Established in 1946 in Kasai, Japan, Itoh Denki started manufacturing motors for household electronics, then built on its experience to develop the world’s first range of motor driven rollers for conveyors in 1976, a technology that we have been continuously developing and improving ever since.
Sales Manager UK & Ireland at Itoh Denki Europe
80 years later, Itoh Denki is now present worldwide to supply customers in many industries, offering a complete range of roller drives and controls as well as a line of compact diverters and other solutions for intralogistics. All our products can be easily integrated in a wide range of conveying and sortation processes, allowing flexible and cost-efficient solutions design, with market leading performances.
Colin Crowley, Sales Manager UK & Ireland of Itoh Denki Europe spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
What are your best-known products/solutions/services?
Our core business revolves around motor driven rollers (MDR) for conveyors, a technology that we have been constantly improving over the past 50 years and which is now more relevant than ever in intralogistics automation.
We offer an extensive range of MDR models and compatible controllers, designed to meet the specific needs and technical requirements of our clients.
Additionally, we have developed a range of 24V diverter modules, which have gained significant traction for processes involving sortation and routing applications, offering enhanced performances with greater flexibility.
How do you think your industry sector is performing at the moment?
While the past two years have shown a relative contraction of the intralogistics market with a number of stalling projects, several indicators including increasing consultations are giving us confidence in rising investments and increasing adoption of automated processes in manufacturing and logistics, including for smaller businesses.
How many markets are you in and what is your biggest market?
Present on all continents, Itoh Denki’s products are used in the design of intralogistics solutions over a wide range of industries and applications.
The recent surge of e-commerce has made this market the primary user of our products, heavily used all along the intralogistic lines from reception and storage to order preparation. But other industries such as postal services, distribution or manufacturing among others, represent an important share of our user base.
What are your most recent product innovations?
This year will see the launch of our FNR (Flexible Noiseless Roller conveyor) solution. Based on MDR drives, this unique conveyor solutions is able to transfer small items and loads up to 30kg, almost silently and without shocks. It can be used for efficient singulation of individual items, for example in return logistics.
The ease of installation and maintenance makes it an ideal solution in replacement of belt conveyors.
What is your strategy for growth and success in 2026?
As a component manufacturer, we must be proactive in developing products that answer the increasing requirements of the end users. Ecommerce in particular can strongly benefit from systems that optimise challenging processes, like return logistics. We intend to offer our FNR solution on the European market to cater to these specific needs.
We intend to develop our presence in markets with growing potential and will be present in more local tradeshows including in Spain, Poland or Scandinavia.
Can you foresee autonomous mobile robots and goods-to-person systems becoming more mainstream to improve efficiency and reduce manual labour?
We are already seeing a growing stream of projects and consultations to integrate compact MDR conveyors and diverters along with mobile robots and other G2P systems, across an increasingly diverse range of applications and user profiles. Rather than the fully robotic solutions that largely served as technology demonstrations, it now seems that a combination of robots and conveyor technologies can deliver substantial gains in process efficiency and modularity, while reducing manual labour and improving working conditions.
Is the industry placing a greater emphasis on sustainability?
Sustainability has emerged as a key consideration in selecting intralogistics solutions, leading to a transition towards more efficient technologies that consume less energy and are designed to be modular, enabling repurposing and gradual adaptations.
What sets your company apart from others?
Pioneers of the MDR technology, we have gathered a unique expertise and knowledge that allows us to stay at the forefront of innovation. Furthermore, since our products are central in the warehouse operation, we believe that high quality and reliability is a must, that is why all our products are entirely developed and manufactured by our own teams in Japan, including mechanical and electronic components. To keep a strict control over our supply chain and deliver the best service and lead times, products are stored and assembled at our French factory for all our customers in the UK and the EMEA market.
How future-proof and flexible are your solutions?
The modularity and flexibility of our products is a real advantage that allows customers to keep control over future modifications on their intralogistic lines. MDR systems can be easily scaled-up or down and layouts can be modified according to changing requirements.
Furthermore, the durability of our products ensures that they will be running for an extended period of time with minimal maintenance requirements.
How would you sum up your company in three words?
Innovation, quality, trust.
ITOH DENKI
+44 73 98 47 00 07
Comments are closed.