Products and Solutions

Efficiency is the foundation for all product development work within the KION Group. Across the Group, universal standards and international coordination of its technical operations around the globe help to streamline the development process for multiple product variants. All development projects initiated by the product management team of the relevant Operating Unit in response to specific customer requirements are coordinated and overseen by the Group-wide CTO¹ Organization.

For the KION Group, the key focus is to ensure its operations are well aligned across the complete value chain and to develop more sustainable products, solutions, and services for its customers. These products and solutions also play a key role in the Group’s efforts to achieve its own sustainability targets. To meet these targets, the company needs a diverse product portfolio—comprising physical products, software, and services—that incorporates sustainability aspects as effectively as possible at all stages of the product life cycle, from design and production through usage and end of life.

STILL has set itself clear targets for its product development work, namely to continue to focus its product range on battery and fuel cell powered technologies in the long term and to continually increase the proportion of components that can be cycled back into the production process by developing new products. In 2023, 97.3% of STILL trucks sold to customers were electric. In 2020, the innovative Product Evolution Process (iPEP) was also relaunched as part of the KION Product Development Optimization (KPDO) project, meaning that sustainability requirements are now a direct part of the product development process. Requirements and progress towards the targets set are also documented here.

STILL is committed to designing products and solutions that are as environmentally friendly and energy-saving as possible, so that it can offer its customers solutions that make efficient use of resources and are also cost-effective to run. To this end, the company sources the most environmentally friendly materials it can and ensures that its products can be easily repaired, refurbished, and re-used as necessary. Moreover, big data analyses make it possible to create product specifications and configurations that forgo unnecessary safety buffers while utilizing the product life cycle to the optimal extent.

Mixed production lines—where several different truck models are assembled on the same conveyor—are another effective way of using resources more efficiently. As well as offering economic advantages, this production method is also extremely beneficial from an environmental perspective, since the smaller production area reduces the amount of raw materials and energy required to build, operate, and maintain the infrastructure. In order to produce its counterbalanced forklift trucks on its mixed production lines, STILL has also introduced additional automation solutions, such as welding robots. This increased level of automation has environmental benefits since it avoids spikes in electricity usage, for example; plus it promotes the health of employees, as in many cases they are no longer directly exposed to welding risks such as heat sources and fumes.

With “Mission: Zero Emission,” STILL has set itself the clear target of reducing CO₂ emissions from its product fleet to zero. Until then, the company will continue to optimize its existing technology, in order to give its customers an important competitive advantage. It is for this reason that STILL continues working every day to further enhance the efficiency of its products. The company pursues this aim by developing solutions such as smart networks, fleet management systems, and charging systems that help customers manage their power consumption as efficiently as possible according to the area of application, and to avoid spikes in demand. These solutions significantly reduce energy consumption and enable customers to cut costs by a substantial amount—without modifying or impacting their operating processes, and while helping the environment at the same time.

For example, the company’s vehicles are already among the most efficient in their class thanks to STILL’s Blue-Q mode, which allows customers to reduce their energy consumption by up to 20%. Blue-Q mode is activated via a button inside the truck and automatically switches functions off when they are not in use. For an electric forklift truck with a 1.6-metric-ton load capacity working a three-shift pattern over five years, this 10–20% reduction in energy consumption equates to a saving of around 2,500 euros—even without taking into account the potential additional savings resulting from reduced wear and tear, a longer battery lifespan, and longer operating time per charge.

For customers looking to switch to alternative energy sources, STILL’s solutions can offer an energy saving of up to 30% thanks to the increased efficiency of its lithium-ion technology. To maximize these benefits for customers, STILL offers a “Best Technology Fit Promise,” whereby it analyzes each customers’ individual use case in order to determine the best energy system for their business. This decision is a primarily strategic one, dependent on the customer’s specific use case and cost factors, as well as whether they have the necessary setup and vision to achieve climate neutrality in their operations.

The fleet management systems STILL FleetManager 4.x and STILL neXXt fleet also provide customers with an overview of all relevant fleet management information and feature a wide range of data analysis functions, such as compiling and evaluating reports and vehicle data, and evaluating commercial fleet data. Both systems give the customer a real-time overview of their vehicle fleet, allowing them to continue stepping up efficiency of their industrial truck operations.

While the company has previously focused on general data management for trucks and fleets, STILL’s Smart Energy Unit represents the latest addition in terms of its ongoing efforts to promote sustainability in the intralogistics industry. This tool is a powerful solution that optimizes the use of resources and energy efficiency by offering a comprehensive, digital, and transparent means of monitoring and managing battery and charger-related processes. The Smart Energy Unit’s intelligent charging management algorithm significantly reduces the carbon footprint while conserving valuable resources. In addition, the tool’s dashboard clearly visualizes relevant charging data so companies can monitor their energy consumption and identify areas where they need to improve. Moreover, this solution saves money by avoiding cost-intensive current spikes and letting customers define charging time slots, which means they can save on electricity costs while reducing the impact their operations have on the environment.

