Sam Moffett

EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Class of 2024, Ireland
Managing Director of Moffett Automated Storage

Share the joy of Sam Moffett’s winning moment at Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland.

Sam Moffett builds on a family history of innovation with robot taxis for palletized goods. 

Sam Moffett grew up in an entrepreneurial family — The Moffett name is known for seven decades of engineering excellence and the development of innovative material-handling solutions. His father founded forklift manufacturer, Combilift, which was both Sam’s playground as a child and university as an adult.  

Sam went straight into the business upon finishing school. In 2014, he was managing the construction of Combilift’s global headquarters and manufacturing facility. While working on the project — a 100-acre site with 11 acres of roof space — Sam developed a warehouse automation idea that didn’t fit the family business portfolio.  

He founded Moffett Automated Storage in 2017. The business offers an advanced software system for automating the transport of palletized goods in a large-scale storage environment. Designed to provide maximum redundancy, the system comprises a series of “robot taxis” that work around each other for optimal efficiency. From a scalability perspective, customers can simply add more taxis to the system based on their needs without large, capital-intensive projects. The system can realize significant energy savings and help reduce the carbon footprint of its customers. 

Looking ahead, Sam plans to develop new products that will increase the role of automation throughout the material handling process. He is also focused on expanding operations to Australia, Germany, Asia and beyond.