Earlier this year, the Material Handling Industry of America conducted a survey about automation and attitudes towards it. What was discovered was that nearly 40% of respondents say the biggest obstacle to automated materials handling systems is a lack of available capital. The next greatest obstacle cited by 11% was a lack of in-house familiarity with the technology followed by the risk of failure cited by 9%. That said, the five automated technologies that are most likely to be used are: warehouse management systems, conveyors, palletizers, automatic guided vehicles and carousels