Autonomous material handling: SA’s intelligent capabilities
By Diane Silcock
BY 2031, the South African Autonomous Material Handling Vehicle market is set to evolve into a highly intelligent and interconnected system. This is according to international market research company, Mobility Foresights, which states that this market is projected to grow from USD 6.9 billion in 2025 to USD 17.5 billion by 2031, registering a CAGR of 16.9%.
The report states that “growth is driven by the surging need for flexible intralogistics, rising labour inefficiencies, and the push toward fully automated material flow”.
To remain competitive in the international landscape, businesses across industry sectors are pursuing intelligent automation to enhance navigation and safety, and achieve lower operational costs and higher throughput efficiency.
An industrial mechatronics company that is ahead of the curve and playing a defining role in the transformation towards an intelligent, interconnected ecosystem, is Directech.
CEO Peter Erasmus says, “Our technologies are built around advanced navigation, connectivity, and seamless system integration, allowing factories to adopt automation that communicates, adapts, and optimises operations in real time. Through our autonomous solutions, we are already delivering the intelligent capabilities the industry is expected to embrace by 2031. For us, this is not a future target – this is what we deliver today.”
As a turnkey mechatronics and robotics integrator, Directech specialises in designing and building complete automation ecosystems—from the autonomous vehicles that move goods across a facility, to the robotic systems that assemble, weld, inspect, or package products, through to the industrial control architecture that ties everything together.
Their work spans articulated robotic cells, collaborative robotic applications, custom machinery, conveyors, intralogistics, automated storage, and advanced control systems. “This allows us to support industries such as automotive, rail, mining, manufacturing, food and beverage, and general engineering with solutions that are robust, reliable, and purpose-built for their specific production requirements,” says Erasmus.
Directech’s Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), which they continue to refine and expand, offer several benefits for material handling and logistics operations. These technologies significantly enhance operational efficiency and create safer, smarter production environments that align with global Industry 4.0 standards.
Their systems include wireless opportunity charging to maximise uptime, autonomous and remote driving modes, sophisticated obstacle-avoidance technology, and highly accurate docking capabilities that support loading, unloading, and machine handoffs with minimal human intervention.
“One of our most exciting recent projects,” says Erasmus, “highlights the scale and speed at which Directech can operate. We designed and delivered a 12-ton autonomous trolley for a major rail manufacturing environment. The system, which itself weighed 4.8 tons, was taken from concept to fully commissioned build in just three months before being shipped to the United States for integration. Achieving this demonstrated not only our engineering capability but also our ability to deliver under intense pressure, with exacting requirements and minimal room for error. Alongside this, we have completed extensive automotive applications, including complex handling and assembly systems for component production and body-in-white processes.”
Automation enhances consistency and reliability across production environments and creates safer workplaces by removing people from repetitive, hazardous, or heavy-duty tasks. In a landscape where efficiency, precision, and uptime are critical, Directech’s solutions empower companies to operate at levels that would be impossible without automation.
“Through intelligent technology and a collaborative engineering approach, we help organisations unlock the productivity and resilience required to remain competitive in a rapidly advancing industrial world,” concludes Erasmus.
