Material Handling Robot Market

Market Overview

The Global Material Handling Robot Market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 13%, during the forecasted period 2020–2027.

As a result of growing industrialization, technological advancements in various industries have brought the use of robotics in daily business. Material handling robots offer many benefits such as improved productivity and quality, reduced labor cost, time-efficient operation, and flexibility, for almost all the industries that move parts and products on a large scale. The use of material handling robots has increased over recent years due to the rising number of mega-structures of the manufacturing and storage industry. The adoption of smart factories has also led to the increase in demand for material handling robots for automating the process of material and product transfer from one station to another.

Some of the primary reasons for the rising growth of material handling robot includes the ability to handle various material simultaneously, weighing capacity, and the reduced number of rounds required to move the material from one workstation to another. This makes them a cost-efficient and effective solution for material handling in different operations, such as pick and place, packaging, palletizing and de-palletizing, loading and unloading of heavy tools, and machine tending, among others. Another aspect of increasing demand for material handling robot is that it reduces the requirement of human operation and ensures safety across the workplace.

Increasing automation of the manufacturing industry on the account of the evolution of industry 4.0 is propelling the use of robotic solutions in material handling. The intensified ability of Industry 4.0 has provided rapid growth in the robotic market through technologies such as IoT. Digitization of logistics in industry 4.0 is disrupting the traditional operation of material handling. It is projected that industry 4.0 will offer ample opportunities in the future.

Market Dynamics

Need for Error-Free Operation and Safety in Manufacturing Units Drives Market Growth

Robotic material handling is emerging as a popular and effective application of industrial robotics. Material handling robot is heavily being used in the manufacturing industry due to emerging automation with industry 4.0. Robotic solutions for material handling are able to automate tasks that are tedious, time-consuming, repetitive, and unsafe for humans to perform on a production line.

Manufacturing units are under constant pressure for faster and cheaper production, along with the reduced scope of human error and/or accidents in heavy material handling. Robotic solutions for material handling offer a perfect alternative as robots automate the process, thereby reducing the scope of error and ensuring safety in manufacturing units. Other than this it also offers advantages such as better labor management, flexible manufacturing, robotic connectivity, and many more. Owing to the rising demand for these robots in the manufacturing units many key players are continuously delivering new products with better technology in the market.

Rise of Material Handling Robot in Warehouses

As per the changing consumer expectation due to the emergence of new sales outlets, progressing businesses have realized the rising need for redesigning of working supply chain. Merging the distribution and fulfillment operation into a single facility became the base of the supply chain network. It allows the business to store large amounts of product at a single location while delivering the services through multiple sales channels.

Handling such huge warehouses has given birth to the automation of the material handling process, rising the demand for robotic solutions for material handling. E-commerce companies across the world boast of some of the major automated warehouses, which is driving the growth of material handling robots. For instance, Amazon has one of the biggest warehouses globally, using more than 200,000 material handling robots.

Segmental Analysis

Automotive Industry is Expected to Dominate the Market in the Upcoming Years

The automotive industry is the leading industry as a user of industrial robots in the world, among which almost 1/3^rd of the robots used are material handling robots. Even though the number of material handling robots is rising in other industries, it is clearly visible that the automotive sector remains the most prominent user of material handling robots.

As the laws and regulations imposed by governments of different countries regarding workplace safety, it is the need of the time for key industry players to ease the manufacturing process with the help of automation. Upon having identified these trends, manufacturers are leaning towards the use of material handling robots for the modernization of manufacturing processes. On the account of these factors, the automotive industry is most likely to dominate the market in the upcoming years.

Impact of covid-19

Due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus earlier in 2020, the rising graph of overall industrial robots has shifted downward as many industries came to a halt during the pandemic. This halt disturbed the supply chain, thereby resulting in demand loss across the world.

The automobile industry is one of the biggest users of material handling robots. Due to the lower demand, the automobile industry faced a reduction in production. Some companies started working on half capacity. These scenarios show that the demand for material handling robots has dropped and the market witnessed a huge setback in growth. In addition, the temporary shut-down of the manufacturing industry all over the world has affected the growth of the material handling robot market, thereby reducing the demand across the globe.

Regional Analysis

Asia-Pacific to Hold the Maximum Market Share During the Forecast Period

Asia-Pacific is expected to come up as the largest market during the forecast period. One of the main reasons attributed to the growth is the significant growth of the automotive industry in APAC. The growth is also attributed to the rising adoption of technological advancements in material handling robots in order to serve the increasing requirement for modernization of industrial operations and business processes. Many industries in the region are focusing on automating traditional manual business processes, which is increasing the demand for material handling robots.

Advantages offered by material handling robots such as remote monitoring, digital analytics, and autonomous vehicles are driving the demand. The Asia-Pacific food and beverage industry is growing at a fast pace, and key players are automating processes to reduce time and make the manufacturing processes more efficient. The requirement of these material handling robots in warehouses by key players in the food and beverage industry is also driving the growth of the market.

Emerging economies such as China, India, and Japan are significantly accounting for the rapid growth of the market in the region. China has been a leading country in the robotics market since 2012. It has set itself a target to become the leader in technology and automation by 2050 according to its “Made in China 2050” policy. The growing manufacturing industry and automation of manufacturing processes in the country is driving the demand for material handling robots. International Federation of Robotics has estimated that around 950,300 industrial robots were operational in 2020. It is expected that China will dominate the Asian market of material handling robots in the upcoming years.

Recent Developments

• In December 2020, ForwardX Robotics announced the launch of 6 new products under its Max range of AMRs: Max 1200 Lift, Max 300 Conveyor, Max 600 Conveyor, Max 1200 Conveyor, Max 300 Lift Lite, and Max 1200 Standard. These new robots are built to efficiently automate material handling at warehouses.

Material Handling Robot Market Segmentation

By Product Type

• Articulated Material Handling Robots
• SCARA Material Handling Robot
• Parallel Material Handling Robot

By Industry Vertical

• Automotive
• Chemical, Rubber, and Plastic
• Electrical and Electronics
• Metal and Machinery
• Food, Beverages, and Pharmaceuticals

By Region

• Americas
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• The Middle East and Africa