What Podmores does

Podmores (Engineers) Ltd is a UK-based industrial automation and materials handling solutions provider, founded in 1930 and headquartered in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. The company designs and manufactures equipment from a purpose-built West Midlands factory, organised across five product categories: sorting (vibratory, centrifugal and rotary bowl feeders, flexible feeders, bottle unscramblers, screening/grading feeders, laned feeders, waterfall and step elevators, and the proprietary ServoPOD servo-based feeder), conveying (linear feeders, belt conveyors/elevators, spiral elevators, Simatek bucket elevators, cap blowers), processing (sprinkling, spreading and depositing, dusting, vibratory compaction tables), automating (robotic production systems, counting, weighing, vision inspection), and storing (infeed hoppers, rotary packing and accumulation tables). Underlying technologies include electromagnetic vibratory drives with sealed housings, servo-based multi-zone singulation, epoxy-fiberglass laminate springs for linear feeders, and vision/AI-assisted inspection — augmented through UK partnerships with Switzerland-based Asyril (flexible feeders and EYE+ smart vision) and Denmark-based Simatek (bucket elevators).

The business generates revenue through one-time equipment sales (both standard catalogue and quote-based bespoke engineered systems), recurring spare parts transactions, and professional services covering build-to-print manufacturing, servicing programmes, refurbishment, and training. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; bespoke systems are quoted, while standard equipment is described with very low operating cost (as little as £0.02–£0.20/hour). Go-to-market is enterprise direct sales supported by on-site demonstration open days and a multi-channel digital presence (LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, X, Facebook, email, SEO). Customer base spans food & beverage (Nestle, Mars, Unilever, PepsiCo, Mondelez, Premier Foods, Greencore, United Biscuits, Samworth Brothers, ABF, Saputo), pharmaceuticals (Johnson Matthey, Recipharm), manufacturing (3M, Murugappa, Morgan Technical Ceramics), aerospace & defence (BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce), logistics (DHL), chemicals (Du Pont), automotive (Federal-Mogul), mining (De Beers) and weighing/integration partners (Ishida). The company is privately held with no disclosed institutional investors, no parent entity, no subsidiaries, and no public funding rounds.

Name

Podmores

Legal name

Podmores (Engineers) Ltd

Website

https://podmores-systems.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1930

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Podmores is a UK-based industrial automation and materials handling equipment manufacturer founded in 1930. It designs and builds vibratory feeders, conveyors, robotic production systems, and vision inspection solutions from its Stoke-on-Trent factory, serving food & beverage, pharmaceutical, aerospace, automotive, and chemical multinationals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Automation Equipment

NAICS

Food Product Machinery Manufacturing (333241), Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing (3333)

SIC

General Industrial Machinery & Equipment (3560)

akta.pro primary industry

Conveying, Feeding & Accumulation Systems (Packaging Lines) (IMAHAOAK)

Keywords

• Industrial automation equipment
• Vibratory bowl feeders
• Materials handling solutions
• Factory automation systems
• Parts feeding technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Stoke-on-trent

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Industrial Machinery Sales: Direct sale of industrial automation and materials handling equipment including bowl feeders, conveyors, elevators, processing machines, and robotic systems. Both standard product range and bespoke manufactured systems are sold directly to customers.
2. Spare Parts: Sale of replacement parts and components for Podmores equipment. Wide range of spare parts kept in stock for immediate dispatch to customers in the UK and internationally.
3. Professional Services: Servicing, refurbishment, training, and build-to-print services provided alongside machinery sales to support customer operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Podmores designs and manufactures industrial automation and materials handling equipment from its purpose-built factory in Stoke-on-Trent, UK. The portfolio covers sorting, conveying, processing, automating and storing solutions built primarily around vibratory and servo-based feeding technology, with custom tooling and bespoke engineered systems available alongside the standard catalog range. Customers include multinational manufacturers in food and beverage, pharmaceutical, aerospace, automotive, chemical and logistics industries.

Product overview

Podmores is an industrial automation and materials handling solutions provider with over 90 years of experience since 1930. The company manufactures a comprehensive portfolio of factory automation equipment from its purpose-built West Midlands factory in Stoke-on-Trent, UK. The product portfolio spans five core categories: Sorting (vibratory bowl feeders, centrifugal bowl feeders, rotary bowl feeders, flexible feeders, bottle unscramblers, screening/grading feeders, laned feeders, waterfall elevators, step feeders, and the ServoPOD high-speed feeder), Conveying (vibratory linear feeders, belt conveyors, belt elevators, spiral elevators, bucket elevators, and cap blowers), Processing (sprinkling/spreading/depositing systems, dusting machines, and vibratory compaction tables), Automating ((robotic) automated production systems, counting machines, weighing machines, and vision inspection/quality checks), and Storing (infeed hoppers and rotary packing/accumulation tables). The company also offers spare parts and services including build-to-print, servicing, refurbishment, and training. Podmores serves diverse industries including confectionery, snacks, bakery, cereals, nuts, IQF, fresh produce, meat, fish, pharmaceuticals, and non-food applications, and counts multinational companies such as 3M, Nestle, Unilever, PepsiCo, and Mars among its customers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ServoPOD: High-speed servo-based parts feeder for ultra-fast product singulation and orientation, delivering up to 300ppm.
• Asycube
• Simatek

