In the year being reviewed, Jungheinrich made further inroads in research and development activities designed to increase its technological expertise and set itself apart from the competi-tion. Expenditures on research and development (R&D) including work performed by third parties were high yet again, totalling €44.9 million (prior
year: €44.0 million). This represented 5.1 per cent (prior year: 5.1 per cent) of net sales generated with new trucks of relevance to R&D. Last year, an average of 400 employees (prior year: 378) worked in R&D throughout the Group, an area in which manpower was increased once again.
ManagementThe Jungheinrich shareGroup management reportGroup overviewConsolidated financial statementsFurther information
Research and development
in million € 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009
Total research and development expenditures 44.9 44.0 1 37.6 36.3 38.7
thereof capitalized development expenditures 12.1 5.5 5.4 8.8 6.5
Capitalization ratio 26.9 % 12.5 % 1 14.4 % 24.2 % 16.8 %
Amortization 2 of capitalized development expenditures 5.4 5.2 4.6 8.1 16.5 R&D costs according to the income statement 38.1 43.8 1 36.8 35.6 48.7 Ratio of R&D expenditures to net sales from new trucks 5.1 % 5.1 % 1 4.4 % 5.3 % 6.5 %
Ø R&D personnel (in FTEs) 400 378 342 322 339
Number of IPR filings 53 65 80 64 77
Number of patents granted 158 172 47 66 80
Figures may differ due to rounding.
1 Adjusted.
2 Figures for 2009 and 2010 include amortization and impairment losses.
The increase in major product developments caused the capitalization ratio to rise to 26.9 per cent (prior year: 12.5 per cent). As a result, research and development costs reported on the income statement dropped from €44 million to €38 million.
In the 2013 financial year, 53 (prior year: 65) applications were filed to protect industrial property rights, and 158 (prior year: 172) patents were granted. Jungheinrich protects its inno-vations and its products’ distinguishing features through patents.
Focal points and organization
The focal points of our development work are tightly intermeshed with the technology strategy.
In addition to the energy efficiency of drive sys-tems, the automation of material handling equip-ment and processes as well as the developequip-ment of platforms and shared parts, these include the international networking of engineering sites and innovation management, supported by a
technology roadmap with a ten-year horizon.
Besides the development of new forklift trucks, the primary objectives are reducing energy consumption and production costs as well as lowering life cycle costs.
Product development is distributed and assigned to individual product lines, while fun-damental research is centralized. Decentralized core competencies include the engineering of hardware and software for control systems.
Furthermore, our products benefit from the extensive expertise of suppliers and partners.
Fundamental research pools the engineering of technologies, the engineering of components, a central testing department, product design, stand-ardization and central innovation management.
Fundamental research is centralized. The company is a member in the Drive Technology Research Association (FVA) and the Intralogistics Research Association (IFL) which enables it to evaluate new technologies in a timely manner and explore opportunities for promising innovations.
Research and development expenditures in million €
Change in accounting treatment as of January 1, 2013.
Figures for 2012 adjusted.
Capital expenditures
in million € (tangible and intangible assets without capitalized development expenditures)
56 | 57 Fundamental research
In the field of fundamental research, the compa-ny primarily explored techniques for increasing the energy efficiency of material handling equip-ment. The focal points of work in the year under review were a new motor technology for electric motors, improvements predominantly of drive system control units through the use of new sensors, and the replacement of lead batteries with lithium-ion batteries. A lithium-ion strategy was developed to launch lithium-ion batteries for various products over the long term. Lithium- ion batteries distinguish themselves from con-ventional lead batteries by virtue of their longer lives, higher performance and zero maintenance requirement, while being relatively safe.
Image processing, which has progressed in recent years with the introduction of new camera and computing technologies, was explored in depth to identify its potential for improving assistance and automation systems.
The use of these systems in material handling equipment causes customer productivity to rise significantly. In this context, Jungheinrich is involved in the ‘FTF out of the box’ research pro-ject, which is subsidized by the German Ministry of Economics and Technology. The project aims to develop cognitive technologies for interactive automated guided vehicles. Prototypes are to be tested by the project’s application partners under real-life conditions. Jungheinrich is in charge of the overall coordination of the project, in which two other companies, the Institute for Technical Information Technology of the University of Lübeck, and a service provider in the field of production technology are involved. The project
started on October 1, 2013 and will run for three years. Jungheinrich’s contribution is a system for automated pallet storage and retrieval.
Structural engineering work benefits from a new large-scale 3D projection system that creates virtual reality settings in the project engineering phase. The system has already been tested in a pilot project.
In the year being reviewed, the first few components resulting from the Group’s com-ponent development operations, including a universal operator display, were readied for mass production and deployed in various forklift variants throughout the Group.
Taking the new Group components into account, the Corporate Design Department developed a new truck design in order to strengthen the products’ brand identity.
Product engineering
Jungheinrich will present a generation of IC engine-powered trucks that has been newly developed from the ground up at CeMAT, the lead trade show for material handling equipment, which will take place in May 2014. Featuring hy-drodynamic drives, the type DFG/TFG 316–320 and DFG/TFG 425–435 forklift trucks are robust and extremely stable, making them suitable for extreme applications in the most diverse of climatic conditions. Their main components such as the mast, frame and steering axle were developed by Jungheinrich in-house. High im-portance was accorded to ensuring the ease of maintenance and the comfort of the operator’s cabin of the new forklift truck generation. A new mast carriage provides for the driver’s excellent
ManagementThe Jungheinrich shareGroup management reportGroup overviewConsolidated financial statementsFurther information
view of the payload, forks and working environ-ment.
The new Series 5 battery-powered counter-balanced trucks and the ‘S Line’ (EFG 540–550/
S40–S50) feature further improved handling turnover rates while reducing energy consump-tion by up to 20 per cent compared to the pre-decessor models. The energy efficiency of this generation of stackers is outstanding compared to the competition.
The use of the newly developed platform for warehousing and system equipment for produc-ing the front-seat trilateral EFX 410–413 stacker marked the completion of the shared use of this platform for all relevant types of forklifts in the period under review. This goes hand in hand with the availability of RFID technology and Jungheinrich’s warehouse navigation. As a result, the forklift truck has a handling turnover rate that is 25 per cent higher than that of its predecessor.
By using automated guided transportation systems, efficiency can be increased in branches of industry in which transportation routines are recurrent and similar. In the year under review, the ERE 225 low-lift truck was fitted with an automated solution. This resulted in the range of mass-produced auto pallet movers (EKXa, EKS 210a and ERC 215a) being supplemented by the ERE 225a low-lift truck.
In the future, besides being used in the com-pany’s own products, control units, chargers and batteries are to be marketed to third par-ties. In 2013, new and larger lithium-ion battery prototypes were developed together with the associated charging technology and tested in ex-treme customer applications. The tests revealed that the newly engineered batteries working in tandem with the powerful charging devices significantly reduced operating costs thanks to the rapid and booster charging concepts.