As the South’s most dynamic business center, Atlanta is home to a sprawling cityscape of towering buildings made of glass and steel. But there’s a lot more to the city than high-rises and commerce. Dotted with expansive green spaces and often referred to as the “City in the Forest,” this urban oasis is a multicultural haven for residents and visitors alike, with individuals from all walks of life adding to the city’s charm and personality.
Most of your time at MODEX will be spent at the Georgia World Congress Center, the third-largest convention center in the United States with 1.4 million square feet of exhibit space. However, to really experience the breadth of what Atlanta has to offer, you need to step outside the convention center and explore.
The recently refreshed Centennial Olympic Park is downtown Atlanta’s centerpiece and is anchored by the Fountain of Rings, an everlasting reminder of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Next door, attractions such as the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, and Center for Civil and Human Rights surround Pemberton Place. Atlanta Streetcar is the city’s modern-day trolley, carrying passengers from the convention and entertainment district to the Eastside section of the city.
Atlanta’s rich history comes to life in Sweet Auburn Historic District, once the wealthiest black community in America. The area is a focal point for the American civil rights movement, as the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and Ebenezer Baptist Church are located within the district.
Beyond the city’s core, Atlanta’s in-town neighborhoods are packed with personality. Midtown mixes elegance with culture. The Westside has become a magnet for foodies, design enthusiasts, and shoppers. Buckhead blends boutiques and galleries with fabulous dining, while Little Five Points keeps it funky through bohemian grunge paired with eclectic shops and music spots.
In Atlanta, chef-run restaurants dish up modern American cuisine in strikingly beautiful spaces. Among the cutting-edge eateries are cozy diners, cafés, and bistros. The ethnic mom-and-pop restaurants along Buford Highway offer menus with little English and lots of flavor. Locally owned craft breweries are sprinkled across the city, creating an unofficial “ale trail” for visitors to enjoy.
Atlanta welcomes more than 1 million international visitors each year. Seventy-one countries have representation in Atlanta through a consulate or trade office, giving it a diverse economy. From arts and culture to music and cuisine, the city is full of multicultural opportunities for everyone.
For more information on dining, shopping, and things to do in the City in the Forest during your stay, visit the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau at www.atlanta.net.
10 FUN FACTS ABOUT ATLANTA
1. Atlanta was originally named Terminus and Marthasville (the latter for Governor Wilson Lumpkin’s daughter).
2. The city’s current name originated with railroad engineer J. Edgar Thompson. It’s thought to be a shortened version of “Atlantica-Pacifica.”
3. Atlanta, burned to the ground by Gen. Sherman during the Civil War, is the only city in North America to have been destroyed by an act of war.
4. The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is as big as 45 football fields.
5. It was once illegal to put an ice cream cone in your back pocket in Atlanta. If that isn’t strange enough, the city also outlawed tying a giraffe to a telephone pole.
6. Stone Mountain outside Atlanta is one of the largest blocks of exposed granite in the world.
7. Atlanta resident Margaret Mitchell wrote ital{Gone with the Wind} because an ankle injury kept her from walking, and she was bored.
8. The Continental Divide out West gets all the love, but Atlanta is home to the Eastern Continental Divide, which separates water draining into the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.
9. The fastest baseball game in history happened in Atlanta when the Mobile (Alabama) Sea Gulls beat the Atlanta Crackers 2–1 in just 32 minutes.
