MODEX 2024 Conference

This was my 3rd MHI ProMat / MODEX event to attend, I also attended the 2023 and the 2017 (?) event in Chicago. My goals for these events, in order of priority, are:
- To see and learn about new solutions and services from exhibitors
- To make new connections
- To learn from the education sessions
I often tell people that when I walked into ProMat for the first time as a 3PL guy I saw a small Swisslog AutoStore grid demo and thought to myself – “what company would ever pay for such technology??” Ironically, a few years later I would find myself operating a DC for a tech manufacturer that included a massive AutoStore – and they were installing more of them around the world. I share that story to highlight the fact that just because some of the tech and solutions you might see at a conference are not relevant to you, today, they may be relevant to your competitors today, and will likely be relevant to you in the near future, so you should capitalize on every opportunity to get familiar with them. On multiple occasions I have implemented solutions that I first saw years prior at a show, indicating that the companies exhibiting at the show will see short term and long term ROIs.
This year I learned a new lesson, though I’m still trying to articulate it properly. I found myself talking with a yard management system vendor that uses ruggedized GPS trackers to place on trailers when they enter the yard so they can track exactly where they are in the yard. I spoke with this company for 5 minutes or so to understand their product and walked away informed and a little impressed at their ingenuity in designing such a system. I added them to my list of vendors to follow up with because I could see a use case for their service for a handful of my client’s sites. Then it was time for my lesson, because 2 minutes later I would walk past another vendor’s booth, this time 2 stories high with 3 times as many sales people at the booth, selling the same thing, and later that day find another company selling a similar solution. This phenomenon occurred multiple times – for digital floor markings, for AMRs and ASRSs, autonomous floor cleaners, and many other solutions. What I learned is that I can’t assume that the first company I speak with about a solution is the creator or market leader of that solution and if I put on my procurement hat: there’s always multiple suppliers of the same solution, so don’t fall in love with the first one you come across that introduces you to the new idea.
These annual blockbuster events are like the Super Bowl for warehouse and distribution center professionals. Every year the first few hours at the event feel like you’ve just been tasked with eating an elephant standing right in front of you and you don’t know where to start. You visit one booth, then the next, then the next, and you get into a rhythm and soon it doesn’t feel so overwhelming and you start to enjoy it, the show that is, not eating an elephant.
Check out the Supply Chaney video recaps of each day here: