Sedlak Attends MODEX 2024

A team of Sedlak consultants recently attended MODEX, a leading conference for manufacturing and supply chain professionals that focuses on innovation, technology and networking. The team that attended included David Teeple and Michael Davis, both Directors of Client Services; Ryan Prahler, Client Executive; Rob Bober, Manager; and Brian Donnelly, Senior Consultant.

MODEX 2024 was hosted in Atlanta, Georgia from March 11 to 14. “The setting at the World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia proved to be an excellent venue for MODEX,” says Brian Donnelly, who resides in Atlanta. “Its spacious vendor halls were perfect to host the nearly 50,000 people in attendance this year!

“The event was situated downtown near the Mercedes Benz Stadium, and showcased the event well, with many local eateries and entertainment venues within walking distance. While this area only scratches the surface of the true Atlanta experience, it gave hustling supply chain professionals plenty of options to rest and relax after some very intense days of networking, researching, and cultivating new and established relationships with clients and vendors.”

This was the first time both Brian and Rob Bober have attended MODEX. “I was looking forward to attending MODEX because I’ve heard so much about it during my time at Sedlak,” says Rob. “I knew it was a big show, but you can’t appreciate just how big it is until you set foot on-site. The number of exhibitors and attendees is a bit overwhelming, and it’s hard to see everything even in 2.5 days! We had scheduled appointments with vendors and clients during the day and dinners/social events in the evenings, so our days were jam-packed.”

Over a thousand vendors exhibited at the show, many of which demonstrated end-to-end solutions for supply chain operations. “It is important to attend MODEX and have a presence at the show to stay relevant and up-to-date with technology and applications,” says Michael Davis, who has attended the show many times throughout his career. As Rob observed, “It was beneficial to make face-to-face connections with familiar faces instead of through virtual meetings and see some of the technology I’ve been working on up close and in a live-demo environment.”

Having the chance to see the latest technology in person drew a variety of attendees, including Sedlak’s clients. “Sedlak had the opportunity to interact with both existing and prospective clients at MODEX, giving us the ability to explore ways to solve current and future challenges with these organizations,” says Ryan Prahler. The clients the Sedlak team met with at the show included Abercrombie & Fitch, Lawson Products, Greiner, and Masco, the parent company of Liberty Hardware and BrassCraft.

The vendors at MODEX also hosted floor sessions and panel discussions. “We had the ability to spend time with our partners by meeting with them at their booths, events, and engaging in speaking opportunities,” says Ryan. “Dave Teeple and I were able to participate with our software partner Tecsys at their Bagels & Bots session, a morning event where we helped MODEX attendees plan and get the most out of the show by identifying the best types of warehouse automation systems for them to review while at MODEX.”

Besides the vendor booths and floor sessions, there were also more than 200 educational seminars led by industry experts. In fact, Dave Teeple served as a moderator on one panel and a panelist on another. “It was an honor to represent Sedlak at MODEX, which is a great forum for warehousing and distribution,” says Dave. “As a moderator of ‘Optimizing Fulfillment and Sorting: Choosing the Right GTP Technology,’ I was asked to talk about goods to person (GTP) and sortation. This is such a timely topic as many of our projects over the last year have looked at this combination. Our panel was unique as it was not only solution providers but also an end user. The presentation went well and we had a large audience.”

“As a panelist for ‘Making ASRS Work for You: Boosting Profits Gaining Support,’ I worked with other consultants to talk about ASRS,” continues Dave. “This is an age-old topic, but we were able to give it a new twist as we talked about new and pertinent uses besides automated storage, including buffering and sequencing of product. We were also able to talk in detail about the business case for justifying an investment. I really enjoy the panel format as it is very conversional and it covers topics I am passionate about. I look forward to doing this again in the future.”

Ultimately, the trip to MODEX was a valuable experience for the entire Sedlak team. As Brian puts it, “I highly recommend Sedlak continue to attend this event in the future, as the supply chain is evolving more rapidly than ever with growing technologies and robotics. It is truly exciting to be witness to where the future of our industry is heading.”