Matex 2006.

Australia's annual materials handling show Matex 2006 attracted more than 4,000 mostly Australian visitors last week.

Show organiser Nicholas Tossman told Forkliftaction.com News about 4,400 people attended the show from May 30 to June 2 at the Darling Harbour Convention & Exhibition Centre, in Sydney.

"This is an increase of 11 per cent on the number of visitors to the last Matex in 2004. We are pleased about the genuine inquiries and [some] resulted in orders for equipment," Tossman said (Forkliftaction.com News #161).

Tossman said 86.8 per cent of visitors were from the state of New South Wales (NSW) and the rest from other Australian states and overseas.

Ian Budenberg, from forklift attachment maker Sattach Pty Ltd, showcased European-patented RollerForks. He was happy with interest in the RollerForks but said the late night opening on Thursday, until 9pm, was not useful because visitor numbers were low.

Craig Kenchington, marketing manager for Crown Equipment Pty Ltd, said the TSP6000 man-up turret truck displayed in the interactive warehouse attracted considerable interest.
"The quantity of attendees wasn't as high as we would've liked, [but] the number of leads received was very promising," he said.

Crown exhibited the ESR4500 reach truck already available in the UK and European markets.

The Forkliftaction.com stand.

Pacific Heli general manager Col Craig used Matex to announce its distributorship of Chinese Heli forklifts. "I was fairly happy with the response from visitors. I thought, for a relatively new product, we had our share of interest."

Powerlift Nissan Pty Ltd showcased Nissan Euro, a European range of warehouse equipment and the "world's safest forklift", a 2.5 ton Nissan LX forklift with enhanced safety features.

Toyota Industrial Equipment exhibited a new-to-the-Australian market, Canadian-made Raymond 8400 electric pallet truck with AC motor, while Yale showed off its Veracitor VX line.

Greg Wilder, Red Australia's area sales manager, said visitors to the stand were interested in new features on the Komatsu and Jungheinrich forklifts on display.

"The thing I liked about the show is most of our competitors were there ... When your opposition tells you the new Komatsu model sent their manufacturers back to the drawing board, you know you've got something [good] there," Wilder said.

About 43 per cent of Matex visitors were in senior management positions, 25 per cent were warehousing and distribution managers, 19 per cent in purchasing, seven per cent in logistics and six per cent in occupational health & safety.

Visitors to the "interactive warehouse" heard presentations from industry experts on topics ranging from the future of RFID technology to the differences between North American and European engineered forklifts.

Tossman said many exhibitors already had signed up for Matex 2007, to be held from May 22 to May 25 in Melbourne.