Q&A with Jos de Vuyst (CEO stow Group)
and Stefan Pieters (CEO Movu Robotics)

Lokeren, Belgium – 19 September 2023 – stow Group, a globally recognized leader in the design, manufacturing, and implementation of advanced storage solutions and automated warehouse systems, announces the launch of the new “Movu Robotics” brand, developed to strengthen its “Robotics” business unit and to meet the strongly increasing demand for Automation and Robotics solutions. The new brand replaces the name “stow Robotics” as of Sep 19th 2023 and sits with stow Racking within the stow Group.

Jos de Vuyst, CEO of stow Group and Stefan Pieters, CEO of Movu Robotics, discuss the journey stow Group has taken to the Movu Robotics brand, and its development as a response to growing demand for automated robotic solutions.

Can you describe the journey taken by stow Group to get to the launch of Movu Robotics?

Jos de Vuyst: Since 1987 stow Group has grown rapidly into a one billion euro global company that today ranks among the top two racking manufacturers in the world. The racking business of stow stands out in the sector by having a production footprint spanning Europe with ten racking factories and a network of 20 sales companies giving direct access to, and close contact with, the customer. Our racking solutions are customised around standard products, enabling us to have highly automated factories. This results in stow being a cost leader as well as fast growing and very profitable.

Responding to demand for automated solutions seven years ago, we developed a simple 1D shuttle, which could move pallets backwards and forwards in a rack to provide deep storage. That was quite an achievement for a racking company and since then we have been producing hundreds of shuttles per year.

The next step was introducing the Atlas 2D shuttle three years ago. It can travel in all directions in a rack, enabling the creation of very dense storage systems. A huge success, exceeding the sales growth of the 1D shuttle, it has taken stow into the completely new world of automation and robotics.

stow Robotics was born the day we started writing Warehouse Control Software (WCS). We are now developing our own Warehouse Execution (WES) suite and control software on the machines, which we build ourselves. Development has been rapid: since its official launch in 2021, stow Robotics grew an order intake to expect over 300m for 2023. We are evolving into a supplier that can provide an automated pallet warehouse, from a small scale operation of 5000, up to large projects of 80,000 pallet places, more than 45 m high.

Highly scalable and energy efficient shuttle technology can introduce automation to all kinds of warehouses, so we see this as democratising automation in materials handling and the key to serving the entry level automation market.

The next step was the development of the escala, a robotic storage system for bins, that was accelerated through the acquisition of a German technology startup in 2021. Simplicity is another key aspect of our strategy next to sustainability, flexibility, scalability. It is in play here because escala, which uses bin shuttles that move horizontally and vertically in a rack, makes use of ramps for the shuttles to move between levels, avoiding the need for lifts. The market for bin shuttles is more mature than for pallet shuttles, but again there exists a significant entry market of, for example, 5000 bins, which has huge growth potential.

Transporting pallets and bins from these shuttle systems within a warehouse was the next logical step. I foresee forklifts in warehouses being less common in ten years’ time. There will always be forklifts, of course, but the main issue will be finding people to operate them. Automation again provides an answer. Already we see many 3PLs operating fewer forklifts around their warehouses to pick from pallets. Instead they have an AMR automatically following a path with a picker accompanying it.

With this in mind, in summer of 2022, we bought French start-up company iFollow, which makes Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs). This was another big step, with AMRs requiring specialised software outside our experience. We are integrating the company into the stow Robotics portfolio. It creates a great synergy with our atlas shuttle: as a pallet emerges from the shuttle rack it can be picked up by an iFollow mobile robot, for transportation to another area.

This brings us to 19th September 2023 and the launch of the new Movu Robotics brand, which replaces stow Robotics as the robotics and automation business of stow. It sits in the stow Group independently alongside stow Racking and brings a clear value proposition for our clients within the warehouse automation market. Also on this day we launch the next step in our automation portfolio – the Movu eligo piece picking robot, which works well as an automated picking station for the escala bin shuttle.

What is your vision for Movu Robotics?

Jos de Vuyst: Movu Robotics’ philosophy is: ‘no warehouse left behind’. We want to tackle automation with easier, modular, scalable, flexible and efficient solutions that customers need and helps them to upgrade their warehouses. In this way, we want to democratise materials handling through bringing automation and robotics opportunities to companies that would otherwise find them hard to attain. These customers want robotics and automation solutions to help them meet the challenges of labour shortages, cost increases, storage density, growing volumes and improving accuracy. The higher simplicity of our solutions reduces risk for these customers and speeds roll out.

Stefan Pieters: We want to provide accessible automation. This accessibility comes from flexibility to adapt to the environment of our customer. We don’t need a perfect building; we can work with brownfields and irregular buildings. Accessibility also comes from our use of standardised building blocks: 90% of our systems are standardised modules, with 10% of the solution being customised in some way to adapt to specific customer requirements and industry practices.

