Automated Material Handling Equipment Market Report

The E-commerce sector is considered a major driver for demand for automated material handling equipment. It ensures fast product delivery, efficient packaging, storage, and order picking, and enhances the customer experience by meeting consumer expectations and delivering defect-free products. According to the reports of the International Trade Administration, global B2C e-commerce revenue is expected to grow by 14.4% of the compound annual growth rate up to US$5.5 trillion by the end of 2027. Not only in B2C but also the growth of e-commerce in the B2B field has also shown a positive sign and is expected to reach the mark of US$ 36 trillion by 2026 due to advanced healthcare, professional business services, etc. Thus, the rising e-commerce sector is expected to boost the Automated Material Handling Equipment Market. Also integrating automated material handling equipment with IoT devices allows companies to monitor equipment performance in real-time, enabling active maintenance and optimization of material handling processes. IoT-enabled automated material handling equipment systems collect data on equipment health and performance metrics for maintenance, reducing downtime and costly repairs by anticipating potential failures and scheduling maintenance tasks. 

Out of the various challenges faced by the automated material handling equipment market, the most common challenge is honeycombing. Honeycombing is the automated material handling equipment method that arises from managing irregularly shaped or non-uniform items in chemical and manufacturing industries.  It directly impacts space utilization, which leads to inefficient storage configurations. This challenge requires advanced knowledge and adaptive algorithms to handle varied item shapes effectively and use them in flexible solutions for various geometries without compromising speed or efficiency, ensuring system accuracy and reliability. Also, adapting traditional storage solutions for automated material handling equipment is a challenge due to compatibility issues with manual operations. Optimizing space utilization, ensuring system integration with advanced equipment, and improving efficiency are key aspects of addressing limitations and supporting automation's high precision, speed, and efficiency for operational performance.

In March 2024, SSI SCHAEFER presented new software, especially for the stand-alone operation of the SSI LOGIMAT Vertical Lift Module. LOGIONE was a simple and intuitive storage location and article management system. The self-explanatory user interfaces supported the operators and eliminated the need for time-consuming training. LOGIONE was available for users to download free of charge from the intralogistics expert's website. Digital warehouse management brought great benefits in terms of transparency and access times. Especially customers who did not have and did not need complex warehouse management benefited from very simple and fast storage and picking processes with LOGIONE. This made the software a powerful solution. In November 2023, the KION Group launched its own fuel cell systems for its industrial trucks. The global intralogistics company developed a 24-volt system for warehouse trucks. Up to 5,000 fuel cell systems per year could be manufactured on the new production line at the Hamburg plant. The Group invested more than €11 million in this technology. A 48-volt system was to be added to the fuel cell portfolio in the next years. This move into the production of hydrogen drives enabled us to meet the growing demand from our customers for an emission-free and sustainable drive system that could be refueled quickly. 

North America can be considered a lucrative market for the automated material handling equipment market due to the digitalization of supply chain developments by integrating loT enablers. Also, the United States market is considered a lucrative market due to rising concerns about labour costs. As per the reports of the Joint Economic Committee, salaries and wages have been rising since 2021. As per the calculation of the Joint Economic Committee, the United States wages and salaries have rapidly grown by US$ 16,700 between 2021 and April 2024. Also, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, compensation costs have increased by 0.9 percent. In the year 2024, wages and salaries have increased by 0.9 percent, and benefit costs have increased by 1.0 percent. Also, the Asia Pacific has shown a promising opportunity for the automated material handling equipment market due to rising infrastructure and the rapid industrialization market.

The rising infrastructure market, especially in India, can be considered a leading market, as according to the data of the Indian Brand Equity Foundation, the infrastructure is expected to reach the target of US$ 5 trillion in the year 2025. Also, in the interim budget 2024–25, an announcement of investment of US$ 133 billion, which would account for 3.4% of gross domestic product. Furthermore, the rapid growth in the industrial sector of China is expected to boss the automotive material handling equipment market, as according to the report of the National Bureau of Statistics of China in 2023, the total industrial sector of China was valued at US$ 5.6 trillion and has experienced a growth of 4.2% compared to 2022.