10. One of the largest Hindu temples outside of India is located in the Atlanta metro area.
All good things must come to an end, and MODEX 2020 is no exception. Every day at 5 p.m. (3 p.m. on Thursday), MODEX will close its doors for the evening. What to do then? Here’s an arbitrary selection of special events taking place in and around the MODEX show’s venue in mid-March:
The Atlanta Hawks National Basketball Association (NBA) team will hit the court to play the Charlotte Hornets at the Philips Arena on Monday, March 9, and the New York Knicks on Wednesday, March 11. (www.nba.com/hawks/)
The Atlanta Opera is performing “Porgy and Bess,” a Depression-era masterpiece written by George and Ira Gershwin depicting a couple seeking harmony in the face of addiction and social injustice. Tickets are available for Sunday, March 8, and Tuesday, March 10. (www.atlantaopera.org)
On March 11, the Center Stage Theater will host Eric Johnson, a guitarist, vocalist, and composer, on his “Classics: Present and Past” tour. (www.centerstage-atlanta.com)
Midtown’s Topgolf entertainment complex offers virtual games until 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday for golf enthusiasts. In 100-plus climate-controlled hitting bays, players hit a ball embedded with a microchip into targets ranging from 20 to 240 yards away. A rooftop terrace with a fit pit, food and beverage service, and 200-plus televisions rounds out the experience. (topgolf.com/us/atlanta/)
Enjoy the Georgia Aquarium by night (after 4 p.m.) at a special ticket price of $26.95 plus tax. You receive expedited entry and enjoy full access to the entire aquarium, including the opportunity to view the dolphin show and the sea lion presentation. The Georgia Aquarium is open 365 days a year, but hours of operation vary. Updated hours can be found on the organization’s website, www.georgiaaquarium.org.
Explore more than 30 acres of botanical bliss at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, located adjacent to Piedmont Park in Midtown. Visitors can explore an award-winning Children’s Garden, the serene Storza Woods highlighted by a unique Canopy Walk, and the picturesque Skyline Garden. The site is open until 7 p.m. daily Tuesday through Sunday. (atlantabg.org)
With more than 950 exhibitors expected at MODEX 2020, finding the equipment, technologies, or services that interest you can be a challenge.
To help attendees more easily locate exhibits, show planners have organized the exhibit hall space into five function-specific solution centers. Here’s a brief description of what you’ll find in each section:
Manufacturing & Assembly Solutions Center
In this center, you’ll find material handling, logistics, and supply chain solutions designed to boost the efficiency of manufacturing and assembly operations. Among other solutions, this center showcases robotics and intelligent devices, ergonomic and safety equipment, workstations, and light rail and overhead lifting equipment.
Fulfillment & Delivery Solutions Center
This center showcases solutions designed to support traditional, e-commerce, and omnichannel order fulfillment; order picking and packaging; and third-party logistics, warehousing, distribution, and transportation operations.
Information Technology Solutions Center
In this center, you’ll find companies offering IT and visibility solutions—including manufacturing and supply chain systems, software, and automatic identification solutions—as well as systems integration and consulting services.
Transportation & Logistics Solutions Center
This center is focused on bringing people, markets, and goods together in ways that are faster, more efficient, and more sustainable than current practices. Among other solutions, this center showcases road, rail, sea, and air transportation services as well as autonomous vehicles, robotics, parcel delivery services, and third-party logistics and reverse logistics services.
Emerging Technologies Solutions Center
In this center, you’ll find companies showcasing next-generation supply chain solutions, including sensors, software, cloud computing, driverless vehicles, robotics and automation, predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, omnichannel fulfillment, augmented reality, and wearable and mobile technologies.
MODEX 2020 attendees can choose from a variety of educational sessions covering the latest manufacturing and supply chain trends, technologies, and innovations. This year’s education conference will include four keynotes and over 150 supplier-led seminars covering a broad array of supply chain, material handling, and logistics topics.
Nikki Haley, who has served as governor of South Carolina and U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, will deliver the opening keynote address on Monday, March 9, at 8:45 a.m. In an interview with DC Velocity Group Editorial Director Mitch Mac Donald, Haley will share her personal story of leadership and talk about the supply chain’s critical role in both U.S. economic development and global commerce.
On Tuesday, March 10, at 8:45 a.m., Tan Le, founder and CEO of bio-informatics and tech company Emotiv, will deliver a talk on how technological advances on the near horizon will offer us ways of integrating humans and machines. Arguing that automation and AI (artificial intelligence) are not competitors to humans, but rather part of an extended, augmented human organism, Le will explain how that could affect supply chains in her presentation, “The Neurogeneration—The Future Is Closer Than You Think.”
On Wednesday, March 11, at 8:45 a.m., George W. Prest of MHI and Thomas Boykin of Deloitte Consulting will preview the findings of MHI’s “2020 Annual Industry Report,” which focuses on the trends and technologies that are transforming supply chains. After the presentation, they will moderate a panel of manufacturing and supply chain leaders on the real-world significance of the report’s findings.
