The Mheda Journal

During our lengthy trip back from ProMat (let’s jut say we got to know Concourse B at O’Hare airport very well), my travel companions and I were chatting about all the interesting things we saw at the show. One of the topics that came up was how many exhibits displayed their end-users right there on the booth for everyone to see. I understand that, at a show where so many end-users attend, doing so is a good marketing ploy. An end-user sees the work you did for Company X and thinks, “Maybe that supplier can do the same for me.” I get that.

However, I also got to thinking about the other side of that strategy. If a competitor who is also at the show sees that you’re doing business with Company X, they might think, “I’ve been trying to get that business and now that I know who has it, that can help me develop a new strategy to get it.” I wonder, does that happen? Is that a valid concern? I’m not talking about going in and badmouthing the current provider, I doubt most of you would condone that, but I do wonder if there is some detriment to listing the customers.

Maybe it’s a testament to the strength of the provider’s relationship with the customer, so it’s nothing to worry about. What do you think? I’d love to hear thoughts from those of you who are in the industry, exhibitors or not. With MHEDA’s “Customer Convention” just around the corner, it seems like a relevant discussion. Leave a comment and let me know your opinion.

While the attendance at ProMat 2011 seemed to be a bit ligther today, that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of those who were at the third day of the show. Exhibitors continued to rave about the number of quality leads they recieved at their booths. End-users from around the globe made the show worthwhile for a high number of MHEDA members who had their booths on display.

I spent the morning walking the show with Steve Guglielmo, visiting the distributors who had booths. We also took in a seminar about using lean practices to improve forklift operations.

One highlight of the afternoon was taking a few moments to wander the Automate 2011 show, which collocated with ProMat. There were several different kinds of robots on display, including ones that dealt blackjack, putted golf balls and drank from a water bottle. They were all pretty neat displays. Other, more-relevant-to-material-handling applications for the automated equipment were also shown off, including a robotic palletizer, high-speed scanning equipment and lots of cutting and welding uses. To be honest, I think a lot of the robot applciations, both in Automate and in ProMat, were more to show off what can be done with the technology rather than showcasing useful applications. One robotic truck we saw wouldn’t have eliminated any manpower, as it still required lift to place the itmes it picked on high shelves. Though, admittedly, it did look cool.

Regardless, though, if the booths at ProMat were any indication, automation and robotics will remain the waves of the future. As systems engineers continue to perfect these technologies, some unique products will surely be develoepd soon.

All in all, it was a productive show. I learned a lot, made a host of new contacts and re-connected with some members I’d met before. MHEDA Members, both suppliers and distributors, always have a lot of information to share. I’m glad I was there to soak it all in. See you in 2013!

MHEDA Past President Jim Bowes of Peach State Integrated Technologies visits MHEDA's booth at ProMat.

Day 2 of ProMat was another filled day. We took the shuttle over early to attend a press conference where TGW  Systems unveiled a new picking product. After that, the show opened up and it was another day of walking the aisles and meeting suppliers and distributors. I also attended a seminar on the future of robotic case picking with robotic industrial trucks. It was a good look at trends in distribution centers.

In my time walking the aisles, there was good traffic flow. Most exhibitors were very pleased with the amount of leads they’ve generated so far, far more than at the previous ProMat show two years ago. The beauty of a stronger economy, I guess. At MHEDA’s booth #1878, for example, they were able to sign up 5 new members, which is a lot considering that most attendees are end-users and not distributors. That’s not to diminish the presence of distributors here, as they were out in full force.

Perhaps the most informative part of the day was at MHIA’s State of the Industry press conference, where MHIA COO George Prest went through some material handling industry statistics and forecasts. New orders grew 18% in 2010 and are expected to grow 11-12% in 2011. Shipments rose by 6% in 2010 and are expected to grow 11-12% in 2011. Domestic demand grew 3.5% in 2010 and is expected to grow by the same 11-12% in 2011. Exports will be stronger than imports in 2011, according to the data.

Part of the MHIA presentation also included a short speech by Jock Menzies, president of the American Logistics Aid  Network (ALAN), about the industry’s help of the recent tragedy in Japan. He spoke of all the efforts of the peopel in our industry and others who helped out and compared the cleanup in Japan (a modern, financially rich country) to the recent efforts after disasters in Haiti and other poorer, less advanced countries. It was a striking contrast.

