Industrial trucks to face new competition from AGVs
工業(yè)搬運車面臨來自AGV的新競爭

Despite relatively good performance in 2015 with a market value totalling $27.4 billion, industrial trucks and lifts are facing new competition from automatic guided vehicles (AGVs). According to the latest IHS Markit Materials Handling Automation Opportunities Report, the compound-average annual growth rate (CAGR) of AGV revenues is forecast to be over nine percent from 2015 to 2020, much higher than that for industrial trucks and lifts over the same time period.

盡管2015年的業(yè)績相當(dāng)不錯，市場總值達(dá)274億美元，但工業(yè)搬運車和起重機(jī)正面臨著來自自動導(dǎo)向車（AGV）的新競爭。根據(jù)最新的《IHS Markit材料處理自動化機(jī)會報告》，從2015年至2020年，AGV銷售的復(fù)合年平均增長率（CAGR）預(yù)計超過9％，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)高于工業(yè)搬運車和起重機(jī)的同期。

Currently, AGVs are used mostly in automotive production as they can be programmed for custom tasks. For example, AGVs are commonly used to haul custom parts for automobiles. While this would have been a logistics nightmare in the past, it is now feasible with AGVs and modern software management systems.

目前，AGV主要用于汽車生產(chǎn)，因為它們可以被編程用于自定義任務(wù)。例如，AGV通常用于運輸汽車的定制部件。盡管在以往這是一個物流噩夢，但通過AGV和現(xiàn)代軟件管理系統(tǒng)，現(xiàn)在切實可行。

The current outlook is that sales revenues from AGVs will not overtake those of conventional industrial trucks; there will be a minor disruption to truck sales in some regions: many end-users are choosing AGVs as replacements rather than buying new fleets of industrial trucks. They are also investing heavily in the management software that controls entire fleets of AGVs that work alongside legacy production lines and other material handling machinery such as automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS).  The main reason for the shift to AGVs is that they have been shown to be more cost-effective in the long term, providing a better return on investment for end-users. Other benefits of AGVs include higher output and smaller error rates than with human-operated industrial trucks. The increasing emphasis on smart manufacturing will also help to stimulate growth in the market.

目前看來，AGV的銷售收入不會超過傳統(tǒng)工業(yè)搬運車的銷售收入，在某些地區(qū)將會對搬運車銷售造成輕微干擾：不少最終用戶選擇AGV作為替代品，而不是購買新的工業(yè)搬運車隊。他們還大量投資于管理整個AGV車隊的管理軟件，與傳統(tǒng)生產(chǎn)線以及諸如自動存儲和檢索系統(tǒng)（AS / RS）等其他材料處理機(jī)械一起工作。轉(zhuǎn)向AGV的主要原因是長期看來它們更具成本效益，可以為最終用戶提供更好的投資回報。AGV的其他優(yōu)點包括比人工操作工業(yè)搬運車更高的產(chǎn)量和更小的錯誤率。越來越強(qiáng)調(diào)智能制造也將有助于刺激市場的增長。

Despite the stronger market growth of AGVs, industrial trucks and lifts will continue to be the biggest product category for material handling equipment. Sales of industrial trucks will be driven by companies that are reshoring in developed areas such as Mexico that use many industrial trucks in warehouses. Furthermore, the development of alternative fuel sources, like electric traction and hydrogen fuel cells, have reduced the carbon footprint of industrial trucks, making them a greener solution.

盡管AGV的市場增長強(qiáng)勁，但工業(yè)搬運車起重機(jī)將繼續(xù)是材料處理設(shè)備最大的產(chǎn)品類別。推動工業(yè)搬運車銷售的將是回流到墨西哥等發(fā)達(dá)地區(qū)的公司，這些地區(qū)在倉庫中使用大量的工業(yè)搬運車。此外，替代燃料源（例如電牽引和氫燃料電池）的開發(fā)減少了工業(yè)搬運車的碳排放，使其成為更環(huán)保的解決方案。