Logistics & Material Handling Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- 17.1% of all 10,006 records sit with just five assignees, but the ranked list runs 100 deep with a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants behind them.
- Conveying and material handling (B65G) covers 36.7% of records — by far the densest single class — while control systems, robotics and packaging containers each sit well under half that share.
- Filing eased 9% from 2021 to 2024 (523 to 474 among tracked leaders) after peaking in 2020 at 553, a plateau rather than a collapse once the 18-month publication lag is factored in.
Filing growth compares 2021 (523 records) with 2024 (474) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 10,006 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape maps 10,006 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine material handling, logistics automation or packaging machinery language with terms tied to warehouse automation, automated storage, cold chain logistics or sustainable packaging. The scope spans conveyor and sortation hardware, robotic manipulators, control software, and the containers and packaging formats that move through those systems. Patent families, not raw document counts, are the fairer unit for judging how concentrated ownership really is, since families strip out repeat filings on the same invention.
Filings run through six receiving offices, led by the United States with 4,207 records, followed by Europe, WIPO's PCT route, Canada, India and Australia. That spread points to a field where protection is sought broadly rather than concentrated in a single jurisdiction, consistent with technology — conveyor systems, robotic picking, packaging formats — that ships and is sold internationally.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 10,006-record set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from 501 in 2017 to a peak of 553 in 2020, then eased to 474 by 2024 — a 9% pullback over that three-year span among the tracked leaders. 2025 and 2026 figures (112 for the partial latest year) understate real activity because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months; they are not evidence of a slowdown yet.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
B65G (conveying and material handling) alone accounts for 36.7% of all 10,006 records, roughly triple the next-largest class, G06Q (business and commerce data processing) at 11.2%. Robotics (B25J, 6.5%), control systems (G05B, 5.9%) and packaging containers (B65D, 5.2%) each occupy a modest, evenly spaced slice — none has run away with the field the way conveying hardware has. Because records can carry multiple classes, these shares sum to more than 100% of the record total.
Shares are the percentage of the 10,006 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Logistics, Material Handling & Packaging Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about logistics, material handling & packaging patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
US6041171A — Method and apparatus for modeling material handling systems
A method and apparatus for modeling material handling systems for carrying discrete objects is disclosed which is capable of displaying models of a system in two, three, or four dimensions. The system is based on an existing program for modeling fluid flow networks, such as the piping design module of a CAD piping design package. All of the changes to the pipe design program are made using tools present in that program, and no computer code needs to be modified.Filed by Jervis B. Webb Company; granted 2000-03-21. Included here as a representative early filing on simulation-based material handling system design.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20150032252A1 | System and method for piece-picking or put-away with a mobile manipulation robot | 620 |
| 2 | US6515878B1 | Method and apparatus for supplying contactless power | 547 |
| 3 | US20140277691A1 | Automated warehousing using robotic forklifts | 518 |
| 4 | US4678390A | Automated self-powered material handling truck | 513 |
| 5 | US9256852B1 | Autonomous delivery platform | 461 |
| 6 | US5594652A | Method and apparatus for the computer-controlled manufacture of three-dimensional objects from computer data | 409 |
| 7 | US20090149202A1 | System and method for determination of position | 407 |
| 8 | US20100316468A1 | Storage and retrieval system | 404 |
| 9 | US20160355337A1 | Storage and retrieval system | 379 |
| 10 | US7101139B1 | Automated material handling system with motorized transfer vehicles | 371 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations inside a searched corpus — treat them as a signal of influence on later filers, not a ranking of current commercial importance.
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Three patterns stand out once the assignee ranking, technology mix and filing trend are read together.
Leadership is real but not dominant
The top five assignees combined hold 17.1% of all records in scope, and the top ten hold 24.8%. That leaves roughly three-quarters of filings spread across a long tail running through a 100-deep ranked list — this is a field with recognisable leaders but no single gatekeeper controlling the claim space.
Conveying hardware carries the claim load
B65G (conveying and material handling) touches more than a third of all records, roughly three times the share of the next class. Anyone filing new conveyor, sortation or automated storage hardware claims should expect dense prior art; the open ground sits more in the control, data and packaging-material layers around that hardware.
