This Month in Modern: The future is now at the MMH Virtual Summit

I’m happy to report that a common, developing theme across all of Peerless Media’s supply chain publications in 2022 suggests that the past couple years, while tumultuous, have done vendors as well as warehouse and DC managers a service. The “great automation acceleration” has helped level the playing field, as vendors and OEMs have innovated ways to meet nearly every reality the disruption has thrown at us.

Our pool of reporters, software and technology analysts agree that the software and automation tools operations need to meet today’s challenges are right in front of us—all we need to do is put them to work.

“You can just about say that the democratization of supply chain technology is complete,” says editor at large Bridget McCrea, who’s been following technology for us for more than 15 years. “Once a distant vision that few organizations could attain, the digital supply chain is now fully available across all industries…and operations of all sizes can now adopt pretty much any technology they need.”

And, that’s the theme we chose for Modern Materials Handling’s Virtual Summit that will go live on Thursday, July 28 (watch e-mail for your personal invitation). Our editorial staff designed sessions to help you meet the future and ensure your facility evolves to become more nimble and flexible through the application of automation.

Kristi Montgomery, vice president of innovation, research and development at Kenco Logistics Services, is our keynote speaker. She contends that supply chain evolution is about the survival of the innovative, as the rapid pace of e-commerce growth and the need to optimize our existing labor force are driving new priorities. “Innovation is no longer a buzzword, it’s a necessity and execution is key,” she says.

Ian Hobkirk, founder and managing director of Commonwealth Supply Chain Advisors, will offer an overview of what’s driving this need to automate and explores how automation can best be applied. Howard Turner, director of supply chain execution Systems at St. Onge Company, offers a closer look at how businesses large and small can better use their existing WMS to drive efficiency and flexibility while proactively positioning themselves for growth.

Jeff Hedges, president of JHedges Consulting, and Dwight Klappich, research vice president at Gartner, will engage in a panel discussion for in-depth look at the different types of robotic solutions and examine the value proposition behind these approaches to tying robotics in with automation and the workforce.

David Krebs, executive vice president of enterprise mobility at VDC Research, will assess the relative maturity of key mobile technology solutions, including device trends in wearables, RFID and real-time location, machine vision, voice solutions, as well as wireless networking and 5G. And Rowan Stott, research analyst at Interact Analysis, will explore the evolution of the micro-fulfilment centers, the automation that makes them work as well as the business models they’ll support now and in the future.

From these sessions, you will see that operations of all sizes can adopt any technology necessary, allowing you to reimagine your processes and embrace the changes necessary to orchestrate an end-to-end, digital supply chain.