MHIA holds successful inaugural Modex expo

As an indicator of the continued economic recovery of the manufacturing and supply chain industries, U.S. and international attendees registered in large numbers for the inaugural MODEX expo held February 6-9 in Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center. The expo was sponsored by the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) and is designed to showcase equipment and systems solutions as well as learning opportunities that span the entire supply chain, from material handling to logistics across manufacturing, assembly and distribution.

Nearly 20,000 key decision-makers in virtually all manufacturing, logistics, distribution and supply chain industries participated in MODEX 2012. The expo featured the solutions of 586 exhibitors covering 180,000 net square feet. Reflecting the global nature of the expo, 96 countries and six continents were represented at this year’s MODEX . They were welcomed by MODEX’s International Visitors Center.

“Participants came with very specific objectives and with buying plans in hand. They know that investing in the latest supply chain equipment and technology is the key to building and maintaining their competitive edge,” said George W. Prest, CEO of MHIA. “MODEX met, and in many cases exceeded, exhibitors’ and attendees’ expectations. Attendees were impressed with the wide range of equipment and systems solutions and education offered at MODEX and exhibitors expressed satisfaction with the quantity and quality of attendees,” added Prest.

Other MODEX Highlights
Along with the healthy traffic on the show floor, MODEX featured an educational conference that included three keynotes featuring Rick Blasgen, Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, Alberto Alemán Zubieta, Chief Executive Officer of the Panama Canal Authority and Donald Ratliff, Ph.D., Executive Director of The Supply Chain & Logistics Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology.

The MODEX 2012 Conference also included 75 educational seminars outlining leading trends, best practices and state-of-the-art equipment and technology solutions. In addition, MODEX 2012 partnered with 20 industry organizations that co-located 32 events with MODEX 2012 including the Georgia Logistics Summit.

MODEX Classroom Day introduced high school and university students and educators to career opportunities in material handling, supply chain and logistics through hands-on learning and networking with industry professionals. This year’s Classroom Day combined an interactive educational session with a dynamic guided tour of the MODEX expo.

MODEX Industry Night at the Georgia Aquarium was an exciting and entertaining networking event with over 1,400 attendees and exhibitors in attendance.

The next MHIA-sponsored trade event will be ProMat 2013 held January 21-24 in Chicago’s McCormick Place. For more information on exhibiting at ProMat, or to register as an attendee, visit http://www.promatshow.com. The next MODEX will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in March of 2014.

More details, news and images from MODEX are available at http://blog.modexshow.com and www.modexshow.com/links.aspx. Webinars of MODEX 2011 educational sessions are available online at http://www.modexshow.com/seminars.