The materials handling, supply chain and logistics industry's new exposition, MODEX 2012, made a strong impression on attendees.

The event included more than 500 exhibits, three keynote addresses, 75 educational show floor seminars and 32 collocated education partner events.

Among the exhibitors, original equipment manufacturers and distributors showed their wares and solutions.

Yale Materials Handling Corp of Greenville, North Carolina launched a series of AC-powered order selectors including a heavy-duty counterbalanced OS030BF, standard duty counterbalance OS030EF, straddle selector SS030BF and furniture selector FS030BF. "The order selector series offers intelligently applied technology like Smart-Glide, a continuous height-sensing system that optimises the maximum travel speed at various fork heights by providing step-less speed control," says David McNeill, warehouse products manager.

Hyster Co of Greenville, North Carolina introduced the E30-40HSD2 series of three-wheel electric stand-up lift trucks. "These trucks were designed with productivity and superior ergonomics in mind," says Jonathan Dawley, president of Hyster Distribution. "The E30-40HSD2 series is a workhorse, whose versatility and features will enable operations to go from dock to stock and just about anywhere in between."

Apart from the Yale and Hyster exhibits, brand owner Nacco Materials Handling Group Inc separately showed the basic low-cost powder-blue Utilev utility lift truck line, which it introduced initially in certain Latin American markets during 2011 and which it makes available in most countries in Africa. Utilev counterbalance models in six lifting capacities have a range of 3,300-7,700 lb. (1,500-3,500 kg) and use internal-combustion engine power from diesel, liquid petroleum gas or a dual-fuel system.

Raymond Corp of Greene, New York demonstrated Eco-Performance equipment and technology concepts, underscored its iWarehouse fleet optimisation system for data gathering and reporting, showed the Raymond 7000 Series Reach-Fork truck and introduced the Raymond Courier-brand automated forklift. At a seminar, Frank Devlin, Raymond marketing manager for advanced technologies, observed that the best way to ensure materials handling goals are met - while also achieving lean best practice - is by evaluating company-specific requirements and then seeing if the implementation of automation can help create a more cost-effective and efficient process. Reinforcing its show theme, Raymond says: "The cost of a lift truck only accounts for about 11% of the total cost of ownership; it's the actual labour costs which make up about 70% of that total cost of ownership."

Big Joe Forklifts of Lombard, Illinois showcased its product range from electric pallet trucks and walkie stackers to counterbalance trucks and custom order-picking vehicles.

Combilift Ltd of Greensboro, North Carolina showed its range of four-way forklifts for inside or outside applications and on semi-rough terrain in all weather conditions.

Haulotte Group SA and its Bil-Jax business unit displayed an ESP electric stock picker with a 25 in. (0.7 m) working height and 450 lb. (203 kg) lifting capacity and Haulotte Star 13 and 26 vertical masts that can climb to working heights of 19-33 ft. (5.7-9.9 m).

Presto Lifts Inc of Attleboro, Massachusetts offers the high-performance industrial-duty DXL Series compact scissor lifts featuring a smaller footprint than standard lifts while offering a full 2,000 lb. (900 kg) of lifting capacity.

Seegrid Corp of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania underscored its work with industrial truck manufacturers in advanced robotic technology for materials handling applications. The Guided-by-Seegrid process allows the company and the manufacturers to jointly engineer and transform standard industrial trucks into robotic industrial trucks. The company's Seegrid-View approach provides data to better understand forklift utilisation and workflow patterns within a 30-day window.

Egemin Automation Inc of Holland, Michigan showed its automated guided vehicle systems from its product line, which includes forked, push/pull, tugger, clamp, conveyor deck, over-the-road trailer loading and custom.

Frog AGV Systems Inc of Auburn Hills, Michigan presented its turnkey materials handling solutions using automated guided vehicle systems.

JBT Corp of Chalfont, Pennsylvania displayed the latest in its technology for automatic guided vehicle systems for movement of pallets and other materials in manufacturing and warehousing applications. JBT was formerly FMC Technologies.

In a unified effort, Daifuku America Corp of Reynoldsburg, Ohio and Jervis B Webb Co of Farmington Hills, Michigan displayed materials handling solutions including automated storage and retrieval systems, automatic guided vehicles and carts, conveyors and sorting-picking systems.

Onboard technologies were shown, and industry services were explained.

DAP Technologies Inc of Tempe, Arizona showed the new V1010 vehicle-mount rugged computer with touchscreen display and advanced communications options. While drawing its main power from a forklift or other industrial vehicle, the V1010 is also equipped with a back-up battery that can provide continuous power for up to four hours, minimising downtime associated with transferring the computer between vehicles.

Intermec Inc of Everett, Washington displayed its newest vehicle-mount computers, the CV41 and CV61, designed to integrate with any forklift. Intermec says these offerings represent the first vehicle-mount computers certified to offer the proven productivity, accuracy, safety and reduced training time benefits of Vocollect voice-directed work.

The computers offer "an ideal balance of display readability and mounting ease," says Earl Thompson, senior vice president with the mobile solutions business unit.

Glacier Computer LLC of New Milford, Connecticut added the T510K portable tablet with a resistive touchscreen to its existing product line of vehicle and fixed mount terminals, portable tablets and rugged handheld computers. "The T510K tablet is a perfect choice for field service technicians," says Ron D'Ambrosio, chief executive officer. Features include a camera, radio-frequency identification and two-dimensional barcode scanner."

Citadel Computer Corp of Amherst, New Hampshire showed its harsh-environment industrial computers for both fixed and vehicle-mount mobile installations.

Other providers of systems and equipment made their presence known.

Accu-Sort Systems Inc of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania demonstrated its AccuLazr-brand AL5010 laser barcode scanner with an adjustable raster. The new model is housed in the same compact enclosure as standard models.

Hannibal Industries Inc of Vernon, California displayed its patent-pending TubeRack System with a dual-movement frame. The design allows flexibility both front-to-back and side-to-side, giving it the ability to withstand impacts and seismic events more safely. The horizontal-bolt-together modular design handles more capacity with less steel and can reduce stress on the slab.

Intelligrated Inc of Mason, Ohio discussed its practices in the design, manufacturing and installation of automated material handling solutions including conveyor systems and IntelliSort sortation systems.

Ives Training & Compliance Group Inc of Blaine, Washington discussed its train-the-trainer programs and ways to ensure that a firm's equipment operator training meets or exceeds applicable industry standards and government regulations.

The international trade association Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) of Charlotte, North Carolina organised MODEX 2012, which was held in Atlanta from 6-9 February. The next major MHIA trade show is ProMat 2013 on 21-24 January in Chicago, Illinois.

MHIA represents the materials handling and logistics industry. Members include materials handling and logistics equipment and systems manufacturers, integrators, consultants, publishers and third-party logistics providers.