In addition to accessibility, the simplicity of our solutions enables a fast roll out of very dense storage solutions suited to applications and can be easily scaled according to need: having invested in the fixed infrastructure of the racks, as its business grows a customer can scale by adding shuttles, pick stations and AMRs.

How is Movu Robotics positioned in the market?

Jos de Vuyst: Expecting a double digits growing, the global material handling equipment market size is forecasted to reach USD 350 billion by 2030, strongly driven by AS/RS systems and Robotics. By our Movu Robotics positioning and portfolio we are very confident to become an essential player in this market. This together with our global leading position in racking makes us optimistic for remarkable growth of stow Group in the coming years.

Movu Robotics will follow the same development path as stow Racking, so we will build a network of sales companies in the main territories allowing us both ways channels to the market: direct and through integrators.

Where many companies are built around one automation product, Movu Robotics has today an innovative portfolio currently comprising a pallet shuttle, a bin shuttle, an AMR and a piece picking robot. It´s an integrated ecosystem of scalable, automated warehouse solutions for pallets & bins. That’s quite rare, and the portfolio will continue to grow.

We want to offer the possibility of automation to SMEs that have as few thousands pallet locations. While bigger projects are generally more complex, a straight forward pallet project of, for example, 80,000 pallet locations requiring 60 shuttles has a low complexity and fits our profile. If, however, that same warehouse had sorters, a mix of complex software and machines we don’t have in our portfolio, then we’d defer to a systems integrator.

Stefan Pieters: Our direct channel serves customers that require a storage sub-system from the Movu Robotics portfolio for their standalone application, without a lot of added value for an integrator, in that case we will provide the full installation ourselves.

In cases involving a lot of peripheral equipment for picking stations, sortation, layer picking, pallet building, etc then a systems integrator is better suited to provide a full installation. Movu Robotics can, however, supply a fully functional storage sub-system, which can be integrated into a total solution for the end customer by a systems integrator, which is specialised in this type and scale of materials handling project.

What are your reasons for establishing a new headquarters for Movu Robotics?

Jos de Vuyst: We wanted at an early stage to affirm Movu Robotics’ independence. It is a different business from racking, with its own managers, CEO and staff, and it involves a different manufacturing process. So it was a logical next step for Movu Robotics to have its own premises.

We also needed a very large showroom, so we have created one of the biggest Experience Centres in Europe, where we demonstrate Movu Robotics’ four technologies – pallet shuttles, bin shuttles, AMRs and the robot picking arm – in realistic applications. At 100 m long, 25 metres wide and 20 m high the Experience Centre is bigger than many actual warehouses, providing the ideal venue for Movu Robotics to present its technological expertise.

Stefan Pieters: With the significant growth in our robotics and automation business, we need extra space. We also need engineers with the right technical background. Located between Gent and Antwerp, Lokeren has good access to a great skills market, which is important given the number of people we have been hiring over the last year – and will continue to recruit going forward. Movu Robotics currently has more than 260 staff in total, more than 200 of which work at the Lokeren headquarters. The staff count will rise to 300 – 350 by the end of the year, which shows the growth curve in the business.

We found a building that combines a set of rare characteristics: a large office area combined with a substantial footprint for logistics and manufacturing. In addition, has the ideal space to establish the Experience Centre for showcasing our products in a life-size set up.

This combination allows us to bring together all of the different functions in Movu Robotics – including sales, R&D, manufacturing, as well as establishing an experience centre – to provide a concentration of knowledge and expertise around robotics and automation. Having a close connection between research, production and customer visits to the experience centre, allows Movu Robotics to interact with customers and gain rapid market feedback.

How do the business units in stow Group benefit from each other?

Jos de Vuyst: Stow Racking and Movu Robotics together are a unique One-Stop-Shop for autonomous sub-system with proven interfaces that combines best of Racking and Robotics World. Sales is another of the most important synergies between stow Racking and Movu Robotics, with many leads for automation coming via the racking side, which has 10,000 customers across Europe and US with conventional racking. Many of these customers take the decision at some point to automate their operations. stow Racking has more than 200 sales people globally, which also bring leads for robotics and automation products.

Movu Robotics benefits from having the strength of stow Group behind it, with all of its management experience and expertise. Another important factor is the backing of Blackstone, which is one of the biggest private equity company in the world with a vast experience in logistic real estate giving ample support when it comes to development, particularly on the robotics side. Also, stow Racking activity successfully generates cash, fuelling growth in Movu Robotics without the need for continual equity rounds.

Stefan Pieters: Movu Robotics and stow Racking share a symbiotic relationship. While 100% a company within the stow Group, Movu operates as an independent entity that cooperates closely with our racking colleagues. In-house access to established experience and expertise in racking means we can fully optimise the rack to the application. Our customer benefit from integrated Project Management, aligned logistics, consistent processes and systems for reliability of delivery and supply chain.

By cooperating closely with racking, we can do exceptional things, as is clearly demonstrated in our Experience Centre, which has integrated everything possible into the demonstration rack, including a tunnel under the rack, a stairway around the vertical lift and a mezzanine with a picking area.

