100 Years of Innovating the Future
History of the Future: STILL Intralogistics Company to Celebrate 100th Anniversary
Hamburg, February 3, 2020 - With the slogan "A History of the Future" the Hamburg intralogistics company STILL celebrates their 100th anniversary this year. Flashback: On the 1st February, 1920, Hans Still opens his repair shop for electric motors - it is the beginning of a century long success story of inventive talent, customer focus and service orientation.
Over the past 100 years STILL has time and again shown an acute perception of the current requirements and challenges of their customers, influenced the industry with their innovative power and courageously set out on the path towards future-oriented business fields.
From the beginnings up to the breakthrough
Only a few years after being founded as a repair workshop for electric motors, STILL presents their own products, such as the "Matador light station", at the Leipzig Fair in 1924. The development and repair of electric motors, generators and transformers remains the core business for many years. After the end of the Second World War STILL introduces an innovative electric truck to the market - the EK 2000 - and thus achieves the breakthrough as a manufacturer of industrial trucks. This is followed by the first forklift truck made by STILL. The introduction of the EGS 1000 electric forklift truck marks the beginning of a new era.
Innovative drive concepts and e-mobility pioneer
STILL quickly makes a name for themselves as a manufacturer of innovative industrial trucks and pioneer for electric mobility. The electric truck opens up new fields of application wherever zero emissions and energy efficiency are a priority. The passion for efficient electric motors has an effect right up to the development of IC engine powered trucks. From the very beginning, the drive concept of IC engine trucks is diesel-electric, i.e. using hybrid technology: The internal combustion engine drives a generator, which in turn generates electricity to drive the drive motor. The low engine speed enables fuel-efficient operation.
Electric drive and electric mobility are inseparably connected with STILL. The introduction of the first electric forklift truck in 1949, the use of fuel cells or lithium-ion technology are only some of the milestones which establish STILL as the partner for successful intralogistics solutions based on electric power. When the new RX 60-20/35 electric forklift truck is launched in 2019, STILL once again assumes a pioneering role: independent tests certify that the forklift truck has a productivity which exceeds that of any other IC engine forklift truck of the same capacity class ever tested. Never before has an electric forklift truck emerged as the winner from this direct performance duel.
Always thinking ahead - automatically
Inventiveness and the urge to find ever better solutions for their customers remain the central driving force of STILL for decades. Convinced of the enormous added value for customers, STILL is massively pushing the possibilities of automation solutions and assistance systems in the new millennium. The OptiSpeed truck control concept profitably combines both trends. It ensures the best possible travel speed at all times depending on lift height, direction of travel and load. The result is an increase in handling performance of up to 20 percent. With its efficiency mode, the intelligent Blue-Q autopilot enables a reduction of energy costs by up to 20 percent - without any noticeable loss of performance. The automation project at Kuraray Trosifol wins the coveted International Forklift Truck of the Year Award (IFOY Award) in the category "Intralogistics Solutions" in 2015. With a sophisticated material flow concept, semi-automatic shuttle vehicles communicate with automated reach trucks in a channel storage system for the first time in this project. Only one year later STILL presents the world's first autonomous order picker iGo neo CX 20 and is the first industrial truck manufacturer to use robotics in intralogistics as standard.
Focusing on customers and service as the key to success
Quality, service and customer orientation were the maxims of the company's founder Hans Still and continue to be the main pillars of the company today. The introduction of digital service portals such as the STILLReport as a web-based fleet management tool or the web application STILL neXXt fleet, are only two examples of the innovative power in the service sector.
In recent years STILL also continually expanded their range of consulting services. In a time of complex warehouse worlds with networked vehicles, closely interlinked processes and the need for ever more efficient workflows, STILL realised that, more than ever, companies need experts at their side who can provide competent advice, analyse the warehouse processes professionally and then prudently optimise the warehouse infrastructure. This applies all the more to the rapidly increasing trend towards automation.
Innovations that shape the industry
Time and again STILL demonstrates a subtle understanding of their customers' needs and converts this knowledge into new products: The introduction of the first clear-view mast in the nineteen-seventies, for example, significantly increases the safety of both driver and his surroundings. A further milestone is the introduction of the lateral battery change on the RX 20 and RX 60 electric forklift truck models, which significantly improves the trucks' efficiency and once again defines the standards that have now become the industry norm.
