A new report evaluating sentiment towards automation suppliers finds that 82% are satisfied with their current suppliers and 79% are planning new automation projects for their manufacturing and distribution facilities over the next 24 months
Monday, October 31, 2011
The Integrated Systems and Controls (ISC) Council of Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) has released the fourth in a series of Automation Reports titled Sentiment Towards Automation Suppliers.
Looking over the survey as a whole, several key takeaways important to the material handling, supply chain and logistics industry emerge:
- End users are satisfied with their automation suppliers. Better than 80% of respondents are satisfied with their automation suppliers, citing responsiveness, professionalism, support and good communication as key attributes. Conversely, poor communication, unresponsiveness and substandard work were cited most often by respondents who were unhappy with their suppliers.
- Interest in automation is strong. Roughly 80% of all respondents are planning their next or their first automation project. Nearly a third plan to start a project in the next 6 months while roughly 60% expect to begin a project within a year. Just under half report that their last project was completed within the past 6 months.
- Automation is pervasive. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of respondents have some degree of automation in their operations, with warehouse management software, conveyors and automatic identification technologies mentioned most often.
- End users are largely working with existing suppliers. For their next automation project, respondents are likely to look to their existing suppliers for material handling equipment and warehouse management solutions.
- End users are looking for true automation partners. Respondents say that the best automation suppliers are “true partners” who go above and beyond selling a product. Many of those same end users say they have developed long-standing relationships with their suppliers.
- Respondents report that quality, reliability, after-sales support and reputation are the most influential attributes. More than 60% report that they are satisfied with their maintenance service.
- Not all suppliers are created equal, according to respondents. The most cited reasons for removing a supplier from the short list are arrogance, attitude, fraud and poor after-sales support.
Respondents represented a wide variety of job titles, including warehousing, logistics and supply chain managers (31%); engineering, design and technical managers (24%); corporate and executive managers (15%); operations, production and plant managers (12%); facilities managers (7%) and purchasing (6%).
The average number of employees at responding companies was 815, with an average of 359 employees at the facility. However, 55% of the respondents work at companies with more than 1,000 employees and 10% work at individual facilities with more than 1,000 employees.
The survey was completed in recently over lists compiled by DC Velocity (www.dcvelocity.com), Modern Materials Handling (www.mmh.com), Material Handling & Logistics (www.mhlnews.com) and MHIA (www.mhia.org). Affinity Research Solutions (www.affinityresearchsolutions.com) conducted the survey on behalf of ISC.
A total of 486 qualified responses were received, including 316 (65%) respondents from warehousing/distribution and 170 (35%) from manufacturing.
Click here to view a summary report of the survey results.
ISC is an Industry Group of MHIA. ISC members are the Industry's leading suppliers of integrated material handling and controls systems and is comprised of members of the Automated Storage/Retrieval Systems (AS/RS), Automatic Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVS), Conveyor & Sortation Systems (CSS), Order Fulfillment Solutions (OFS) , and Supply Chain Execution Systems & Technologies (SCE) Industry Groups of MHIA. They supply systems worldwide and in virtually every major manufacturing and distribution sector.
MHIA is an international trade association that has represented this industry since 1945. MHIA members include material handling equipment and systems manufacturers, integrators, consultants, publishers, and third party logistics providers. Member companies come from all areas of material handling and various parts of the world, making MHIA a strong national and international representative for the material handling industry. Much of the work of the industry is done within its product-specific sections, councils and affiliates. The association also sponsors trade events, such as ProMat 2013 and MODEX 2012, to showcase the products and services of its member companies and to educate industry professionals on the productivity solutions provided through material handling and logistics.
Contact: For more information on MHIA activities and programming contact Carol Miller at 704-676-1190/800-345-1815.
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