A plateau, not a retreat
Tracked leaders moved from 523 filings in 2021 to 474 in 2024, a 9% pullback after the 2020 peak of 553. Given the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, the 2025–2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as a continued decline.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to logistics, material handling & packaging patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
The ranked list covers 100 assignees; the leader holds 474 records, fifth place holds 210, and tenth place holds 126 — a steep initial drop-off followed by a long, gradually thinning tail.
A clear filing leader, not a monopoly
The top-ranked assignee holds 474 records against a fifth-place figure of 210 and a tenth-place figure of 126 — a fast drop from first to fifth, then a flatter tail. That shape rewards early, broad hardware claims over narrow follow-on filings.
Momentum has cooled across the recent leaders
Among assignees tracked for recent-year momentum, filing counts in the latest year are low across the board — from single digits down to zero — with year-on-year changes mostly negative. This is consistent with the broader 18-month publication lag rather than a sudden stop in R&D.
Co-filing is rare and concentrated
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset at all, and the strongest pair accounts for 22 shared filings — an academic-industry link rather than a supplier partnership. Most assignees in this field file alone.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| OPEX Corp | 7 | -13% |
| Dematic Corp | 2 | -50% |
| Intelligrated Headquarters LLC | 1 | 0% |
| Symbotic LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Dow Global Technologies LLC | 0 | — |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) | 0 | -100% |
| Strong Force VCN Portfolio 2019 LLC | 0 | -100% |
| trinamiX GmbH | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to a field with an established hardware core and a thinner, more contestable layer of software and materials claims around it.
Map claims against the B65G core before filing hardware
Any new conveyor, sortation or automated storage mechanism should be checked against the dense B65G class before drafting — this is where prior art is thickest and where narrow, defensible claim language matters most.
Explore the IPC breakdown in EurekaLook to control, data and packaging-material layers for open claims
G06Q, G05B and B65D each carry a fraction of B65G's density, and the gate chips above point to specific sub-areas — cold chain sensing, reusable packaging, optimization software — that remain comparatively thin.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack the leader tail, not just the top names
With 100 ranked assignees and only 24.8% of records held by the top ten, most competitive signal sits in the tail. Watching mid-ranked filers for momentum shifts can surface entrants before they consolidate share.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaCommon questions
The dataset ranks 100 assignees, with the leader holding 474 records against 210 for the fifth-ranked firm and 126 for the tenth. The top five combined account for 17.1% of all 10,006 records in scope, and the top ten for 24.8%, which means the majority of filings sit outside the leading group entirely. This is a field with recognisable leaders but a genuinely long tail rather than a small oligopoly.
Filings among tracked leaders peaked in 2020 at 553 and moved from 523 in 2021 down to 474 in 2024, a 9% pullback over that span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower still, but publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those recent years are undercounted and should not be read as an active decline. Treat 2024 as the most recent complete year for trend judgments.
Conveying and material handling, IPC class B65G, covers 36.7% of all 10,006 records, far ahead of any other class. Business and commerce data processing (G06Q) follows at 11.2%, then digital data processing, robotics, control systems and packaging containers each in the mid-single digits. Because records often carry multiple IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100% of the record total, which is expected.
The core conveying and robotics classes are heavily filed, but adjacent areas such as cold chain temperature tracking, reusable and returnable packaging formats, and logistics optimization software layered onto existing hardware carry noticeably thinner filing density. These branches sit next to dense classes rather than inside them, which is often where a first strong claim is still available. A freedom-to-operate search focused specifically on these sub-areas is more productive than searching the crowded B65G core.
The United States leads with 4,207 records in this dataset, followed by the European Patent Office at 1,354 and the WIPO PCT route at 1,056. Canada, India and Australia follow at meaningfully lower volumes. The spread across six receiving offices suggests applicants are pursuing multi-jurisdiction protection rather than concentrating filings in one market, which fits technology that is manufactured and deployed globally.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.