Products and services

• ServoPOD Feeder High-speed servo-based parts feeder delivering up to 300 parts per minute with multi-zone servo singulation, adjustable pouch/sachet conditioning, touchscreen HMI control, Siemens-based control pack and optional vision inspection for logo detection. Used for ultra-fast product singulation and orientation on production lines.
• Vibratory Bowl Feeders Industry-leading vibratory bowl feeders that sort, orientate and filter products using gentle but powerful vibration. Available in 20 sizes from 100mm to 1,500mm diameter with custom tooling and IP ratings up to IP66; proven for 24/7/365 operation in critical production lines.
• Centrifugal Bowl Feeders High-speed centrifugal bowl feeders for tougher conditions and products normally considered unsuitable for bowl feeding, including greasy or oil-coated items. Sizes from 500mm to 1,500mm diameter with IP ratings up to IP69K.
• Rotary Bowl Feeders Ultra-high-speed rotary bowl feeders that sort, orientate and filter products at high throughput for packaging, inspection, printing, labelling and robotic automation applications. IP ratings up to IP69K.
• Flexible Feeder (Asycube) 3-axis vibration flexible feeding system based on Asyril Asycube technology, compatible with 99% of part types and geometries. Available in 5 sizes (Asycube 50, 80, 240, 380, 530) handling components from 0.1mm to 150mm, with EYE+ smart control system featuring AI-based integrated vision.
• Bottle Unscramblers Machines that turn boxes of bottles into ordered, orientated streams quickly and efficiently. Suitable for bottles of all sizes with gentle sorting that prevents marking or damage; IP ratings up to IP68.
• Screening/Grading Feeders Vibratory screens and graders that separate good product from broken or over-size product, or grade products by size, with interchangeable screens and trays for quick product format changeover. IP ratings up to IP66.
• Laned Feeders Vibratory laning feeders that deliver discrete lanes of product to downstream processes such as enrobering machines and robots. Configurable for optimal product positioning with gaps for robot picking applications; up to 25% wastage reduction in enrobing. IP ratings up to IP68.
• Waterfall Elevators Compact elevators for caps and lids that elevate and sort at up to 400 cpm with built-in hopper storage and buffer chute for controlled downstream delivery.
• Step Feeders Gentle step-based infeed system creating an upwards waterfall effect for damage-free infeeds of delicate products including cylindrical items, munitions and round bars.
• Vibratory Linear Feeders Gentle but powerful linear conveying equipment with rapid start/stop functionality for responsive metering. Features epoxy fiberglass composite laminate springs, crevice-free washable surfaces and IP ratings up to IP66.
• Belt Conveyors Comprehensive range of belt conveyors from monolithic belt for ultra high care applications to rugged conveyors for tough components. Speeds up to 500m/min, lengths up to 20m, widths up to 2m, available in FDA-compliant materials.
• Belt Elevators Flighted belt elevators for gentle, quick and safe elevation of products in food grade construction. Available with cantilever design for easy belt removal and full washdown features.
• Spiral Elevators Compact spiral elevators that elevate vertically with minimal footprint. Available in gentle high-frequency or powerful low-frequency constructions with optional heating/cooling for extended product retention for curing.
• Bucket Elevators (Simatek) Flexible, space-saving bucket elevators with combined horizontal and vertical movement, featuring modular design and gentle product handling using pegged buckets on parallel chains. Capacities up to 60 m³/h; available in Universal, Sanitary and Basic Design variants. Podmores is the UK agent for Simatek.
• Cap Blowers Cyclone fan systems that blow caps and lids through pipe ducting up to 50m distance. Feature storage hopper, HEPA and non-HEPA filtration options, and WRAS approved plastic or stainless steel ducting.
• Sprinkling, Spreading & Depositing Systems Vibratory sprinklers and depositors for applying toppings to products. Available in fixed on line, cantilever (mobile) and roll-on/roll-off (portable) designs. Dispense up to 3 meters wide with touchscreen HMI control and recipe features.
• Dusting Machines Targeted dusting machines that deliver precise amounts of powder or dust to products with confined process design preventing dust escape. Available with fixed or adjustable guide nozzles for targeted application.
• Vibratory Compaction Tables Vibratory compaction tables providing a quick, simple and efficient method of compacting products, achieving up to 30% more capacity in FIBC big bags. Available sizes from 400mm x 400mm to 2,000mm x 1,000mm with automatic start options.
• Robotic Automated Production Systems Bespoke turnkey automated production systems—concept, design and manufacture bringing industrial automation to factory production lines.
• Counting Machines High-speed counting equipment for accurate batching of products for final packaging or internal processes.
• Weighing Machines Accurate weighing equipment for batching products into weights for final packaging or internal processes.
• Vision Inspection / Quality Checks 100% inspection vision systems for high-speed quality control and pack orientation detection, including logo detection and poka-yoke confirmation.
• Infeed Hoppers Hopper systems that allow filling with product for automated feeding to other machines, freeing operators for other tasks.
• Rotary Packing & Accumulation Tables Rotary turntables that improve efficiency by creating infeed or outfeed buffers of product, also usable for loading/unloading bottles.
• Spare Parts Wide range of spare part units in stock for immediate dispatch to UK and international customers to support installed Podmores equipment.
• Build to Print Custom manufacturing service where Podmores builds equipment to customer specifications.
• Servicing Programme Planned maintenance and servicing programmes to keep equipment running optimally.
• Refurbishment Equipment refurbishment services to restore existing Podmores machinery to like-new condition.
• Training Operator and maintenance training services for Podmores equipment.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 25% reduction in wastage through effective product laning for enrobing applications
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers23 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AsyrilcoreTechnology or IntegrationAsyril is a Swiss-based technology company specializing in flexible feeding systems using 3-axis vibration technology. Podmores serves as their UK partner, reselling and integrating Asyril's Asycube flexible feeders (Asycube 50, 80, 240, 380, 530) and EYE+ smart control systems. This partnership enables Podmores to offer 99% part compatibility flexible feeding solutions.
• Simatek Bulk SystemscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPodmores serves as the UK agent for Simatek bucket elevators, distributing their Universal, Sanitary, and Basic Design bucket elevator systems. Simatek specializes in gentle conveying systems for horizontal and vertical transport of bulk products in food, pet food, recycling, and chemical industries.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Coperion (Hillenbrand): Global leader in compounding, extrusion, and bulk material handling/feeding systems. Competes with Podmores in conveying and feeding for food, plastics, and chemical processing applications as part of a much broader industrial portfolio.
• Eriez Manufacturing Co. US-based large-scale manufacturer of vibratory feeders, magnetic separation, and material handling equipment. Competes with Podmores in vibratory feeding and bulk handling but operates a much broader product portfolio including separation and detection.
• Schenck Process Group: German-based global incumbent in industrial weighing, feeding, and air filtration technology. Overlaps Podmores' vibratory feeding and conveying portfolio at scale, particularly in bulk material handling.
• Festo SE & Co. KG: Global automation components and systems provider serving factory automation, including handling and feeding subsystems. Competes with Podmores indirectly via pneumatic/electric handling and full-line automation solutions for similar industrial customers.

