Target account development Reach decision-makers at target companies.
New market entry Test a sector before investing in it.
International expansion First customers in a new country.
Launching a new offering Measure market interest in a product.
Commercial opportunities programme Qualified meetings every week for 90 days.
Signal-based outreach Engage when the need arises.
Trade shows and events A full schedule before the trade show opens.
Account reactivation Reconnect with lost accounts.
Eleven industry groups
Nine engagements, from situation to outcome
Regulations and markets
Firm presentation
A commercial growth firm
Recruitment difficulties in industry and warehousing may indicate operations worth examining for an automation project. However, this signal must be qualified at site, process and organisational level before any commercial approach.
Documented pressure within the industry
The DGE reports 220,000 recruitment projects in industry in 2025, 55% of which are considered difficult. It also highlights pressure from retirements through to 2030. These figures describe broad pressure on industrial employment. On their own, they do not identify sites considering automation.
For a supplier of robotics or automated equipment, recruitment difficulties are therefore a starting point, not evidence of a project. National pressure does not demonstrate that a position remains vacant at a specific site. Nor does it provide information about the repetitive nature of operations, the volumes involved or process stability. These factors must be verified account by account.
Warehousing combines shortages, wages and exposure to accidents
The European Labour Authority documents labour shortages in warehousing and transport support activities. Some companies have responded to these shortages by increasing wages. The sector also has high exposure to workplace accidents. These factors may lead operators to review their capacity requirements, organisation and workstation ergonomics simultaneously.
Automation remains one possible response among several. A company may revise its organisation, increase pay, use temporary labour or subcontract certain operations. It may also consider an automation project too complex or its expected return too uncertain. Outreach based solely on the shortage therefore risks proposing a solution before establishing the problem.
Qualification must cover the operation and the site
We prioritise target accounts that recruit repeatedly for identified operations. A capacity expansion or an ergonomics project may also warrant qualification. The process must establish the volume handled, the stability of the process and the presence of an internal sponsor. Without this information, the need remains too general to support a useful commercial discussion.
Not every task is suitable for automation. An operation may be too variable, too infrequent or not profitable enough to automate. The project may also shift the need towards maintenance skills that are difficult to recruit. Qualification must therefore cover both technical constraints and the resources required after commissioning.
What we recommend
We recommend not presenting labour shortages as sufficient reason to purchase a robot. The initial filter must combine repeated recruitment, a clearly identified operation, capacity expansion or an ergonomics initiative. The sales message can then focus on analysing the process rather than on a predefined solution. This approach makes it possible to exclude accounts whose response relies primarily on wages, temporary labour, subcontracting or reorganisation.
During the initial discussion, we seek to confirm the volume, frequency and stability of the operation. We also identify the project sponsor, available maintenance skills and the reasons why previous solutions were limited. The objective is to distinguish a general pressure from a sufficiently specific use case. For suppliers, this selection focuses prospecting on sites where an automation study can genuinely be initiated.
