Britain’s manufacturing companies are driving a trend towards greater use of automated storage and handling systems.

That is the view of Steve Richmond, director of Jungheinrich UK Ltd’s Systems & Projects Division.

“Some countries have always been more pro-automation than others and the strongest markets for automated handling systems have traditionally been those territories with a powerful manufacturing base – such as Germany, Switzerland and Italy,” he says.

“Manufacturing companies tend to have a much higher acceptance of automation. Because so many manufacturing processes are highly automated the companies feel more comfortable with the technology and see automated storage and handling as a natural progression within their business. They want to automate from the production line to the loading bay.”

According to Steve Richmond, the UK’s automotive and pharmaceutical products manufacturers are becoming particularly enthusiastic about the operational benefits offered by automation.

“But,” he says, “regardless of the sectors in which they operate, all companies want the same from their handling system – improved productivity and efficiency, reduced costs and greater picking accuracy and enhanced customer service levels.”

The trend, Steve Richmond believes, is towards mid-level projects which can demonstrate a rapid return on investment.

And many users are now choosing to employ partial automation – hybrid systems that are part-automated and part-manual.

“In the past some companies shied away from automation because they felt that a move to an automated system would mean that every aspect of the operation would have to be automated,” Steve Richmond explains.

“This is not the case. If designed correctly, semi- and fully-automated solutions can flexible and scalable to allow for future growth and investment strategies and that is proving increasingly attractive.”

But, the market for large scale fully automated projects has been slow to recover.

“After the global economic collapse, companies became nervous about any kind of high level capital expenditure and that uncertainty is still with us to an extent. The larger schemes are still there, but they are not abundant,” says Steve Richmond.

While Britain’s manufacturers are giving the automated handling sector reason for optimism, third party logistics (3PL) services companies remain slow adopters of the technology. But this too may be about to change, Steve Richmond contends.