Direct peers

• Carrier Vibrating Equipment: US-based manufacturer of vibrating conveyors, feeders, and screeners for bulk material processing. Closely comparable technology stack and customer overlap in industrial conveying and feeding.
• Asyril SA: Swiss-based pioneer of 3-axis vibration flexible feeding systems (Asycube) and EYE+ AI-vision control. Asyril is Podmores' technology partner in the UK but competes head-on with the Asycube line globally and serves the same parts-feeding customer base.
• General Kinematics Corporation: US-based manufacturer of vibratory feeders, conveyors, and screening equipment for industrial processing. Directly comparable to Podmores in vibratory bulk materials handling and foundry/automotive applications.
• RNA Automation Ltd: UK-based specialist in vibratory bowl feeders, linear feeders, and parts handling automation. Closest direct domestic competitor to Podmores across the vibratory feeding product category with overlapping food, pharma, and industrial customer bases.
• Brabender Technologie: German-based manufacturer of volumetric and gravimetric feeders, discharge aids, and flow aids for bulk solids. Comparable niche in precision feeding and metering equipment across food, plastics, and chemical processing.
• Gough Engineering: UK-based specialist in vibratory feeders, sieving equipment, and conveyor systems. Direct competitor to Podmores across food, chemical, and bulk handling applications with overlapping geographic reach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/podmores
• YouTubeyoutube.com/podmores
• Facebookfacebook.com/podmores
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/podmores-engineers-ltd
• Instagraminstagram.com/podmoressystems

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Podmores