Later that day, Peyton and Archie Manning of NFL fame will join DC Velocity’s Mac Donald for a “fireside chat.” In the session, the Mannings will share their stories about the power of teamwork, collaboration, preparation, and giving back both on the field and in business. Their keynote, which takes place at 1:00 p.m., promises to be an inspirational and dynamic discussion about football and what it can teach you about life.
Following the keynotes each day, MODEX visitors can choose from a wide array of supplier-led educational seminars. These 45-minute sessions, which are held right on the show floor, are offered free to all registered show attendees. This year’s seminars are divided into seven tracks: automation and robotics; data capture, analytics, and information management; manufacturing, planning, and sourcing; sustainability and risk management; transportation, distribution, and warehousing; workforce and labor; and the Internet of Things.
New to the schedule this year are special sessions held in a Sustainability Theater hosted by the Reusable Packaging Association (RPA). Topics covered in these sessions include sustainable materials management, zero-waste supply chains, energy and resource conservation, reusable packaging systems, asset-tracking technologies, and public policy developments.
Comedian Colin Jost will provide entertainment at MHI Industry Night.
Supply chains encompass a broad range of activities and technologies, from manufacturing and warehousing to distribution and logistics. The world’s leading suppliers of supply chain-related equipment, systems, and services will showcase their solutions March 9–12, 2020, when Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center hosts the fifth biennial MODEX Show, one of the largest expositions for supply chain solutions in the Americas.
MODEX will offer visitors unprecedented access to efficiency-enhancing supply chain solutions, learning opportunities, and information by showcasing the products and services of 950 exhibitors. The show’s organizer, MHI, expects manufacturing and supply chain professionals from more than 140 countries to attend the event.
In addition to the exhibition, an extensive educational conference will run concurrently with the show. The conference features four keynote addresses, a “Women in Supply Chain Industry Forum,” and more than 150 supplier-led seminars on a broad array of manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain topics. These seminars will be presented in theaters located right on the show floor. This format allows attendees to learn about various manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain solutions in the educational sessions and then go see the equipment and systems that can implement those solutions.
For ease of navigation, the MODEX 2020 exhibit halls will be divided into five function-specific solution centers: Manufacturing & Assembly, Fulfillment & Delivery, Information Technology, Transportation & Logistics, and Emerging Technologies. Exhibitors from across North America will be on hand to showcase the following technologies and services:
Packaging, containers, and shipping equipment: Box and carton makers, dunnage trays, packaging and unitizing systems, wrapping, inspection of products by weight or scanning, pallets, wire baskets, plastic and metal containers, and palletizing equipment.
Supply chain management: Alternative fuel systems, parcel management and distribution, reverse logistics, third-party logistics, sustainable facility equipment, supply chain and logistics execution systems, enterprise resource planning and transportation management systems, and inventory security services.
Dock and warehouse equipment and supplies: Dock levelers, dock pads, doors, forklift trucks, racks, flooring, handling systems, forklift attachments, conveyors, hoists, cranes, monorails, loading dock equipment, and below/hook lifting devices.
Inventory management, information technology, and controlling technologies: Computers, controllers, software programs, systems integrators, manufacturing execution systems, warehouse management systems/supply chain and logistics execution systems, remote control equipment, wireless control systems, voice recognition systems, enterprise resource planning, order management systems, and transportation management systems.
Automatic identification equipment and systems: Bar-code printers and scanners, vision systems, voice recognition systems, radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems, and systems integrators.
Transportation and logistics: Road, rail, sea, and air freight transportation; parcel delivery; security; autonomous vehicles; robotics; sensors; supply chain management software; and third-party logistics and reverse logistics.
Material handling and logistics equipment and systems: Automated storage and retrieval systems, automatic guided vehicle systems, casters/wheels/tires, hydraulic and electrical components and controls, robotics, personnel/burden carriers, racks, forklifts, batteries, lift trucks, flexible manufacturing systems, tool handling, conveyors, mezzanines, lift tables, scissor lifts, unit-handling systems, manufacturing execution systems, warehouse management systems/supply chain and logistics execution systems, ergonomic and safety equipment, carousels, modular drawer storage, order picking, sortation equipment, shelving and workstations, and third-party logistics.
