Industry Trends

BY TOM GRESHAM ISTOCK.COM/NVS NO INDUSTRY IS closer to the ultimate end‑user than the consumer goods industry. “They have a real finger on the pulse of what the consumer wants and needs and uses every day,” Tom Madrecki, vice president of supply chain and logistics for the Consumer Brands Association, said. The consumer goods industry encompasses all products bought by ...

The event was held April 13‑16 in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center MODEX, THE LARGEST event for manufacturing and supply chain professionals in 2026, concluded its most successful edition to date, breaking records for attendance, exhibition and global participation. The 2026 event, sponsored by MHI, welcomed 50,000 registered visitors from every U.S. state and 132 countries, alongside 1,057 ...

Member Stories: How Changing MHI Event Demographics Are Shaping Exhibitor Strategy BY CHRISTY DULA, CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, MHI WALK THE AISLES at any recent ProMat and MODEX, and one thing is immediately clear: the audience is changing. Exhibitors are engaging with a more diverse mix of attendees than ever before—from first‑time visitors and early‑career professionals to ...

BY RICK FOX, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, FOX IV TECHNOLOGIES, AND MEMBER, MHI BOARD OF GOVERNORS   AT FIRST, I didn’t see the value of trade associations. Early in my career, a colleague invited me to join him at a trade association meeting. I was dubious, but he insisted that I would learn a great deal and quickly understand how a ...

Building high‑performing supply chains and achieving other key business objectives starts with a clear strategic vision, but even the most brilliant strategies often fail due to poor execution, stranding organizations short of their goals and leaving billions in unrealized value on the table. Experts see potential in leveraging artificial intelligence to overcome barriers to implementing strategy and close the strategy‑execution ...

  BY SANDY SMITH   AUTOMATION IS POWERFUL in theory, but when a material handler confronts irregular shapes or sizes, that theory can become difficult to execute. MHI member Freespace Robotics—winner of the ProMat 2025 StartUp Pitch Competition—aims to solve that problem with an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) designed to handle an unusually wide range of product dimensions. ...

IoT sensors and edge computing are transforming supply chains by enabling real‑time insights, predictive maintenance and faster operational decisions. As these technologies mature and integrate with AI and standardized systems, companies can achieve greater visibility, efficiency and resilience across their operations. BY SARA PEARSON SPECTER   IN TODAY’S ULTRA‑COMPETITIVE logistics landscape, data visibility alone isn’t enough. Companies must act on ...

BY CHRISTIAN DOW, EVP OF INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP, MHI THERE IS NO doubt about it, the dawn of the artificial intelligence (AI) age is no longer approaching. It has arrived—in full force. As a result, end users must understand how predictive analytics and digital twins are influencing fundamental, traditional reliability practices. After all, they’re jointly strengthening reliability practices throughout the entire ...

How Physical Artificial Intelligence and Data‑Driven Robots Will Transform Warehouse Logistics   BY MARY LOU JAY   THE EVOLUTION OF robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) ‑driven warehouse management systems has paved the way for the next step in warehouse automation: physical AI. With physical AI, advanced technology can interact directly with the physical world through equipment such as robots, ...

Physical AI, Agentic AI, Digital Twins and the Dawn of Autonomous Logistics   BY CHRIS LEWIS   AS MIKE GEYER, head of industrial digital twins at NVIDIA, prepares for the future of supply chain operations, he believes they’re set to become “living ecosystems.” How so, you may ask? According to Geyer, each physical process will be “mirrored and optimized through ...