Delivered its 100,000th remanufactured forklift to a customer
As the forklift industry increasingly discusses lithium electrification, automation and low-carbon manufacturing,
extending the lifespan of an industrial vehicle itself is also becoming an important path to reduce resource consumption
and carbon emissions. Last month, the German Jungheinrich Group announced that its second-hand equipment center
has completed the re-manufacturing of its 100,000th industrial vehicle. The significant 10th vehicle was an ETV 216i
reach truck, which was systematically refurbished and delivered to the Italian logistics service company MVN, beginning
its second operational cycle.
According to Jungheinrich, industrial remanufacturing of an existing vehicle can reduce carbon dioxide equivalent
(CO₂e) emissions by up to 80% compared to manufacturing a new industrial vehicle, while up to 99% of the vehicle's
original material can be reused or recycled. This means that the "trade-in" of forklifts is not the only option: frames,
gantry, and equipment with a large number of mechanical and electrical components that still have remaining life can
be brought back to the market through standardized testing, replacement, and repair, without the need to re-consume
the vast amount of steel, energy, and parts needed to make an entire new vehicle.
From maintenance of used forklift to industrial "remanufacturing"
The used industrial vehicle business of Jungheinrich is not used forklift reconditioning in the ordinary sense.
As early as 2006, the company established a used equipment center in Klipphausen near Dresden, Germany, and has
since continued to expand production capacity and improve the remanufacturing process. After 20 years of development,
the site now has more than 13,500 square meters of production area and about 200 employees, and the 100,000th
remanufactured vehicle was completed here.
After entering the factory, vehicles are first subjected to a comprehensive technical inspection. Safety-related parts
must be replaced according to standards, and other parts are repaired or replaced according to wear and tear. Jungheinrich
currently divides its remanufactured vehicles into different classes, including the "JUNGSTAR Performance" and the more
economical "JUNGSTAR Economy".
For customers with lower use intensity and more sensitive budget, JUNGSTAR Economy will reduce some unnecessary
exterior renovations on the basis of ensuring safety standards; For high-intensity applications such as continuous multi-shift
operation, the Performance version performs a more complete technical and visual renovation. Regardless of the approach,
the company said safety-critical components would not be lowered for cost reasons.
After the five-star standard remanufacture of JUNGSTARS vehicles, the corresponding treatment and inspection from the
safety, technology, appearance, reliability and sustainability, the goal is to make the vehicle in the technical and visual state
close to the new forklift level.
Therefore, from the perspective of production logic, this has been clearly different from the traditional used forklift market
in the simple cleaning, painting and maintenance. In fact, the company has developed the processing of used industrial
vehicles into an industrial remanufacturing system with production processes, quality standards and product grades.
In the future, as China's forklift social ownership continues to expand and a large number of equipment enters the renewal
cycle, remanufacturing will have more and more obvious industry and national level value. On the one hand, through the
detection, repair and reuse of the frame, door frame, motor, electric control, hydraulic system and other high-value components,
it can reduce the consumption of steel, non-ferrous metals and other resources and the energy and carbon emissions caused
by the re-manufacturing of the whole vehicle, which is highly consistent with the goal of promoting circular economy, green
manufacturing and "double carbon" in our country.
On the other hand, standardized remanufacturing also helps to change the status quo of the traditional second-hand
forklift truck market with uneven quality and opaque salvage value system. In the future, with the expansion of the rental fleet,
the improvement of the digital archives of equipment and the gradual maturity of the battery ladder utilization system, the
"new forklift manufacturing - operation leasing - recovery evaluation - remanufacturing - secondary use - final resource
recovery" is expected to form a complete industrial closed loop, and remanufacturing will also become an important part of
China's transition from a big forklift manufacturing country to a powerful country of full life cycle service.
