AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles), software, specials and robotic solutions, numerous devices and solutions were available in the test arena.
The talks revolved primarily around the topics of innovation and sustainability. The IFOY organisation also made sustainability a principle and took a number of measures to effectively conserve resources. The focus was on reusability and recycling, the use of regenerative energies and, above all, the fundamental renunciation of equipment that was not absolutely necessary. The declared aim was to launch a new, sustainable event format in logistics.
From March 18 to 23, the nominees in the now tenth round of the competition were critically analysed by an official tester, a team of researchers and the international IFOY jury. On Tuesday, representatives of the total of twelve manufacturers received the “Best in Intralogistics” certificates from the hands of Steffen Bersch, the new Chairman of the Board of the VDMA Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association.
The IFOY audit for the nominees again consisted of three parts again this year. First, all the trucks underwent the IFOY test conducted by Dutch intralogistics expert Theo Egberts. In this process, the finalists in each category are not compared with each other, but with the relevant equipment in the competition. The industrial trucks underwent standardised driving and functional tests, including the IFOY test protocol comprising more than 80 criteria, which takes into account factors such as sustainability, cost-effectiveness, safety and ergonomics of the nominees.
In the second part of the audit, researchers conducted the IFOY Innovation Check. Scientists from the Dortmund Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML), the Chair of Technical Logistics at the University of Dresden, the Chair of Materials Handling Material Flow Logistics at the Technical University of Munich and the Stuttgart Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA assessed the nominees in terms of market relevance, customer benefits, type of design and degree of innovation. The audit was concluded by the assessment of the 25 jurors and their approved advisors. The jury members – trade journalists from all continents, including Fleet Transport & Handling Network – were handed all the results of the IFOY test as well as the IFOY Innovation Check for the voting.
Neither the participants of the Test camps or the nominees will be informed in advance who has won an IFOY AWARD during the IFOY TEST DAYS. They will have to wait until the IFOY AWARD Night on June 30, 2022, which will take place this year in Munich.
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