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 1,450 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.
Fending Against Foreign Competition
US manufacturers compete in the domestic market against foreign imports, which represent about 26% of the US market for material handling equipment.
System Automation and Flow Analysis
As technology advances, so too are the capabilities incorporated into material handling equipment.
Industry size & Structure
A typical material handling equipment manufacturer operates out of a single location, employs 60 workers, and generates about $23 million annually.
- The material handling equipment manufacturing industry consists of about 1,450 companies, which employ about 87,000 workers and generate about $34 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 its top 50 firms. The other three segments are highly concentrated with half of revenue attributed to the top 4 firms.
- Large companies include Material Handling Systems, Dematic, Bastian Solutions, DMW&H, Crown, Yale Materials Handling, Rees-Memphis, Hyster, Americana, and divisions of Honeywell, Caterpillar, and Komatsu.
Industry Forecast
Material Handling Equipment Manufacturers Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Feb 28, 2023 - Warehouse Automation Priorities
- Total cost of ownership and integration levels are rising concerns for companies, while concerns over parts availability have eased, according to Modern Materials Handling’s 2023 Automation Solutions Study. The survey, conducted in November, examines automation, robotics, software and equipment categories at companies looking to implement or improve their systems. Businesses also are prioritizing system maintenance and uptime to help meet tougher service levels amid ongoing labor challenges. The heightened concern voiced by respondents to the 2022 survey around service parts availability declined in importance, while issues like total cost of ownership and service response time gained. The 2023 survey shows anticipated spending levels for the year ending 2022 were down from the previous survey. The average estimated spending level was $1.57 million, down from a $2.02 million average last year, and almost identical to the $1.579 million average two years ago, according to MMH.
- Leaders in the equipment leasing and finance sector are feeling increasingly – albeit cautiously – optimistic, as measured by the February 2023 Equipment Finance Industry survey conducted by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 51.8, an increase from the January index of 48.5. When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 16.1% of the executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve, an increase from none in January. About 61% believe business conditions will stay the same over the next four months, down from 69.2% in January. 22.6% think business conditions will worsen, a decrease from 30.8 % last month. None of the respondents view the current US economy as “excellent,” unchanged from January, with 87.1% evaluating the current US economy as “fair,” up from 84.6% in January.
- Manufacturers face an elevated risk of cyberattacks due to their use of information technology and IoT (Internet of Things) systems, according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). In a look ahead at the Top 8 Manufacturing Trends for 2023, NAM cited an increased focus on cybersecurity, noting that cyber insurance has become a “must have” to protect manufacturers and prove they are a reliable partner to customers. Beyond cyber insurance, manufacturing companies can reduce risk and eliminate some attacks through best practices, such as proactive monitoring, employee training, and network segmentation. Publicly-traded manufacturers also should prepare for potential new cybersecurity reporting requirements, including the timely disclosure of material cybersecurity breaches, later this year.
- Supply chain conditions are expected to improve this year compared to 2022 and 2021, according to execution management software firm Celonis. Still, executives across multiple industries say their companies will focus on resiliency and optimization as conditions remain fragile, presenting opportunities for makers of material handling equipment. Building resilience in the supply chain is a key goal. However, retooling a supply chain takes time and companies aren’t assuming that supply chain operations will return to the productivity and efficiency levels in 2019, prior to the pandemic.
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