How does the stow Group and Movu Robotics culture drive the companies’ development?

Jos de Vuyst: While stow Group has become a one billion euro corporate organisation, with a well organised corporate structure, it still has the dynamics of an SME company. We have direct contact with our people through a relatively flat management structure, which gives an agility and dynamism that is popular with our customers.

Furthermore, this culture allows us to attract talent to support our know-how in engineering, software and other departments. Joining Movu Robotics is more akin to working in a start-up than a corporate environment. While enjoying an agile environment, staff also gain the support of being in a solid company.

Stefan Pieters: Robotics and automation is an attractive area, which simulates greater interest in existing and potential engineers and software developers than other forms of materials handling. Our incredible growth story and the opportunities we have open to those who join us, attracts some of the best talent in the industry. We have a core team of really talented developers, which itself attracts other recruits and allows high quality internal training. I think we have achieved a great mix between relevant experience in our industry and the ability to attract fresh talent and surround them with enough people to immerse them in our logistics automation and robotics environment.

Where do you see the stow Group and Movu Robotics in five years?

Jos de Vuyst: stow Group will continue to grow the racking business, which passed one billion euro last year. We will definitely not lose the interest in the racking business, despite maybe more important growth perspectives in Movu Robotics.

Racking is an essential and profitable part of the stow Group, so it is important that it continues to grow. Having established stow as a racking market leader in Europe, with approximately 30% market share, we started to build the US business over the past 18 months where there is huge potential. We have created a sales office in Chicago and have just taken the decision to build our first racking plant in the US – the location is not yet fixed. With strong sales in this market, it no longer makes practical sense to continuously ship containers of racking across the Atlantic.

And of course, we will continue to grow Movu Robotics. While entering the market with systems that are easier, standardised, scalable, and flexible, in the next five years we will be tackling more complicated projects. The robotics and automation business has expanded rapidly over the past two years, with an order intake already of several hundred million Euros. I think in 5 years’ time, Movu Robotics’ activity will be equivalent to, or even exceed, that of stow Racking, creating two very strong legs for the stow Group.

Stefan Pieters: I would want to see Movu Robotics as foremost in the minds of customers’ thinking about automation or storage, and one of the leading companies by building up very reactive R&D, staying very close to the customers and applications. Movu should be the obvious destination for a company seeking a pallet or bin storage and picking system. We will get to this position by building up our portfolio with the right products, that have the right performance and price points. We will build an installed base that gives us the right credibility, size and global coverage. Our portfolio will expand to include solutions to meet whatever materials handling need a customer may have.

What is your view on future collaborations and partnerships?

Jos de Vuyst: Coming from a manufacturing environment, doing things ourselves is in our DNA. We will develop our own technologies as much as possible, only seeking partnerships where it is necessary for ‘time to market’ reasons. For example, it makes no sense to start developing vision technology on our own. In such cases we will partner with an appropriate supplier or licence it in. The sales side is different because we want to grow as fast as possible and whilst we are developing our own sales network are open to work together if we find a good partners for specific regions.

Stefan Pieters: Movu Robotics is building a strong R&D component and we will devise new additions to our portfolio ourselves. But we don’t want to fall into the ‘not invented here’ trap. We are already working with several partners that can provide specific knowledge or applications to accelerate development and market introduction. We don’t want to take a product from the shelf, put our name on it and sell it. Instead, we are partnering with existing companies and integrating the relevant technology seamlessly to produce a higher quality solution that benefits from our knowledge of the industry.

How does Movu Robotics keep close to the market?

Stefan Pieters: We have our own sales team, which keeps us very close to the market. A key aspect of the Experience Centre is, in addition to customer visits, to have industry groups visit us, hold workshops and to examine trends and market directions. We can use the Experience Centre as a live and dynamic demonstration of what is possible now, and how we can answer the needs of tomorrow.

Historically, a key driver behind moving to automation has been reducing reliance on manual labour. More recently, the issue is the difficulty in finding reliable labour to keep warehouses running. With the right automated solution, a warehouse can maintain existing personnel to handle larger volumes of product and sustain growth.

Companies are faced with constant, and often rapid, changes in the business environment. They want to minimise risk to their supply chains by near shoring and restructuring their distribution networks or by increasing their stock levels. They need systems that are fast to roll out, flexible and can scale up and down according to business demand, which is not always easy to forecast. This is exactly what we can provide. So, if you look at the fundamental drivers in our logistics market, Movu Robotics is surfing the right wave.

Can we expect more products from Movu Robotics?

Stefan Pieters: Movu Robotics is already covering many steps in the whole logistics flow through helping companies wanting to store pallets or bins, or conduct picking operations from these bins. We’ve added Movu ifollow AMRs, which can connect different areas of a warehouse. It is logical to start adding more processes, and we have a lot in the pipeline. We expect to show the first example in the first half of 2024.