One other interesting fact: Did you know that “material handling” is called “intralogistics” in Europe? I didn’t. But two gentlemen promoting the CeMat show in Hannover, Germany, in May enlightened me to that fact.

All in all, it was another busy but fun day. Needless to say, my brain is almost as sore as my feet from all that’s going on. Stay tuned to live updates via Twitter by me @liftmoveandstor and my colleague, Steve Guglielmo (@MatHandlingEdge). We’ll be on the floor for a half day Wednesday before heading back to upstate New York. If I haven’t seen you yet, maybe we’ll see each other on the floor tomorrow!

So the first day of another ProMat is in the books, and it was a wild one. It started with a visit to MHEDA’s booth (#1878) to get our MHEDA Member ribbons and then to cover the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Then we headed upstairs from the show floor to help with Classroom Day. I didn’t take any students around on the show floor, but those who did had a good time helping new students learn the industry.

More than 250 students and faculty participated in Classroom Day at ProMat.

I attended a press conference put on by The Raymond Corporation, where they talked about working with a distributor to create a 1.1 million sq. ft. headquarters/distribution center for The Container Store. It was an interesting presentation, as Mike Coronado, director of the distribution center said the company has seen a 30% improvement in process time since the facility went live in 2004.

Then, it was back down to the show floor, where I made the rounds and met lots of MHEDA members. Several MHEDA distributors were wandering the aisles as well, including Past MHEDA Presidents Tim Hilton, CEO of Carolina Handling (Charlotte, NC); John Cosgrove, president of Atlantic Handling Systems (Fair Lawn, NJ); Mike Romano, CEO of Associated (Carol Stream, IL); Jim Bowes, president of Peach State Integrated Technologies (Norcross, GA); and current president Chuck Frank, president of AHS Inc. (Cincinnati, OH). That doesn’t even include all the other distributors and the 111 MHEDA members who are exhibiting at this year’s show. Each is sporting a “Proud Member of MHEDA” placard in their booths.

One thing I found interesting was the number of distributors who had exhibits. I always thought of it as a manufacturer thing to exhibit at shows like this, but I walked past exhibits for MHEDA distributors Siggins Corporation (North Kansas City, MO); Peach State Integrated Technologies (Norcross, GA); Vargo Companies (Hilliard, OH); W&H Systems (Carlstadt, NJ); PeakLogix (Midlothian, VA) and Kuecker Logistics Group (Belton, MO). (If you’re a MHEDA member distributor and I didn’t mention you, sorry…I haven’t made it through the whole show yet). I thought that was interesting. I never really thought of it, but it does make sense for distributors to have booths. There are a lot of end-users at this show, so why wouldn’t a distributor want to touch base with potential customers. Particularly if you’re not a territory-specific dealer, ProMat would be a great place to pick up sales leads. Why let a manufacturer get those leads and potentially hand them off to someone else? I have seen distributors exhibiting here before, but it definitely seemed to be more than in past years.

After walking the show for a while, I went back upstairs and watched MHEDA Executive Vice President Liz Richards give a presentation on MHEDA’s Gateway Program as part of MHIA’s Classroom Day. After that, it was back down on the floor to visit more booths and attend another press conference, where Gorbel introduced an aluminum gantry crane. Pretty interesting technology. Finally, I wrapped up the day in Vargo Companies’ seminar on lean distribution strategies. Kudos to the three gentlemen giving that presentation who did a nice job despite some technical difficulties with the sounds system.

MHEDA's Networking Reception was well-attended by members, prospects and guests.

Then it was upstairs to MHEDA’s Networking reception. It was a large crowd, and everyone had a good time. Attendees could place a business card in a bowl and win a prize, including a free Convention registration for the 2011 or 2012 MHEDA Convention. It was still going strong when we left at 6:00, and we just made it downstairs in time to catch the last shuttle.

It was nice to get on the bus and finally have a chance for an extended sit-down. My feet were starting to feel it. We closed the night with a visit to Hytrol Conveyor Company’s hospitality event at the Renaissance Hotel. Thanks to the Hytrol folks for a nice event.

It was a long day, but it was great to get around and see so many MHEDA members. The general consensus was that  the show was off to a good start. End-users appear to have money to spend again and they were out looking for equipment to spend it on. I’ll be back out there tomorrow, and I’d love to meet you if you’re out there! Don’t forget to follow my live tweets at www.twitter.com/liftmoveandstor. My colleague Steve Guglielmo is blogging and tweeting as well. Now it’s off to bed. See you tomorrow!

