Last month at Chicago's McCormick Place South, ProMat 2005 hosted more than 36,000 attendees, many of whom were there with specific materials handling projects and budgets in mind. And they certainly had plenty of opportunity to see the latest and greatest in technology from more than 700 exhibitors.

John Vieira, manager of applications development for the TJX Companies, a Massachusetts-based retailer, was one attendee with specific buying plans.

"We're here to look at new technologies," Vieira said. "But we also have some projects in the works and wanted to talk to vendors we're considering working with."

He and others were aided in their search for materials handling solutions with all exhibitors being on a single floor covering 300,000 square feet.

"Having the event on one level puts all of the solutions, and most of the educational sessions within easy reach," according to John Nofsinger, Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) chief executive officer. "More so than ever, it's a simpler event to navigate, which boils down to greater convenience and efficiency for attendees."

According to MHIA, Vieira and others will drive increasing demand for materials handling equipment and related information systems. In fact, the industry, which is coming off a good year in 2004, expects still more growth in 2005.

"Overall capital spending in 2004 was up 9.7%, industrial output up 4.7%, material handling bookings up 14.2%, and material handling shipments up 12.3%," said Ralph Deger, executive chairman of MHIA. "This represents a full 30% more growth than we were seeing at this time last year." His comments were made at the annual MHIA State of the Industry press conference held during the show.

Deger predicted a 9–10% growth in bookings and shipments for the industry in 2005. Also, capacity utilization is likely to climb into the 78–80% range.

"Historically, when we reach 80% capacity utilization, that marks a dynamic trigger in demand for our industry's products," he said, predicting that capital spending will improve by 9%, with industrial output up 4.8–5.2%.

Another highlight of ProMat was the Executive Forum. Industry leaders spoke on the importance of risk taking in the materials handling industry to usher in a new age of automation.

Dr. John White, chancellor of the University of Arkansas, told the crowd that company leadership should start anew by embracing innovation. "It's a rare organization that can't stand a lot of improvement," he said.

Kevin Smith, senior vice president of supply chain logistics for CVS, added that pioneers in the industry have helped to break new ground for logistics and technological advancements, and will need to do so again to increase DC efficiencies.

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