About Us

The SDI Group designs, builds and supports automated materials handling systems for retail distribution centres. SDI draws on its core skills in systems integration, proprietary software development, consulting and support to meet the changing needs of its international retail customers. SDI has operated for more than 30 years in the US and for over a decade in the UK, where it is incorporated. Its international operations span France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Chile.

From its facilities in Rugby and Royston, the UK, SDI’s main country of operation, the group employs 140 people and provides a full service offering, specialising in consultancy, design and solutions provision. The US operation, with its principal facility in Pacioma, Los Angeles, employs 150 people with a product and service offering similar to the UK.

SDI Industries Inc was the first company to bear the “SDI” name and was founded in the United States in 1977 by Don Desanctis and Dick Ursitti. Having previously specialised in the engineering departments of large retailers, they used their in-depth knowledge of retail logistics to build a team at SDI Industries Inc. that offered consultancy services relating to logistics automation.

This team, which included Mary Adams, the current CEO of SDI Industries Inc, took proven technology, adapted it for the retail distribution industry, and rapidly won a significant proportion of the US market.

In the early 1980s, SDI Industries Inc moved into its current facility in Los Angeles, which the Group continues to use today as its US base for consultancy, R&D and manufacturing. Having experienced continued growth and customer demand for additional services, certain shareholders of SDI Industries Inc subsequently established Real Time Integration Inc (RTI), a software development operation in Florida, enabling it to expand its service offering.

Independently, in 1997, Gordon Smith, the Group’s CEO, founded Greenstone Automation Limited in the UK, having spent the previous six years in retail distribution for Exel. Greenstone Automation followed a similar model to SDI Industries Inc, based on consulting skills to understand customers’ retail supply chain requirements and designing solutions to help maximise returns on investment. In 2000, SDI Industries Inc. bought a 20% stake in Greenstone Automation Limited, which was renamed SDIGreenstone Limited.

The UK operation expanded into mainland Europe through partnering with local consultants or businesses. The Italian tie-up took place in October 2000 with Germany following in April 2002, France in December 2002, Holland in October 2003 and Spain in October 2004. At the same time, SDI Industries Inc pursued additional opportunities and entered into collaborations in other territories, including South America. The international expansion model enabled these overseas partners to capitalise upon the “SDI” brand and the resources of SDI Industries Inc and SDIGreenstone Limited to win new customers.

The model has allowed penetration of markets and sales to be attained quickly in each jurisdiction with a lower capital requirement than would have been necessary with a more traditional start-up model. Together these separate entities form the SDI Group with the founders of each operation holding shares in SDI Group plc.