Material Handling Equipment Manufacturers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 1,400 material handling equipment manufacturers in the US produce a wide range of custom products including elevators, escalators and moving walkways; conveyors and industrial and commercial carousels; grain and mine elevators and conveyors; pneumatic tube conveyors; and overhead cranes, hoists, winches and monorail systems. They also produce standard products, including dollies and hand trucks; forklifts and pallet movers; industrial cradles, cherry-pickers, and bomb lifts; wheelbarrows, shopping carts and cart corrals, valet carts and dumbwaiters. As a result, the industry’s customer base is very broad.
Foreign Competition
US manufacturers compete in the domestic market with imports, which represent about 25% of the US market for material handling equipment.
System Automation and Flow Analysis
As technology advances, so are the capabilities incorporated into material handling equipment.
Industry size & Structure
A typical material handling equipment manufacturer operates out of a single location, employs 69 workers, and generates over $25 million annually.
- The material handling equipment manufacturing industry comprises about 1,400 companies, which employ about 96,000 workers and generate about $35 billion annually.
- The elevator and escalator segment accounts for 11% of firms and 12% of industry revenue. The conveyor and conveying equipment segment accounts for 49% of firms and 32% of revenue. The overhead crane, hoist, and monorail system segment represents 18% of firms and 23% of revenue. The segment that produces carts, stackers, lifts, and cradles accounts for 22% of firms and 33% of industry revenue.
- The conveyor and conveying equipment segment is the least concentrated, with half of its revenue attributed to the top 50 firms. The other three segments are highly concentrated, with half of revenue attributed to the top four firms.
- Large companies include Fortuna (formerly Material Handling Systems), Dematic, Bastian Solutions, DMW&H, Crown Equipment Corp., Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, and divisions of Honeywell, Caterpillar, and Komatsu.
Industry Forecast
Material Handling Equipment Manufacturers Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Sep 30, 2024 - Robot Count Increasing
- The number of robots deployed in factories worldwide topped 4 million last year, according to the new World Robotics report from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). The robot count increased by 10% to 4,281,585 units, with annual installations exceeding half a million units for the third consecutive year, per the IFR report. “The annual installation figure of 541,302 units in 2023 is the second highest in history,” said IFR President Marina Bill. On a regional basis, 70% of all newly deployed robots in 2023 were installed in Asia, 17% in Europe, and 10% in the Americas. The US, the largest regional market, accounted for over two-thirds (68%) of installations in the Americas last year. While installations were down by 5% to 37,587, it is still the third-highest record figure after 2022 and 2018. Demand from the automotive industry fell by 15% to 12,421 units, per the report.
- Material handling equipment manufacturing inventories rose in June compared to a year ago, while shipments and new orders fell, the latest Census Bureau data show. Still, the producer price index for material handling equipment manufacturers reached a new high in July, extending a steep and steady climb that began in early 2021 as the US economy recovered from the pandemic and ecommerce soared, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Industry producer prices rose 3.2% compared to a year ago after rising 5.8% in the previous July-versus-July annual comparison. Meanwhile, employment by material handling equipment manufacturers grew 1.1% year over year in July, BLS data show
- A new report from industrial real estate firm CBRE highlighted growth in leasing activity for megawarehouses (1 million square feet or larger) over the first half of 2024, Modern Materials Handling reports. The combination of lower lease rates and higher vacancies helped support a 35% increase compared to the first half of 2023. In terms of occupiers, CBRE noted that traditional retailers and wholesalers were most active, signing 30 of the top 100 leases (down from 34 last year), with third-party logistics (3PL) services providers closely behind, at 29 (down from 33 in 2023). Ecommerce and food and beverage operators were next, at 14 and 13, respectively. On a geographic basis, Southern California’s Inland Empire led, with 15 megawarehouse leases for a total of 13.5 million square feet (MSF), followed by Memphis and Fort Worth, each with nine leases, at 6.1 MSF and 8.0 MSF, respectively.
- Rising online sales and competition among ecommerce providers will drive demand for material handling equipment as Amazon adds warehouse space and restructures its massive US distribution network, The Wall Street Journal reports. After pausing its expansion in the aftermath of the pandemic, the ecommerce giant is back in growth mode with plans to overhaul its domestic shipping network. The company is looking to build or lease warehouse space to store massive quantities of inventory and smaller fulfillment centers closer to customers to speed up delivery times. Amazon’s plan to add more locations is creating opportunities for providers of conveyor belts, pallet jacks, forklifts, pallet pickers, and more. Year to date, Amazon has leased, bought, or announced plans for more than 16 million square feet of new warehouse space in the US, according to supply-chain consulting firm MWPVL International, cited by WSJ.
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