Material handling demand to reach $20 billion by 2008

Cleveland, OH—The U.S. market for material handling equipment and systems will likely in-crease 4.3% per year to $20.4 billion in 2008 due to demand for improved productivity, safety, and ease-of-operations in, for example, material handing robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and services, according to a recent study, “Material Handling Equipment and Systems,” by the Freedonia Group Inc.

By Control Engineering Staff February 22, 2005

Cleveland, OH— The U.S. market for material handling equipment and systems will likely in-crease 4.3% per year to $20.4 billion in 2008 due to demand for improved productivity, safety, and ease-of-operations in, for example, material handing robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and services, according to a recent study, “Material Handling Equipment and Systems,” by the Freedonia Group Inc.

The report adds that the advanced/automated segment will likely see healthy increases through 2008, outpacing conventional equipment with approximate gains of 4.8% annually. Automated storage and retrieval systems will remain the largest advanced/automated category. Besides a continued economic upswing, demand for automated storage and retrieval systems will be bolstered by development of new product segments, such as material handling robots and software, which are projected to have the most dynamic growth.

Meanwhile, demand for conventional material handling equipment, such as industrial trucks and lifts, conveying equipment, hoists, cranes, and monorails, will likely reach $11.4 billion in 2008, according to Freedonia’s report. Conventional equipment will continue to account for most of the demand in this area, despite increasing automation in manufacturing and other markets.

Industrial trucks and lifts will remain the largest category of conventional material handling equip-ment, and will see the fastest gains among the main conventional segments. In addition, the report adds that durable goods manufacturing represented 35% of total mate-rial handling equipment demand in 2003. Growth over the forecast period is projected to be above the industry average. Gains in durable goods markets will benefit from the increasing use of advanced/automated material handling equipment to enhance worker safety, as well as increase productivity and efficiency, especially as U.S. manufacturers face increasing competition from lower-cost manufacturers in other countries.

Non-durable goods manufacturing will likely also see above average advanced through 2008. These will be led by healtrhy growth in the chemicals and foods and beverage markets, according to Freedonia’s report.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskJim Montague, news editorjmontague@reedbusiness.com