Enter now: IFOY is looking for the year’s best forklift trucks and intralogistics products

Europe’s most prestigious intralogistics award is once again ready for take-off. While the winners of the International Forklift Truck of the Year Award 2014, IFOY Award for short, are still celebrating, the preparations for the IFOY 2015 selection phase are already in full swing. The IFOY entrant portal at www.ifoy.org opens on September 18, and all manufacturers of MHE vehicles and providers of intralogistics services are called on to enter for one of the five coveted awards in the period up to December 1, 2014.

Entries for the IFOY Award 2015 are invited in five categories:
1. Counter Balanced Trucks up to and including 3.5 tons
2. Counter Balanced Trucks from 3.51 tons
3. Warehouse Trucks like pedestrian-controlled warehouse trucks, tow tractors, seated/standup material handling devices, VNA trucks, reach trucks etc.
4. Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs): driverless transport systems, shuttle systems, automated/partially automated materials handling equipment in the context of its applications
5. Intralogistics Solutions: intralogistics system solutions that have been successfully implemented at a customer company

In the equipment categories, newly developed trucks, trucks that represent further developments or special models with significant technical improvements that came onto the European market after December 1, 2013 (AGVs: June 1, 2013) are eligible for the award. The Conditions of Participation can be requested from the IFOY office (www.ifoy.org) with immediate effect.

The decision on which forklift truck, MHE vehicle, shuttle, picking vehicle or automated guided vehicle, and which overall integrated logistics solution has the right to call itself "Best of the Year" in May 2015 is made in a multi-phase selection process. In the first phase, the jury nominates the most promising candidates from among all the entries. These vehicles then have to undergo Europe’s toughest intralogistics test over the course of one week. "A written entry alone is not enough to permit a well-founded assessment. That’s why during the Test Week the nominees must prove in practice what they promised in the promotional brochures", explains Anita Würmser, Executive Jury Chairperson of the IFOY organisation.

Hellmann Worldwide Logistics is IFOY logistics partner
The IFOY Test Week from February 21 to 26 is organised by Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. The logistics service provider , who as "Official IFOY Logistics Partner" is responsible for the coordination of all logistics processes and the transport of the nominated trucks, will be inviting participants to the IFOY Test Week in the "Speicher 3" building in Osnabrück. In the "Glass Hall" erected by Hellmann specifically for this purpose, the nominated trucks will be put through their paces before a jury of trade journalists representing Europe’s leading logistics media make their final decision.

IFOY Test and Innovation Check
The IFOY Test and the IFOY Innovation Check provide the jury with key information and insights on which to base their decisions. The IFOY Test focuses on the practical aspects; it measures the hard data and compares it with the data for rival machines. The test parameters include cost effectiveness and energy efficiency, sustainability, safety, ergonomics and design of the trucks.

The innovative value of a vehicle or solution is the most important assessment criterion for the jury. In the IFOY Innovation Check, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) in Dortmund test the entrants in the Counter Balanced, Warehouse Trucks and Automated Guided Vehicles categories once again, this time to determine their innovative character of all nominated vehicles. In addition, the jury members also climb on board and test all the nominated trucks for themselves during the IFOY Test Week. In combination with the results of the independent test, this enables the jury to compare the entered vehicles with their competitors in the segment in question and to make an objective selection.

The IFOY Jury continues to grow
The newly elected members on the body are Snejina Badjeva, publisher and Editor-in-Chief of "LOGISTIKA magazine" in Bulgaria, Glenn Lund, Editor-in-Chief of Norwegian logistics magazine "Moderne Transport", Anton Mizunov, Editor-in-Chief of Russian logistics magazine "Skladskoj Komplex" (Logistics and Transport), Jarlath Sweeney, Editor-in-Chief of Irish logistics magazine "Fleet Transport", and Mats Udikas, Editor-in-Chief of Swedish logistics magazine "Transportnytt". The jury now comprises 22 members from 13 European countries.

More information at: www.ifoy.org