Warehouse automation poised to rebound in 2025

Vertical Voices focuses on specific verticals within the supply chain, highlighting the latest trends and news. It appears on the fourth Monday of each month. This month, we are looking at warehousing. If you are interested in future topics, you can see a full list of upcoming topics on our Editorial Calendar.

Just a decade ago, only about 5% of warehouses had some form of automation. Today, nearly one-quarter do, and that number is only going to increase as legacy warehouses and industry sectors adopt more automation.

Andy Williams, vice president of North America for Exotec, tells Supply Chain Management Review that industries such as consumer product goods (CPG), industrial and automotive have been slower to adopt automation compared to other sectors such as e-commerce fulfillment. But, that is changing, and bodes well for the warehouse automation space in the years ahead as the industry rebounds from a slower 2024.

“Even in industries like CPG you are seeing some really significant changes,” he says. “They didn’t have e-commerce a few years ago and now it’s their fastest growing channel. With modern robotics technology, you are able to do things that weren’t possible before. You can use the same amount of workers to accomplish 400% improvement in throughout without expanding the facility.”

Williams noted that growth in the apparel and general merchandise verticals won’t see percentage growth in automation as fast since they are more automated sectors now. But, there is still significant interest in automation and robotics as 2025 dawns.

“We have customers talking about [loosening the purse strings] right now,” Williams said. “There are some verticals where that is going to be true.”

“We have a mantra internally that solving complex problems in a very simple way is extremely difficult,” Williams says. “But that’s where you often find the greatest reward. One of the things we’ve relentlessly focused on is flexibility. In one system we can handle a very wide array of products, whether we need to build pallets by sequencing cartons or whether we need to pick nuts and bolts for an automotive supplier.