We flew into Chicago tonight for ProMat. We were delayed leaving by about an hour and it was a bit of a bumpy ride, but we made it without too much trouble. We checked in at the Fairmont Millennium Park Hotel, and it is really nice. The room is very nice and it will be a good place to call home for a few days. The show starts at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, and it’ll be nice to get out on the floor and see the new technologies in the industry. This is my 4th ProMat, and I have no doubt it will be just as informative as the previous three have been. I never fail to learn something and go home with lots of article ideas for upcoming issues of The MHEDA Journal. My picture is to the left, so if you see me walking the aisles, feel free to say hello! I would love to meet you!

My colleague, Steve Guglielmo and I will be blogging and Tweeting (@liftmoveandstor and @MatHandlingEdge) live from the floor. See you at the show!

Earlier today on wikiMHEDA, a headline was posted about ProMat 2011 being scheduled to return to Chicago. What struck me as interesting was that the date for this go-round of ProMat has been moved to March after being in January for the previous few years. I’ve been to ProMat 3 times, in 2005, 2007 and 2009, and each time was in January. It made for some interesting travel stories and some windy waits for the shuttle buses, so I for one will be happy to try to hit Chicago in what will hopefully be a little fairer weather conditions. Is that why they did it? Does anyone out there know?

The latest issue of MHEDA Edge, MHEDA’s online magazine for young professionals, was sent today to subscribers. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you can download a copy at www.mhedaedge.org. Or let me know and I can add you to the mailing list.

This month’s issue has great tips in it for little things you can do at your company to elevate your status and boost your career–things like having lunch with a colleague and picking their brain or joining a networking group. Also in this issue is a recap of MHEDA’s presence at ProMat for those who were unable to attend and a closer look at the economic situation as we plow through 2009.

I hope you enjoy this month’s issue and let me know if you have an idea for an article. What should we be talking about out there?

We finally made it out of Chicago last night, after spending about six hours at the airport, scurrying around from gate to gate and concourse to concourse. The one good thing was it gave us plenty of time to reflect on what we’d seen over the previous two days.

Walking the show floor, i saw lots of interesting technologies on display, including one especially interesting one from FastFetch, a division of Wesley International, that features the “world’s only order fulfillment system that couples communication between the picking cart and the storage bay.” The short demo I witnessed was pretty unique, as it encouraged much faster and accurate picking of multiple orders at the same time.

Another new innovation was from Ralphs-Pugh, who showcased a new synthetic conveyor roller connector that should result in less line loss than the current type. It’s a small thing that I probably never would have considered as a component on my own.

At the TGW-Ermanco hospitality suite on Tuesday night, they unvieled a new product that will have a major impact on their distributors’ sales. Look for that product to be rolled out in March.

Those are just a few examples of the many different technologies and products on display at ProMat 2009. Now that I’m back in Syracuse, it takes a while for it all to sink in.  To all exhibitors and attendees, I hope the show was a success!

Today ProMat opened without the pomp and circumstance of yesterday’s ribbon cutting, but with noticeably more attendees. Chris and I spent today walking around the show and everyone seemed to be thrilled with the day’s turnout.

As for the show itself, for a newbie like myself, there was quite a bit to take in. I sat in on an ID Systems seminar and developed a pretty good understanding of what fleet management strategies are available. Also, I found the engineered systems section of the show to be particularly interesting. It’s amazing how fast and efficient these different sorters and order pickers can be. Like Chris mentioned, the voice technology was also quite impressive.  

I  have to take the time to tip my hat to the association’s distributors and suppliers who took the time out of running their booths to answer my questions and help me learn about the industry. The same can be said for the companies who hosted hospitality events this week. Aside from the industry knowledge, the biggest thing i will take from this week is how much MHEDA members care about their association and their industry. It’s something I’m proud to be becoming a small part of.

Dan Vest, MHEDA Edge Editor

We’re back from our rounds to several different hospitality events. Those give us a good chance to meet more people at companies that we do a lot of business with, and get to talk to them and get to know them a little better. We got a nice tour of Chicago, too, as the events were all over the downtown area. It’s a good thing we didn’t have to wait too long for a taxi, because it’s only about 10 degrees outside!

Tomorrow is our last day in town. We’ll be hitting the exhibit hall one last time and then it’s back to upstate New York. I’ll be back for a final wrap-up tomorrow. In the meantime, Dan will be giving his observations from day two.

Talk to you Wednesday!