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Monday, January 8, 2007

Greetings from Chicago!

ProMat 2007 opened today expecting a record 35,000 attendees to visit more than 750 exhibitors. With the sun shining and unseasonably warm temperatures in Chicago for January it was an easy commute to McCormick Place South to begin the ProMat 2007 experience.

The rush began at 10:00 a.m. this morning with exhibitors featuring manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, logistics and IT solutions for the supply chain. With more than 300,000 square feet, the magnitude of the show floor was impressive. 

No body missed a beat, I arrived shortly after 10 a.m. and the atmosphere felt as if the doors had been open for hours.  The excitement was great. 

There were some great new products and ideas to see and learn about.

Being environmentally friendly is very important right now and I saw a few examples of great new ideas, both on the market and not…

• Toyota Industrial Equipment’s Fuel Cell Lift Truck Concept (prototype)- Toyota’s continued effort to design vehicles that are powerful and environmentally friendly was shown today with the FCHV-F lift truck.
• Hyster Company is manufacturing Internal Combustion Engine lift trucks as well. Keeping their power while being environmentally friendly is a top priority.

There is so much to see it is simply impossible to cover in one day.  Many booth visits and an educational conference was my day one experience. I am looking to visit some more booths and learn about new products tomorrow.

If you are attending ProMat please let me know your thoughts and what products jumped out at you.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Greetings!

Well another day and some more sunshine. I saw many familiar faces and the show floor seemed busier today then yesterday.

I saw some really great products today that were extremely innovative.

·        Tennant M20 Single-System Scrubber Sweeper: the cleaning industry’s first ever scrubber-sweeper integrated into one machine. The FloorSmart single-system is easy to use with a one-touch power button. There is no need to deal with lots of confusing levers and keys, one-touch and you’re good to go.

·        Positech Mobile Manipulator-(lift assist): maneuverable lift assist equipment which one person can use to lift and move up to 600 pounds.  It can be used in areas traditional lift assist equipment is not available. This is designed for use on hard level surfaces.

·        Aigner Index: “Frig-Idä” Cold Storage Labeling System: “Cost effective solution for labeling cold storage applications.” Use your laser printer for large or small quantities and the labels will perform in temperatures to -20°F. The labels are applied to lo-temp magnets and can be relocated as required.

I attended another educational conference this afternoon titled, “Five Solid Ways to Better Utilize Space & Increase Productivity” Sponsored by Remstar. The speaker gave attendees suggestions for storage solutions and how to fit the solutions to an individuals need, among other things.

All in all, today was a success.  I got a chance to see some really innovative products and meet people really excited to share their thoughts and ideas.

If you saw any of these products tell me what you thought or let me know what products to watch out for.