ProMat 2025 Key Takeaways: Consolidation of the Automation Market and a "Best-in-Breed" Approach for All

The supply chain industry’s key event, ProMat, took place in Chicago from March 17 to 20. As always, the event played host to all major software, hardware, and automated system providers operating in the material handling space, and provided unique insight into how the industry is evolving on both the supply and buy sides. ABI Research has three key takeaways:

• “Best-in-Breed” over Do-It-All Solutions: Almost all providers are laser focused on being the best in their area and are spending less time and money on building completely new solutions. Whereas providers previously tried to capture or expand business by building a broader portfolio of solutions, most are focusing on their niche area and establishing partnerships where necessary.
• Market Consolidation Continues: The warehouse software market has been consolidating for a while, and now the automation market is following suit. The ProMat of 2 years ago saw an explosion of new Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) providers and new form factors for Automated Storage & Retrieval Systems (ASRSs), but leaders have emerged (e.g., Locus Robotics, AutoStore) and very few are now emerging to compete.
• Buyers Are at a Much Higher Stage of Digital Maturity: End users are much more aware of what different warehouse technologies can do for them and what providers they should be considering. As a result, system integration capabilities, partnerships, industry expertise, and additional services offered are becoming key differentiators.

• System Integrators (SIs) Are Looking for Differentiation: SIs are dominating the industry as go-to providers for automation, but it’s increasingly hard for companies to know who to work with. Some have their industry strengths such as Witron in grocery, Element Logic in apparel, and KPI Solutions in food & beverage, while the larger providers, including Daifuku, KNAPP, and Dematic now hold a strong presence across all material handling areas. With very similar systems and partners, differentiation is going to be derived through regional expertise, after-market services, and the strength of the controlling software.
• Fixed Automation Winning over Mobile Automation: AMRs are attractive as scalable, flexible automation solutions that primarily take away the walking time of warehouse pickers. But ASRSs always win on storage density and speed. And as ASRSs become increasingly modular and don’t require as much structural investment, the Return on Investment (ROI) gap between ASRSs and AMRs is growing. Few have been able to compete with AutoStore on price and scalability, which is why it’s the general go-to for item-picking verticals, but serious competition is developing in the form of Exotec’s Skypod and KNAPPs AeroBot system.
• Warehouse Execution Systems (WESs) Feeling Pressure from Both Sides: Most Warehouse Management Systems (WMSs) have some degree of WES capabilities, and a lot of automated system providers are also developing their own WES platforms to differentiate their very similar offerings. As a result, dedicated WES providers have competition from both. That being said, WES platforms from the likes of LogistiVIEW and Softeon offer significantly more in terms of capabilities and usability, and seamless integration is part of their core offering. Companies must avoid the mentality of software add-ons being easier and focus on deploying the platform that gives them the most productivity value.  
• Material Handling Telematics on the Rise: This year’s ProMat also showed how much end users value technologies to address questions around workplace safety, and tracking usage of material handling equipment. Even until last year’s MODEX, ELOKON, and Powerfleet were the only known forklift telematics providers around. However, that changed this year with a lot of other vendors like Trio Mobil, STONKAM, Zallys, GenieGrips, etc. being a lot more visible as well. Interestingly, the biggest competition in the market appears to be the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and their built-in telematics solutions themselves. Raymond’s iWAREHOUSE, Toyota’s T-Matics, and Mitsubishi Logisnext’s solutions are good examples of this. Regardless, most warehouses will have a mixed fleet of material handling equipment with multiple OEM brands. This is when warehouse operators need to rely on aftermarket solutions as a unifier to cover fleet operations.
• Demand Planning Solutions Reaching Further: The event featured a lot of planning solutions as well, which shows a gradual shift toward closing the gap between supply chain planning and execution. Solution providers showed a specific focus toward a big focus on the Third-Party Logistics (3PL) industry, food & beverages, and pharmaceutical supply chains. Some of the bigger Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and software providers like Odoo, Oracle, Similarly, Acumatica, Hexight, and Netstock showcased their planning solutions with their own unique capabilities. B2WISE’s platform, in particular, seemingly has an effective way of integrating demand-driven planning with sales & operations planning.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Supported Vision Systems: Zebra Technologies showcased its Aurora Velocity scan tunnel, which aims to ensure efficient, and error-free package sorting and routing for fulfillment operations. In addition to the speed of barcode scans, its scalable architecture makes it easy and cost-effective to combine multiple computer vision capabilities into a single tunnel. This means capabilities like dimensioning, label detection, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), weighting, etc. can be fulfilled with this solution.

On the software side, the “best-in-breed” approach could lead to some interesting solution developments over the coming months, particularly as AI takes greater hold. However, as end users stitch together these solutions, providers must ensure integration is seamless and adjacent operations are considered in development. For example, a great standalone Yard Management System (YMS) will not just integrate with a WMS, but facilitate a two-way flow of information and identify what dock door a truck should be routed to based on the capacity and processes happening inside the warehouse.

The approach toward positioning solutions as “best in breed” is being embraced by larger solution providers, too. Körber rebranding its supply chain software offerings to Infios and operating as a separate entity will allow it to compete with Blue Yonder and Manhattan Associates, for example, in the supply chain software realm. Körber’s acquisition of MercuryGate last year, which is covered in ABI Insight, “Körber's Recent Acquisition of Transport Management Platform MercuryGate Shows Rise in Consolidations of Silos in the Digital Supply Chain Solutions Market,” shows how it wants to offer a catalog of capabilities such as order management, warehousing and fulfillment, and transportation management under Infios.

This year’s ProMat also showed there are opportunities for existing fleet telematics providers looking to retrofit material handling equipment in yards and warehouses. Only roughly 1/5 of industrial vehicles across North America and Europe currently have a telematics device installed. This shows that there is a significant market opportunity for both telematics and Internet of Things (IoT) providers, from an addressable market perspective. The highest adopters of industrial vehicle telematics are high-volume warehouses, 3PL providers, and manufacturers. So far, Powerfleet seems to be the only major telematics service provider looking to capitalize on this opportunity. It is looking to leverage last year’s Fleet Complete acquisition to explore significant cross-selling opportunities with an estimated 50% of Fleet Complete customers having warehouses. As more enterprises look to track assets moving in warehouses as they do with road-based assets, this is a relatively untapped market area that more prominent commercial telematics vendors should be looking into.