Expo sees attendance growth of 8.8% Manufacturing and supply chain professionals gathered in record numbers in Chicago last month for ProMat 2015, the largest material handling and logistics trade expo in North America. With registrations topping 37,091 attendees, show producer MHI announces a 8.8 percent attendance jump over 2013. The four-day event, March 23-26, covered 340,000 net square feet of exhibit space in Chicago’s McCormick Place with 802 exhibiting companies. The ProMat expo was once again collocated with Automate 2015. ProMat visitors included key decision makers in virtually all manufacturing and supply chain industries including a majority of the Fortune 1000 and Top 100 Retailers. The quality of the visitors was very strong with a large number of buying teams from key firms in attendance. "ProMat 2015 was the largest in the events 30-year history," said George Prest CEO of MHI. "The energy level among visitors and exhibitors was at an all-time high. Even more exciting was that ProMat visitors came with buying plans and a confidence that has not been seen in manufacturing and the supply chain in many years." According to registration data, 86 percent of attendees had buying authority and 39 percent plan on spending $1 million or more over the next 18 months on equipment and systems. Reflecting the growing global nature of the event, attendees from outside the United States at this year’s ProMat represented 115 countries and six continents. They were welcomed by ProMat’s International Visitors Center. Other ProMat 2015 Highlights Along with the healthy traffic on the show floor, other highlights of ProMat 2015 included the educational conference that accompanied the ProMat exhibition. This included keynotes featuring Google’s Renee Niemi, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey and technology pioneer Steve Wozniak. The conference also included a keynote panel discussing the findings of the […]