Year in Review: Top materials handling news in 2017

The industry’s momentum continues to build, even as it changes shape to adapt to technology; acquisitions across technology competencies have heralded the arrival of Consolidation 2.0, while automation and cybersecurity shake up the way players throughout the supply chain do business. The next year promises continued change, but unlike the uncertainty—verging on panic—that characterized 2016, the industry seems poised to overcome obstacles and seize opportunities.

Here is a collection of the biggest headlines and most telling developments of 2017:

Mergers, acquisitions and partnerships
● Toyota acquires Bastian Solutions and Vanderlande to form new intralogistics division
● Hyster-Yale acquires controlling interest in Zhejiang Maximal, Chinese specialist in utility and standard lift truck segments
● I.D. Systems to acquire Keytroller, combining leaders in mobile asset management technologies
● International technology group Körber acquires HighJump, cloud-based supply chain software specialists, and DMLogic, provider of modular WMS
● ADSI, Agile Network and Pantechnik merge, form Logistyx Technologies
● Epson partners with Loftware to create new solution for color label printing
● Optricity, Bastian Solutions partner to provide advanced warehouse optimization services
● Robotic Industries Association announces new alliance with OSHA, NIOSH to improve awareness of traditional industrial robots and emerging collaborative systems

Manufacturing
● Manufacturing industry suffers image problem, yet critical to U.S. prosperity
● New study highlights progress of digitalization of U.S. manufacturers
● PwC and MAPI release survey on state of IoT in manufacturing
● ABI Research: Manufacturer adoption of collaborative robots is strong
● The Manufacturing Institute, Deloitte and APICS release new study on women in manufacturing
● Manufacturing Day: 2,716 events from Hawaii to Alaska to Puerto Rico

Research and economy
● Shortage of skilled workers No. 1 concern, economy second for first time since 2013
● Deloitte study: Consumer businesses operate with a false sense of security about cyber risk
● A3 report: North American automation market shattering records in 2017
● Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association reports unexpectedly strong gains in 2017
● APICS addresses talent shortage through expanded supply chain stem program

In other news
● ProMat sees 20% attendance increase; largest event in show history
● Pack Expo Las Vegas sets attendance record
● Importance of operator training focus of National Forklift Safety Day 2017
● American Logistics Aid Network coordinates recovery from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Jose