STILL’s products play a key role in its customers’ value chains and have a direct impact on its customers’ progress towards their sustainability targets—including climate neutrality. Greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, efficient use of resources, and the circular economy are therefore key focus areas for STILL in its ongoing efforts to improve its products and solutions. These efforts include: moving towards an all-electric product range, offering a range of different electric drive technologies, increasing energy efficiency wherever possible, developing products that require fewer materials and generate less waste, and sourcing materials that support the creation of closed-loop material cycles.

Over the years, STILL has continued to develop its electric drive technology and, as a result of these efforts, electric forklift trucks with lithium-ion batteries can now achieve load capacities that were previously only possible with powerful diesel or gas-powered models. STILL is committed to developing electric forklifts that can replace their internal combustion counterparts, and in this respect its products have proven extremely successful.

The majority of STILL’s trucks are fitted with energy-efficient lithium-ion batteries. These batteries offer important advantages over conventional lead-acid batteries, notably faster charging times and higher charging efficiency, a significantly longer lifespan, and much higher capacity. The energy efficiency of lithium-ion batteries is also over 90%. In comparison to models with conventional rechargeable batteries, these products therefore help customers to reduce their energy consumption, as well as make a significant cut in their greenhouse gas emissions.

STILL’s comprehensive range of electric products also includes turnkey hydrogen solutions. STILL is currently expanding production of its own fuel cell system at its Hamburg site and is working together with Hydrogentle—a Hamburg-based company specializing in hydrogen infrastructure—to provide a full range of hydrogen technology. Customers can therefore look to STILL as a one-stop provider of hydrogen-powered industrial trucks—including everything from the truck itself, to the fuel cell, servicing, and all the necessary infrastructure.

STILL’s fuel cell technology represents a clean and efficient solution for intralogistics processes and offers a sustainable alternative to conventional battery-driven systems. The technology eliminates the need for battery changes and long charging times, reduces energy consumption, and improves operational efficiency. The fuel cell technology developed by STILL offers maximum availability and efficiency thanks to short refueling times and a continuous supply of energy. At the same time, the hydrogen dispensers take up very little space and can be positioned along transport routes without requiring a separate charging area, which creates the conditions for maximum flexibility in the warehouse while putting space to best use.

Depending on customers’ requirements, STILL can supply industrial trucks fitted with fuel cells directly from its factory, as well the “Fuel Cell Ready” option. By offering its customers forklift trucks fitted with fuel-cell technology, the company hopes to provide an environmentally-friendly alternative to conventional internal combustion models, since the two technologies are very similar in terms of performance. If the hydrogen is produced using renewable energy, the customer’s fleet generates almost zero emissions, which has a big impact in terms of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. STILL has already supplied more than 100 hydrogen-powered warehouse trucks—the largest fleet in Europe to date—to a major French food retailer.

The design engineering policies and requirements of the KION Group set minimum standards for supplier parts and the identification of parts. These standards stipulate that used plastic and rubber products should be reused wherever possible; must be compatible with existing recycling systems; and as far as possible must be able to be separated into distinct material types. These same principles are also underlined in the KION Group’s works standards.

Since 2022, STILL has been producing its own lithium-ion batteries with a particular focus on refurbishment and recycling. The company has been collaborating with its partner Li-Cycle and working to close the loop for these components in order to address the all-important question of what happens to batteries once they reach their guaranteed number of charging cycles. In 2023, the KION Group and Li-Cycle launched a strategic partnership based in the EU with the aim of pursuing recycling initiatives. This allows the group to recover materials produced during the shredding of used batteries so they can be reprocessed and converted into new batteries.

For many years, STILL has also offered an attractive range of rental and used trucks, designed to help customers reduce their costs and also preserve valuable primary raw materials. STILL operates refurbishment centers in Bremen (Germany), Poznań (Poland), and Lainate (Italy), where expert teams evaluate the used trucks, conduct in-depth tests on their hydraulic systems and electronics, and classify them based on their condition (bronze, silver, or gold). Depending on this classification, they then fully refurbish the truck using original replacement parts and repaint it. The battery is regenerated, capacity testing is performed, and after some final quality checks, the used truck is ready to begin its second life. By offering this refurbishment service, STILL is already making an important contribution to the expansion of the circular economy.

Old forklifts that have reached the end of their useful life are disposed of in accordance with Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and Council. In line with this legislation, STILL publishes detailed information about the disposal of its forklift trucks at approved recycling facilities.

STILL endeavors to promote sustainability across all life cycle phases of its products and solutions. Products from various series that are representative of the company’s range were analyzed throughout the entire product life cycle, and these analyses showed that the consumption of energy and fuel during the use phase are significant factors in terms of emissions. Based on this, energy efficiency is a priority for STILL’s powerful drive technologies.

The company has set out a timetable specifying which products are to be analyzed using a software-supported process over the coming years. Life cycle assessment results will play a significant role in STILL’s future products and solutions as the company will be able to incorporate new insights starting in the design phase.

These assessments represent effective input in terms of integrating environmental aspects into the process of developing new products and proposing eco-friendly improvements. They create transparency around the environmental impacts of the products as well as related improvements.

Footnotes:
[1] The KION Group’s cross-brand and cross-regional approach to product development is designed to maintain universal standards and ensure international coordination of its technical operations around the globe. Functions such as research and development, procurement, and quality and sustainability management all fall under the remit of the KION Group’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO).