Material Handling Market Continues Upward Trend as Tech Matures
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Many of today’s manufacturing locations are turning to automation and other new technologies to improve operations, increase worker safety and do more with less.
New research from Global Market Insights predicts the material handling equipment market will exceed $190B by 2024. Owing to this growth is the continued use of technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in today’s factories.
Labor & Recruitment
Automation in manufacturing isn’t just about improving efficiency, it’s also a solution for an increasingly constrained labor pool and addresses shortages in talent recruitment. A CareerBuilder study also found that, “automation has also had a significant influence on employment shifts” and new technologies are actually bringing more jobs to market while automating others.
There is also an increasing need to protect employees from dangerous and labor-intensive jobs. With automated material handling solutions, companies can still move materials as needed throughout the facility with greater speeds and accuracy and without the factor of human error or risk of physical harm.
Productivity
Using smart technologies and connected machines means material handling can happen at faster speeds and with much greater loads. The IIoT is made up of billions of physical devices connected wirelessly via the Internet and able to communicate information such as the location of a product in the assembly line, or what temperature must be maintained. This translates to productivity gains that positively impact the bottom line.
Robotics, which the study found will increase 8% during the forecast period, are also teaching machines how to handle and process items and overtime, can even work completely independent from human input.
Industrial Automation
Conveyor belts and other bulk material handling and storage systems play an important role in today’s manufacturing industry. Together with new technologies, these systems are becoming sophisticated and capable of processing larger volumes, collecting more data and reducing time spent getting orders fulfilled.
In the future, the research firm predicts growth will continue as vendors focus on offering solutions that cater to specific industry needs and as more advanced technologies are introduced.
Tom Schaffner, Sales & Business Development Manager at mk North America commented on the news and the company’s unique position to deliver on growing demands saying, “At mk North America, Inc. we are excited to see where the future of the industry is heading; and we have positioned ourselves well to meet the ever growing demands for conveyors in industrial automation. With products ranging from flat belt conveyors, to pallet handling systems designed for robotic cell integration, to stainless steel conveyors specifically for the food handling industry – mk has a conveyor to meet whatever your needs are.”