MHI Blog—ProMat – the biggest manufacturing and supply chain expo of 2017 – is coming to Chicago April 3-6 and MHI just released details on the conference session at this event.

The ProMat Conference will include four keynotes and new theaters on autonomous vehicles and drones and sustainable supply chain facility solutions. It also will feature over 100 show floor educational seminars covering leading trends, best practices and state-of-the-art equipment and technology solutions that can make manufacturing and the entire supply chain work more efficiently and profitably.

MHI Blog—Referred to as "the greatest Supply Chain show on earth," MODEX 2016 made its mark in Atlanta, Georgia April 4-7th and did not disappoint. With over 800 exhibitors, countless networking opportunities, and daily education sessions by industry experts, themes such as labor shortage, safety and ergonomics, and accuracy became common points of discussion.

These growing factors for inflection are being addressed by emerging technologies, many of which were showcased at the event. Here are a few to watch for.

MHI Blog—Approximately 50 kilometers outside of Antwerp, amongst green fields and alongside the Albert Canal, Nike’s newly expanded, state-of-the-art European Logistics Campus in Belgium will serve consumers faster as part of a more responsive and sustainable supply chain.

The athletic giant ships more than one billion units of footwear, apparel and equipment every year, which demands an agile, innovative and sustainable supply chain. The expansion will make Nike’s European operations (which employs more than 3,000 people) more efficient, more responsive and more sustainable, enabling growth by serving consumers across Nike.com, Nike retail and wholesale partners in 38 countries, all from a single inventory location.

MHI Blog—Big data, cloud-based, mobile robotics, wearable technology, Internet of Things—all trends driving innovation in AS/RS. This according to a recent article in Refrigerated Frozen Foods.

Manufacturing and distribution center tasks that have traditionally been manual can now be more efficiently accomplished with automation. This means automating supply chain processes  – often utilizing automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS).

MHI Blog—Data-driven and autonomous supply chains will provide an opportunity for "previously unimaginable levels of optimization" in manufacturing, logistics, warehousing and last mile delivery, according to DHL’s 2016 Logistics Trend Radar.

The new report asserts that worldwide supply chains are beginning to undergo a fundamental transformation as more "artificial intelligence" is deployed to handle both the domestic and international movement of goods. The report further states such developments could become a reality in less than five years, despite high set-up costs deterring early adoption within the logistics industry.

MHI Blog—The National Center for Supply Chain Technology Education (SCTE), funded by the National Science Foundation, is holding several Education Workforce Forums to educate next generation workers in advanced material handling systems. The goal is to bring industry partners with a strong need for supply chain talent together with academic leaders such as colleges with well established programs.

MHI Blog—During the recent MODEX 2016 event, MHI hosted a Keynote Panel on the findings of the 2016 MHI Annual Industry Report titled Accelerating Change: How Innovation is Driving Digital Always-On Supply Chains. The video of this Keynote Panel is now available for viewing to provide an up-to-date perspective on emerging supply chain trends.

MHI Blog—In November 2015, MHI first launched an awareness campaign to connect, engage and inspire next-generation workers to pursue manufacturing and supply chain careers. The campaign launched with a #iWorkInTheSupplyChain video that tells the unique stories of a variety of manufacturing and supply chain professionals. MHI invited supply chain professionals to nominate themselves to become the 2016 Face of the Supply Chain. Contestants entered by sharing their stories on the iWorkInTheSupplyChain blog.

MHI Blog—Although more than 11 million people work in the supply chain—representing 8.6 percent of the nation’s workforce— a shortage of skilled workers persists. An estimated 600,000 manufacturing positions in the United States are unfilled for a lack of qualified workers. Further, the U.S. Roadmap for Material Handling & Logistics predicts that by 2018 there will be 1.4 million new jobs in the field.

As companies have struggled to find talent among their traditional workforce pool, they’ve begun to look elsewhere.

MHI Blog—Along with over 800 exhibitors featuring their supply chain solutions on the show floor, MODEX featured a supply chain conference that included over 100 educational seminars outlining leading trends, best practices and state-of-the-art equipment and technology solutions. Webinars of MODEX 2016 educational seminar sessions are now available or viewing online at MODEXShow.com/seminars.

MHI Blog—Have you gifted personalized M&Ms? Ordered custom-built Nike trainers? Considered a design-your-own Smart car?

If so, you, as a consumer, are benefiting from the modern maturation of mass customization in the retail sector. Consumers now demand products and services that are more and more precisely tailored to their interests, lifestyles and needs. And, thanks to continual technological advances in the retail purchasing process, these customized products and services are now delivered nearly as fast as if you bought them off the proverbial rack.

MHI Blog—Technology plays a major role in collaboration, a role that will only grow larger in the future, according to new research from the University of Tennessee’s Global Supply Chain Institute.

The survey of over 200 organizations from a wide range of industries asked respondents to weigh in on such issues as inventory visibility, supply chain costs, new ERP integration, responsiveness to customer demands, and more.

MHI Blog—Although well understood within the industry, the general public has—by and large—failed to recognize the significance of supply chain jobs to business and to the overall economy. The story needs to be told that supply chains are led by a diverse group of professionals who utilize innovation, creativity and smart thinking to keep the economy moving.

Last quarter, MHI launched the #iWorkInTheSupplyChain awareness campaign to start telling that story. The goal of the campaign is to promote manufacturing and supply chain as an innovative and rewarding career choice—and to change the perception of jobs in the industry.

MHI Blog—The use of automation and robotics in the supply chain is not new, but it is increas­ingly identified as both a disruptive force and a competitive advantage by supply chain leaders.

In the 2016 MHI Annual Industry Report, 51 percent of survey respondents said the technology has the potential to disrupt the industry and offer an advantage to companies that leverage it appropriately. While adoption of robotics is currently only 35 percent, that number is expected to rise to 74 percent in the next six to 10 years. There are a number of reasons supply chain leaders are evaluating robotic technology for their companies, says Tom Galluzzo, Ph.D., chief executive officer of MHI 2016 Innovation Award finalist IAM Robotics.

MHI Blog—3D printing is a "game changer" for manufacturing, but its real impact on supply chains will take years to play out, experts say.

According to the 2016 MHI Annual Industry Report, Accelerating change: how innovation is driving digital, always on supply chains, only 17 percent of nearly 900 supply chain professionals surveyed said they believe that 3D printing can be a competitive advantage, and only six percent consider it disruptive; 45 percent say it will have some impact.

MHI Blog—In a prior issue of MHI Solutions and in the 2016 MHI Annual Industry Report—Accelerating Change: How Innovation is Driving Digital, Always-on Supply Chains, you may have noticed that one of the emerging technologies or innovations driving supply chain success is analytics. With talk of the future impact of analytics (namely predictive analytics) on the "digital, chain, always-on supply chain," there is a major issue that supply chain organizations need to be aware of—"the politics of analytics."

MHI Blog—B2B, distributed inventory networks and "less than truckload" shipping: Could uberization of the supply process be next?

"We have seen the advent of the shar­ing economy explode—the concept that companies don’t necessarily need to own the entirety of their supply chain," says David Schwebel, MHI manager, solutions and product groups at MHI. "Consumer’s demand fulfillment imme­diacy will steadily shift omnichannel verticals into seeing a rise in smaller transports, and that’s where the distributed network comes in."