The World's Top 20 Systems Suppliers

Our annual listing of materials handling systems suppliers shows that while many companies struggled this year, there were a few bright spots.

By David Maloney Senior Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 4/1/2003

It was another roller coaster year for materials handling. While many hoped that the economy would recover during 2002, the sluggishness continued and affected sales of materials handling equipment used in manufacturing and distribution.

Our annual listing of the Top 20 materials handling system suppliers reflects the ups and downs of the industry. Of the 18 companies returning to the list this year, ten experienced declines in revenue during 2002 from that of the previous year. Six of these were off by more than 10% and four decreased by over 20%

Only seven of the 18 saw increases, with four up by more than 10% and one increasing over 20%.

The top five firms in order on this year's list are Siemens Dematic, Daifuku, Schaefer Holding, FKI, and Swisslog. To qualify for the MMH Top 20 list, companies must be suppliers of materials handling systems, not just equipment providers. In addition to manufacturing at least one major handling system component, a company must also have full-time staff that designs, installs, integrates, and implements materials handling systems that include two or more major equipment types. These are transportation devices, storage and staging equipment, picking units, sortation systems, information management systems, data capture technologies, and other systems. A table in this article defines what each member of the Top 20 supplies.

While the 18 companies returning to this year's list saw their revenues erode by an average of 5% last year, there is reason to hope. The minimum needed to qualify for the Top 20 was the highest ever recorded, with Number 20 coming in at $107 million. This is the third year in a row where all 20 top companies had revenues over $100 million.

Firms with a strong European base appear to have fared better than their American counterparts. Thirteen of the Top 20 (and four of the top five companies) are headquartered in Europe. Two others are based in Japan and one in Australia.

Most of these foreign entities held their ground or grew in 2002, except those that rely heavily on the American market. In contrast, only one of the four American-based firms showed a revenue increase, and that was a mere 2%. The other three showed significant declines. Clearly, the sluggish U.S. economy is to blame for the continuing doldrums in the industry.

The total combined revenue of the Top 20 was $11.5 billion in 2002. That was off over two billion from 2001, or 14%. A large portion of this decrease was due to divestiture, reversing a trend of recent years when leading companies were in an acquisition mode.

Chief among these was Siemens Dematic. Last year, the company completed its sale of its Demag Crane & Components unit. The result of this divestiture was that Siemens Dematic, while still remaining in the top spot on our survey list, had $1.7 billion less revenue in 2002 than in 2001.

Columbus McKinnon also sold off two of its units-Kansas City-based Automatic Systems, and Handling Systems and Conveyors of Mableville, Ark. As a result, overall company revenues declined 39% from the previous year, dropping Columbus McKinnon two positions in this year's rankings.

Swisslog also was in a selling mood, shedding its Corob subsidiary, which manufactures automatic tinting equipment.

A few firms did acquire new properties. In September, Siemens Dematic purchased Automation Technologies Industries of Birmingham, Ala. The acquisition provides additional assembly and manufacturing capabilities for Siemens Dematic's automation systems.

Flexlink has also been strong in acquisitions during the past two years- enough that they have been propelled to the Number 19 spot on this year's list. In 2001, the Swedish-based company, known for its conveyor systems, bought the IHT technology department from cell phone maker Ericsson. This strengthened Flexlink's expertise in robotic applications. The firm also purchased Flexible Technologies and PCT Automation in 2001. Last year, Flexlink acquired Flexible Production Systems and Finnish GWS Systems Oy, which extends its capabilities in assembly automation and circuit board handling.

Also new to the Top 20 list this year is viastore systems. The German-based company focuses primarily on automated storage solutions, but also offers conveyor control software and picking systems. It made the list at Number 20.

Unfortunately, these newcomers bumped two other perennial firms from the Top 20, Tomkins Industries (Dearborn Mid-West Conveyors) and Sandvik. Another newcomer, Accu-Sort Systems, just barely missed making the list this year, coming in at Number 21, only $5 million behind the 20th spot.

With the economy still sluggish, war at hand, and lots of uncertainty in the markets, it remains to be seen what 2003 holds for our Top 20-but MMH will be sure to report on that this time next year.

Click on the icon to read about 2002's top systems suppliers.

Top 20 materials handling system suppliers worldwide

Top 20 materials handling system suppliers worldwide

What the top 20 systems companies supply

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