Sean Wallingford settles in as president & CEO of Swisslog Americas

As it targets growth in the Americas region, global warehouse automation and software firm Swisslog has entrusted Sean Wallingford to lead the way.

Wallingford was named president and CEO of the Americas region in January. At the recent ProMat 2023 conference in Chicago, Wallingford sat down with Supply Chain Management Review for an extended interview on his first few months on the job, the future of Swisslog, and the role he expects to play in helping the company achieve its goals.

“I think I’ve been pretty impressed with the (Swisslog) portfolio focus on where we think automation’s going, not where it’s been,” Wallingford says. “I think some of the traditional sortation and conveyor has kind of been commoditized, and it’s useful. We all need to have it, but the focus on the ACPaQ solutions like the mixed case palletizing and de-palletizing, it’s where are we going. We’re going up, we’re going more automated, we’re going less labor. And the portfolio is kind of laser-focused around those things. So that’s been exciting for me.”

Wallingford is no stranger to the supply chain. He joins Swisslog, which is part of the KUKA Group, from Vanderlande Industries, where he most recently served as president of warehouse solutions for North America. Responsible for driving growth and capability building in the North American region as well as directing the global warehouse software strategy, Wallingford has more than 15 years of experience there and at his previous employer, Honeywell Intelligrated. At Honeywell, Wallingford was responsible for Honeywell Intelligrated’s software strategy and solutions and Connected DC Software solutions as vice president of software product management.

“It’s probably easier to adapt to a new company in the space than somebody coming in from the outside,” he says of his new role with Swisslog. “So, I think that’s good. I think it’s, obviously, about learning the different dynamics about the company’s structure and product lines, things like that, but it’s going well.”

Swisslog offers several automation solutions, including the CarryPick order picking solution, AutoStore and SynQ management software. Wallingford believes the opportunity for Swisslog in North America is massive.

Cardinal Health just announced it was installing Swisslog’s AutoStore and SynQ software at its Grove City, Ohio, facility. That facility is part of Cardinal Health’s at-Home Solutions business, which provides home medical supplies to patients in the home. The AutoStore solution has 31,844 storage bins providing 83,000 cubic feet of storage for 14,154 SKUs.

“I think the North American market is behind Europe. It has been behind Europe from an automation perspective, 10, 15 years, perpetually,” he says. “Land was scarcer, people were more expensive, especially closer to major population centers. So, Europe got on board much quicker with large automated systems, high bays, building up and not out, all that kind of stuff.

“So I think that more consolidation around certain types of systems, large shuttles, large cubes from AutoStore, large high bay warehouses … I think those types of systems is where we’re at and where we’re going,” he adds.

Editor’s note: The full interview with Sean Wallingford will be available to print and digital subscribers in Supply Chain Management Review’s July 2023 magazine issue and online thereafter. To subscribe, click here.

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