Emerging technologies. Sensors, software, cloud computing, driverless vehicles, robotics and automation, predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, omnichannel fulfillment, unified commerce, augmented reality, virtual reality, and wearable and mobile technologies.
Also on tap this year are a “meet and greet” for young professionals, which will be held Monday, March 9, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and MHI Industry Night, an evening of live music, food, drinks, and entertainment by comedian Colin Jost. Industry Night will be held Wednesday, March 11, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets to this event are on sale at
ModexShow.com/industrynight. The door prize for the event is a $30,000 trip to a location of the winner’s choice.
How to register for the show
Pre-registration for MODEX 2020 is free online by visiting
www.ModexShow.com. There is no charge to attend the exhibits, MODEX keynotes, or show-floor educational sessions. The website also offers exhibitor search tools, floor plans, a complete list of educational sessions, and information about travel and accommodations.
MHI and our members provide industry-leading resources and best-in-class equipment and systems to help companies deliver on the promise of optimal supply chain efficiency. And MODEX is where it all is possible.
The manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure investments you make as a result of your attendance at MODEX 2020 will differentiate and power your company for many years to come.
MODEX is where the brightest minds in manufacturing and supply chain gather to discuss the trends of today and the challenges of tomorrow. They come to MODEX to find the best supply chain solutions, the latest innovations, and the smartest thinking.
MODEX is the best place to get reliable information and solid advice as you make decisions about capital expenditures and supply chain investments. By attending, you will find the solution-sourcing and world-class education that will help accelerate your speed to market and increase supply chain efficiency. All this, delivered over one week, at one location—March 9–12, 2020, at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center.
At MODEX, you will find the largest and broadest array of manufacturing and supply chain solutions in North and South America, including:
Exhibits: MODEX will feature 950 exhibits covering 370,000 square feet. The exhibits will feature equipment and systems from the leading material handling, logistics, and supply chain solution providers from the United States and around the world. By attending, you will see new ideas and solutions in action and meet face to face with leading suppliers who can help you find answers to your manufacturing and supply chain challenges.
MODEX will span two contiguous show floors at the Georgia World Congress Center with exhibits in the B and C Halls. Don’t miss MODEX’s “Emerging Technologies” and “Transportation & Logistics” solution centers.
Education and Networking: The MODEX Conference will outline leading trends, best practices, and state-of-the-art equipment and technology solutions. Conference and networking opportunities include:
Show-Floor Seminars: MODEX will offer 150 45-minute seminars on a variety of manufacturing and supply chain topics, held in convenient show-floor theaters.
March 9 Keynote: A Conversation With Ambassador Nikki Haley Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2017–2019)
March 10 Keynote: The Neurogeneration – The Future Is Closer Than You Think Tan Le, Founder and CEO of EMOTIV
March 11 Keynote Panel: Preview of MHI 2020 Annual Industry Report George W. Prest, CEO, MHI, and Thomas Boykin, Supply Chain Specialist Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP
March 11 Keynote: A Conversation With Peyton and Archie Manning Peyton Manning, Super Bowl-Winning Quarterback & NFL MVP, and Archie Manning, All-American Quarterback and NFL Icon
March 11: MHI Industry Night With Colin Jost MODEX will feature an evening of music, food, drinks, and entertainment by comedian Colin Jost on Wednesday, March 11. Tickets to this event are $50 and include beer, wine, and hors d’oeuvres. The door prize for this event will be a trip-of-a-lifetime vacation. Trip value: $30,000. See the official rules at www.modexshow.com/attendees/rules.aspx.
Women in the Supply Chain Industry Forum on March 9 at MODEX MHI has partnered with the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association to bring an afternoon of discussion, education, and networking for women in our industry.
MHI Young Professionals Network Reception on March 9 at MODEX
MODEX Backyard with experiential entertainment, Atlanta-area food trucks, and networking opportunities
MODEX 2020 will provide the tools and innovation you need to improve efficiency and power your business. Visit modexshow.com to learn more and register for free admission to the MODEX exhibits and conference sessions.