Impressions from the show

By Gary R. Forger, Editorial Director -- Modern Materials Handling, 3/1/2001

Chicago in February can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it could be cold, blustery, and snow-obsessed-a losing combination for some. On the other hand, the ProMat materials handling show could be in town as it was last month. Now that's a different story. Better yet, the ground was bare and it wasn't all that cold.

Although the MMH editors returned from the show just before this issue went to the printer, staff editor Andrea Morrell rushed some early news into this month's First page. Additional coverage from the four days of our Show Daily is also available right now online at mmh.com (thanks to Web editor Martha Spizziri). Meanwhile, we're going to take a few more days to work through the mountains of press releases and reporters' notebooks to round out our coverage in next month's print edition of MMH. Until then, here are some impressions from the show.

To start, there are a lot of materials handling projects in the works out there. The first two days had to be two of the strongest days ever in terms of attendance. Consistently, exhibitors were more than pleased with the number of people in their booths and the number of leads they collected on active projects. While projections for materials handling industry growth this year (see First ) won't set the world on fire, the key word is growth, given the strong sales of 2000 and the general malaise of 2001. It seems that companies such as yours intent on being supply chain winners are using this economic lull to beef up their systems and score additional gains against competitors.

Among exhibitors, there was a strong European presence that had not been seen in some time, if ever. Swisslog, FKI Logistex, Vanderlande, and Eisenmann were all either in the show for the first time or in it in their current merged form for the first time.

The four in that list are among the 20 largest materials handling systems suppliers in the world. The company that will soon be the largest systems supplier in the world, Siemens, was absent from the show only because it hadn't quiet completed its acquisition of Mannesmann and its American subsidiaries.

Now don't take this as curtains for U.S. based systems suppliers or their technology. Swisslog and FKI Logistex became who they are today in no small part by buying U.S. companies. More importantly, these companies bring together very strong systems portfolios that are sure to play a major role in supply chain efficiencies from here on out.

And a key component of any leading system is information. With this in mind, ProMat had, for the first time, an IT Village filled with supply chain software and automatic data capture exhibitors. Not only did the Village go over quite well, but it will be expanded next year.

Wish I had more space to tell you about some other developments, but...