Material Handling Equipment Manufacturers NAICS 333921, 333922, 333923, 333924

Mar 30, 2025 - 2025 Industry Outlook Survey

• Persistent labor shortages, ecommerce growth, and need to optimize current space are all pushing warehouse and distribution center operators to invest in automation, experiment with robotics, and find new ways to increase speed and efficiency, according to Modern Materials Handling’s 2025 Industry Outlook Survey. The poll of managers and personnel involved in the purchase decision process for materials handling equipment found that companies making investments say they’re spending on automation and technology (64%), forklifts and lift trucks (55%), storage equipment (36%), and technology information systems like warehouse management systems (WMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms (32%). However, current economic uncertainty appears to be impacting spending on materials handling equipment, technologies, services and solutions, with 34% of companies saying it’s “business as usual” on the investment front, 43% of respondents taking a “wait-and-see” approach, and 23% holding off on investing altogether.
• Average spending on materials handling equipment is expected to rise this year, according to Modern Materials Handling’s 2025 Industry Outlook Survey of managers and personnel involved in making purchasing decisions. Over the next 12 months, companies surveyed say they plan to spend an average of nearly $402,000 on materials handling equipment and information systems solutions – up from about $329,000 in 2024. The survey found that 14% of organizations plan to spend $1 million to $2.5 million-plus, while nearly half (46%) are allocating anywhere from less than $25,000 up to $49,999. The majority of survey respondents (59%) say they’ll either be buying new or upgrading existing solutions. To maintain automated materials handling systems, 62% of companies rely on internal/in-house staff, 33% use both internal staff and outsourcing, and 17% outsource it, creating opportunities for equipment manufacturers to enter into service contracts with customers.

• US companies accelerated their warehouse-leasing decisions following Donald Trump’s election in November, reviving prospects in a warehousing sector that has slumped since its pandemic-era highs, Hamid Moghadam, CEO of industrial property developer Prologis, told The Wall Street Journal in January. A major customer industry for material handling equipment, the warehousing sector has been shaky since the end of 2022 following frenzied leasing and expansion driven by a surge in e-commerce sales during the pandemic. Moghadam said companies leased more space at the end of the fourth quarter as they gained more certainty about the next four years. He said Prologis signed deals to lease 61 million square feet in the fourth quarter, a record for quarterly leasing for the company and up substantially from the previous year, per WSJ.
• Individuals adept at managing the ongoing ecommerce boom, increasing supply complexity, digitalization and automation, and other challenges facing makers of material handling equipment are in high demand. Not surprisingly, salaries and benefits packages reflect the skill set required and competition for top talent, Modern Materials Handling’s 2024 Salary Survey finds. In 2024, 17% of base salaries for materials handling professionals exceed $150,000, while 22% are less than $50,000. Meanwhile, 12% of respondents indicate that their base salary for 2024 is between $125,000 and $149,999, while 11% say $100,000 to $124,999, and 9% say $90,000 to $99,999. The survey also finds an average base salary of $101,904 in 2024, compared to $102,787 in 2023, and $103,422 in 2022, although 61% of professionals say their base salary has increased over the last year, while 37% say it has stayed the same.