Intra Logistik's column (from materialfluss 11-12/2019)
Will there soon only be giants?
Logistics automation is the future. It's not just logistics automation specialists who know this, but above all their users, who seem to be running money-printing machines as soon as they have their new system under control. In any case, for some companies, the period in which they began their profitable growth coincides with the period in which they had their internal logistics processes under control and automated.
A market of the future. For automation specialists, as I said. Suppliers of static or manually operated warehouse technology are increasingly only participating in this market as sub-suppliers. The shelving and container supplier BITO, for example, has been desperately trying for years to bring its driverless transport system onto the market, the umpteenth generation of which has finally found an application. SSI Schaefer had already snapped up an automation specialist 20 years ago and then a few other companies to make it the world's leading intralogistics one-stop store.
Companies from outside the industry also want a slice of this pie: Kuka is acquiring Swisslog, only to be taken over by the Chinese electronics retailer Midea. The cigarette machine manufacturer Körber has acquired a veritable collection of automated intralogistics companies across Europe, which may eventually become a single entity.
Forklift companies have also recognized the potential. Jungheinrich followed a similar path to SSI - buy in, build up, march off, try things out. Others go shopping in a big way: Kion is getting in right at the top with the takeover of a troubled Dematic - here the ready-made automation system is already on board, now the whole thing just has to become profitable. Toyota skips this step with the acquisition of Vanderlande. Three of the world's top 4 industrial truck manufacturers have thus already prepared themselves for the future of automation. The only remaining question is when the fourth will join in. And who it will take over. Perhaps a mega-giant will emerge?
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