Palletizer Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

Key Highlights

• The palletizer market was valued at USD 2.37 billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 3.27 billion by 2026 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.34% over the forecast period (2021-2026). CXOs across industries report that the COVID-19 crisis is prompting them to accelerate plans to invest in automation and robotics to better manage operations, despite facing revenue declines that will result from the pandemic. As organizations heighten their expectations of workplace safety and flexibility, the shift from manual to automated operations is growing in popularity.
• Palletizer is one of the most significant equipments among the automated material handling systems. Depending on the need, conventional palletizers or robotic palletizers are used to automate the pallet building process in a warehouse, distribution, or manufacturing facility. Depending upon the palletizer, many different technologies could also be employed to help the manufacturer make the perfect pallet.
• With the implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2011, increased focus has been placed on preventing contamination in the US food supply. SCARA robotic palletizers are typically used for food processing. Their low cost, small footprint, and high throughput rates make them attractive to manufacturers looking to increase their efficiency. SCARA robotic palletizers are generally faster than Cartesian palletizers.
• The pharmaceutical sector also plays an essential role in the palletizer industry. Fully automatic palletizers are used for unattended pharmaceutical production. Supported by the European & APAC pharmaceutical industries, the sector is booming. The growing interest and demand for Halal certified beauty products in the MEA region drive the growth of palletizer in the cosmetic industry. In APAC, the growth of palletizer in the personal care sector is fueled by the K-beauty trends with its whimsical and innovative packaging.
• Among all the regions, North America accounts for the largest market share due to the high penetration of packaging machinery in the region. According to Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI), the Americas market for packaging machinery is estimated to be worth USD 16.1 billion in 2024.
• Driven by Italy and Germany, Europe is also expected to witness a moderate rate. According to the Germany's Federal Statistical Office, the approximately 250 companies, mainly medium-sized organizations produced packaging machinery worth around EUR 7.3 billion, an increase of 2% from previous year. The Italian government’s Industry 4.0 incentive scheme is also proving to be aiding the growth of packaging machinery as well as palletizers in Italy.
• Even before the COVID-19 reared its formidable spikes, the adoption of robotics, automated material handling equipment, AI, and other advanced technologies into warehouses and distribution centers (DCs) was on the rise, propelled by the need to manage high-velocity operations with limited and increasingly expensive labor resources while meeting the ever-changing demands generated by digital commerce, thereby driving the studied market growth .

Key Market Trends

Food & Beverages Industry Offers Potential Growth

• The food and beverage industry has always been a key contributor to enhancing the market revenue of palletizers. As the competition between retailers continues to intensify and government regulations become more stringent, the retailer demands continue to increase. Thus, the need for palletizing robots has never been more imperative for success in the food and beverage industry.
• Among all of the machinery products in packaging, a palletizer is the most preferred and beneficial for packaging food and beverage items due to its low cost, small footprint, and high throughput rate. Palletizing systems are useful elements at the end of a packaging line, a vital task for every industry, including pharmaceutical, chemical, personal care, and cosmetics.
• Due to space limitations within the facility, the centralized palletizing concept was the most practical option. The system's requirements included a neutral to a positive return on the cost of goods sold, a reduction in the forklift traffic around the production lines, improvements in the quality of work, especially ergonomics, and the installation of a robust and reliable system.
• Considering all the trends and innovations that are taking place worldwide related to the food processing industry with the implementation of selective compliance assembly robot arm (SCARA) as well as in the manufacturing industry, contributing to the decrease in energy costs, it can be concluded that it is braced for advancements in the packaging machinery as well as palletizer sector in the near future.
• Dairy processors are indicating a requirement for processing equipment improvements. Properly implemented palletizing automation increases productivity over the labor-intensive repeated motions required of human workers. According to the PMMI report, 2 out of 3 manufacturing locations either have palletizing robots installed, plan to install, or add them to their palletizing operations.
• Further, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, various manufacturing facilities in the FMCG sector have been witnessing increased pressure for speeding up production. Hence, the market is likely to grow over the forecast period.

North America to Occupy Significant Market Share

• The United States is one of the largest and most developed markets for adopting new and innovative palletizing solutions. The strong economy, with notable port traffic, increased e-commerce activity, and key manufacturing indices, results in significant growth in manufacturing and is poised to drive the demand for palletizing solutions in the country.
• Sectors, including retail, automotive, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical, are the largest sources of demand for such solutions in the country. Prior to COVID-19, it was estimated that the US shipments of corrugated packaging exceeded 470 billion square feet by 2025 annually. The need for transportation of the products for the food and beverage industry to maintain an SKU that is cost-effective for shipping has resulted in the widespread adoption of the organization's palletizing solutions irrespective of their size.
• Post pandemic, this number is expected to be higher than the estimated owing to the increased demand to keep the actual product safer and highly sanitized.
• According to CBRE, the e-commerce retail sales grew by 25% during the quarter ending June 2020 in the country, reflecting the consumer shift to e-commerce, while grocery stores and building and garden suppliers each saw a 13% growth over this period. With such an increase in the e-commerce industry, it is expected that the actual share would surpass the previously predicted value in the e-commerce industry in the country, which would significantly increase the demand for palletizers across warehouses and DCs.
• The United States has been witnessing demand for automation and robots, including robotic palletizers in industrial settings. The country has seen a few product launches owing to this. For instance, in September 2021, Quest Industrial is set to launch a robotic palletizer Box Bot - the QB300 series at PACK EXPO 2021. Box Bot is a space-saving robotic palletizer having a small footprint that enables an operator to design and produce exact pallet patterns quickly and easily from bags to boxes and other product types.
• According to data from the US International Trade Commission, United States goods imports contracted by 11% in the first eight months of 2020 compared with the same period the previous year, whereas imports of industrial robots increased by 5%.

Competitive Landscape

The palletizer market is fragmented and competitive. Some of the key players are A-B-C Packaging Machine Corp, ABB Ltd, Honeywell Intelligrated, Krones AG, Schneider Packaging Equipment Co. Inc., etc. amongst others. Factors such as relentless competition to maintain market shares, domestic consumption, and rapid urbanization have attracted many new players. Some of the recent developments in the market are:

• August 2021 - Geek+ announced the launch of a new solution for Smart Mixed Case palletizing, developed by partnering with WSR Solutions, an intelligent warehouse management tools provider. The solution combined Geek+ autonomous mobile robots and WSR’s smart palletizing algorithm to help warehouse operators systematically handle the processing of multiple outbound orders in a safe, efficient, and flexible way.
• October 2020 - Robotiq Inc. introduced a new robotic palletizing solution, especially for lower throughput applications requiring frequent task and box or pallet size changes. This application-focused technology consists of fully connected, plug-and-play software and hardware with pre-selected functions.

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• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
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