Students from the Technical University of Munich design a forklift truck workstation in accordance with the principles of universal design

How should workstations be designed so that forklift truck drivers can work effectively and safely for a sustained period? Seven students from the master's degree programme in Industrial Design at the Technical University of Munich tackled this topic for one semester, during which time they worked with Linde to develop a workstation in a forklift truck in accordance with the of universal design (UD).

We have an ageing society, which means that even in the logistics industry there will be increasing numbers of employees still working beyond the age of 60 in the future. Companies are therefore faced with new challenges: Working environments need to be created that meet a range of physical requirements. And it was for this exact problem that the students wished to find solutions. The starting point for their work was a Linde E20 electric forklift truck from the current series.

 Working with Linde MH, eight students from the master's degree programme in Indus-trial Design at the Technical University of Munich have designed a forklift truck workstation in accordance with the principles of universal design. The students based their designs on the Linde E20 electric forklift truck.

Easy on the back
Before the students started developing their initial ideas, they took a trip to the Munich Wholesale Market to watch the forklift truck drivers in action. By observing the drivers, the students noticed that, although the forklift trucks hardly stayed in one place for any length of time, the drivers themselves sat in the cabs for long periods of time without moving very much. "Sitting for long periods is not good for the back", says Fritz Frenkler, who holds a chair as a university professor at the Department of Industrial Design at the Technical University of Munich. In addition, it becomes more difficult to turn around as you get older, because your body starts to stiffen up.