STILL secures 10th IFOY Award

Numerous IFOY awards in the past are proof that STILL offers particularly efficient and robust industrial trucks and intralogistics solutions. This year, the Hamburg-based manufacturer once again impressed as a system provider in the international competition.

For the implementation of the new production warehouse of Danfoss Power Electronics in Tinglev, Denmark, the logistics provider received the coveted IFOY award in the category “Integrated Warehouse Solution”. This is the 10th time that STILL has won the title in different categories.

“The Danfoss project is an impressive example of how automated warehouses will be controlled, monitored and analysed in the future,” was the unanimous verdict of the international jury of experts. The implemented overall system contains known logistical components that are particularly forward-looking in their interaction – i.e., communication via interfaces for safety, function and optimisation using deep learning methods. The functionality of the real automated warehouse seems “exemplary” according to the jury’s verdict.

Cloud-based storage of real operational data

For the new Danfoss warehouse, STILL supplied a perfectly coordinated combination of three automated series industrial trucks (MX-X and EXV), including the installation of all system components. For end-to-end automation of the material flow, the series trucks are equipped with the iGo systems automation kit.

Identical components, controls and interfaces create powerful AGVs. These AGVs are controlled and monitored by a transport and traffic management system. Transport orders are generated by the WMS in the SAP host and transferred to the control system. This permanently generates vast amounts of valuable data, which is used to carry out a precise analysis of the automated warehouse in a cloud.

iGo insights

This data is evaluated with iGo insights – a tool that filters correlations from the wealth of process information in the cloud and provides specific recommendations for action. According to the IFOY jury, it is this analysis tool in particular that provides “further outstanding customer benefits”. In addition to technical problems with individual industrial trucks, it can also identify optimisation potential for the entire system, such as “bottlenecks”.

To do this, iGo insights uses the principle of machine learning. All data collected by the control system over a longer period of time is uploaded to the cloud for evaluation. The AI-supported software recognises structures in the data progression, calculates probabilities and thus enables proactive action.

Years of experience and research

Frank Müller, Senior Vice President Brand Management/Sales & Service Steering STILL EMEA, accepted the IFOY Award in Dortmund. According to him, the award is a well-deserved reward for the expertise in the field of automation that has been systematically built up over many years and for his company’s involvement in numerous international research projects.

Müller said: “Especially in the project that was now awarded the IFOY Award, we were able to bring in and apply the practical experience we gained from numerous automation projects realised in the past. This approach gives us a clear lead in know-how over our market competitors, which we pass on for the benefit of our customers.”

Benchmark project

The STILL iGo automated warehouse in Tinglev meanwhile has proven its worth. An initial analysis by the operator showed a cost saving of around 20%. In view of these figures, this warehouse is becoming a benchmark project: Danfoss is currently building a modern distribution centre in Rødekro using the same technology from STILL. It is designed for the automatic operation of 15 MX-X narrow-aisle trucks and 5 EXV high-lift pallet trucks.