The growing population in the region is remarkably impacting the demand for multiple product categories in industries such as automotive, pharmaceutical, retail, electronics, food & beverages, and many other. To cater to this increasing demand, manufacturers have expanded their production significantly. However, increased production demands for the extensive requirement of storage spaces, efficient in terms of both occupied floor space and cost incurred. Warehouses, storage centers, and distribution centers play a vital role in maintaining the stocks of consumer goods for various companies. Minimal damage to the product while storage, limited storage costs, and fast pick and drop of goods are the factors that manufacturers and supply chain partners are opting for storage purposes and further movement of goods.
Diverse storage solutions such as unit load, mid-load, carousels, and VLM serve various purposes to their users with added value, thereby helping them in reducing costs. For instance, VLMs save more than 80% of floor space by stacking the material on vertical shelves. Also, these storage systems are designed so that storing and picking up goods becomes less time-consuming and more efficient and helps increase productivity at the workplace. Similarly, horizontal and vertical carousels are used for the storage of small parts and tools used either at the manufacturing plant shop floor or for the storage of consumer goods. Moreover, the modular structure of these systems ensures flexibility and scalability. Thus, the need for fast, space-efficient, and cost-effective storage systems, along with maximum throughput and productivity, is driving the market for ASRS across most end-user industries.
The automated storage and retrieval system market in Europe is sub segmented into France, Germany, Russia, Italy, the UK, and the Rest of Europe. Europe is a highly diverse market with a group of more than 40 countries in it. Western European countries are more advanced than the NORDIC and other east European countries. Therefore, the western part of Europe has experienced more developments and advancements in the field of automation. The NORDIC countries consist of a large number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that do not have much demand for automated storage warehouses. Pharmaceutical, e-commerce, healthcare, automobile, and food & beverage processing industries are the largest consumers of ASRS solutions.
Concerns and uncertainties about the return on investment (ROI) after the implementation of automated storage solutions restrict the growth of the automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) market in NORDIC countries. However, the need to have space-efficient warehouses to save up on capital expenditure (CAPEX) on product storage activities has been the major reason for popular implementations of the system in Europe. Germany, Italy, and Spain are the potential growth markets for the deployment of ASRS. The automotive industry in Germany, and the textile and manufacturing industries in Italy and Spain, respectively, have been using ASRS for accuracy and efficiency in operations. Also, the progress of automation technologies has enabled more ASRS implementations in western Europe.
The major players in Europe offering ASRS solutions include System Logistics SpA, Swisslog Holdings AB, Vanderlande Industries, and SSI Schaefer Systems International. Vanderlande Industries is one of the key players in the region for value-added logistic process automation at airports and in the parcel market. 12 of Europe’s top 20 e-commerce businesses and distribution firms have implemented Vanderlande’s solutions in their business processes. In September 2019, Swiss log Holding AG, an automation company based in Switzerland, provided its robotic warehouse system in retail and e-commerce for Axiom Telecom in the UAE. Its AutoStore system is an automated storage and picking system that uses robots on top of an aluminum grid system for storing and locating goods.
The Europe Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) market is segmented into type, end use industry, and country. Based on type, the market is categorized into unit load ASRS, mini load ASRS, vertical lift module, vertical carousels, horizontal carousels, autoStore, and others. The vertical lift module segment registered the largest market share in 2022.
Based on end use industry, the market is segmented into automotive, food & beverage, e-commerce, chemicals, aerospace, retail, pharmaceuticals, and others. The e-commerce held the largest market share in 2022.
Based on country, the market is segmented into France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Russia, and Rest of Europe. Germany dominated the market share in 2022.
SSI Schafer; Swisslog Holding AG; System Logistics SpA; Bastian Solutions LLC; Daifuku Co Ltd; Kardex Holding AG; KNAPP AG; Vanderlande Industries BV; and Autocrib Inc are the leading companies operating in the Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) market in the region.