THE BIGGEST PROMAT YET

Visitors flock to the show in Chicago to see the latest material handling technologies

The manufacturing and supply chain community came together in a big way after a four-year hiatus for a record-setting ProMat event, according to show producer MHI.

With an overall registration count of 50,924 and 1,051 exhibitors, the event attracted 12 percent more attendees than the last Promat in 2019, before the pandemic. The event also saw a rebound in international attendance with attendees representing 178 countries.

“MHI is committed to bringing this industry together to share leading-edge trends, technology, and innovations. The success of ProMat 2023 is proof of that and the supply chain industry’s continued relevance to the marketplace and central role in commerce,” said John Paxton, CEO of MHI.

“No other event showcases all this industry has to offer to improve operational productivity and efficiency across manufacturing and supply chains. With so much tech and end-to-end solutions, ProMat offers this industry a one-stop-shop for solutions and the unparalleled education attendees need to survive and even thrive in a constantly changing marketplace.”

“The energy on the show floor and the connections being made is a clear sign of the power of this industry,” added Daniel McKinnon, EVP of exhibitions at MHI. “Attendees representing the Fortune 500, the top 100 retailers and consumer goods firms brought large teams to ProMat to source the latest technologies and to learn leading trends impacting supply chains. They came to ProMat with plans in hand and budgets in place to improve their operations and build resilient supply chain operations for future success.”

The dominant trend at ProMat was a focus on digital supply chain solutions including automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, augmented reality, the Internet of Things, and end-to-end data transparency. A major focus at the show was on the technologies that let these solutions communicate with existing material handling solutions.

“We’re seeing a big acceleration in the adoption of these technologies over the next five years in manufacturing and supply chain operations,” said Paxton. “The solutions on display this year were evidence of this trend.”

Innovation awards

MHI announced the winners of the 2023 MHI Innovation Awards at the show. A panel of judges chose three winners.

Agility Robotics won the best new product award for Digit, its human-centric, multi-purpose robot. The robot walks like a human, with arms, legs and torso, but no head. It weighs in a 65 kg and can carry up to 16 kg. It’s able to walk forwards, backward and side to side, as well as turning in place and crouching. It can walk up slopes and over uneven terrain. Agility demonstrated it picking totes from a rack and placing them on a conveyor at its booth. It qualifies as a collaborative robot as it is programmed to avoid contact with humans. The company says future versions of the robot will be able to unload trailers, and eventually automate last-mile deliveries.

The best IT innovation award went to EPIQ Structural Solutions, an engineering firm, for its OneRack web-based storage rack design software. It gives rack professionals the ability to create their own rack designs, answer their customers’ questions, utilize their inventory, and solve problems. OneRack’s structural engineers can stamp and approve drawings created using the system.

Hai Robotics took the best innovation of an existing product award for its autonomous goods-to-person picking robot, A42T. It can