PROMAT 2017 at McCormick Place Chicago

PROMAT 2017 at McCormick Place Chicago - Day 1

The windy city is currently hosting the largest material handling showcase in the world, and we were able to take advantage of the first day. Aisles and aisles of material handling software, hardware, virtual reality, safety products and more. Over 950 solutions providers set up shop in the sprawling McCormick place in the heart of downtown Chicago.

The event continues over the next three days as businesses of all sizes show off their innovations in safety, robotics, and automation in the material handling industry.

Promat exhibit hours

• Monday April 3, 10:00am - 5:00pm
• Tuesday April 4, 10:00am - 5:00pm
• Wednesday April 5, 10:00am - 5:00pm
• Thursday, April 6, 10:00am - 3:00pm

The most incredible part is that entry is free and you can register online to get in.

One of the more notable experiences was using virtual reality from FL-Simulators to walk through a virtual warehouse and move pallets and view the design and efficiency of an operation. Among some of the other sights to see were large, and also specialized fork trucks for tougher hard to reach applications.

If you are more into what you can learn from this show you could stop in and watch a seminar on some of the following topics. "Warehouse Fire Sprinkler Codes and Impact on Storage Racks" which was put on by DACS inc., who has a device which keeps stored material out of flue spaces in upright racking. Another great learning experience was "Transformative Power of Wide-Area Passive RFID" by Barcoding inc.

Many more on-floor seminars took place in all areas from technical, to operational. One particular one was for folks looking to move their products online called "eCommerce: Shopping for Automation - When, What and How?" which was put on by OPEX Corporation.

If you are planning on going to the show in the next two days, you can find information for registering online here: Register Online for PROMAT2017

Northrop Grumman subsidiary adaptive optics also released an amazing innovation. The DynaDimTM Dimensioner, an In-Motion Dimensional Pallet Scanner, was introduced for the first time at PRO MAT 2017.

We wish we could have stayed another day to take in the entirety of the event, but we will be heading back in two years to partake in the innovation of the material handling industry. We made great friends and hoped to expand our endeavors with what we've learned from everyone at the great companies.