If it’s September, it must be Park City

If you grew up in the late 60's, or watch a lot of late night television, you might remember the movie, “If it's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.” For me, if it's September, it must be Park City. That's the location of Dematic's annual Material Handling & Logistics Conference, an event I first attended nearly 15 years ago. And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I was a member of this year's planning committee.

2016 marks the 31st anniversary of the conference. This year's theme: The Big Connect: Uniting People, Process & Purpose. The backdrop, as introduced by Mike Kotecki, Dematic's senior vice president of customer service, is that our industry is in a time of “turmoil, growth and improvement,” which sounds to me like a pretty exciting place to be. He also noted that with job openings in our industry at a record high and productivity in decline, there is a world of opportunities for our industry to improve our customers' businesses. Has all the low hanging fruit in the warehouse and DC been picked? Kotecki argues no.

Over the years I've been attending, the conference has evolved from a relatively small gathering of materials handling folks who heard presentations on how to get more out of their MDR conveyor to a full-blown supply chain education conference. Yes, there are still plenty of sessions on topics of interest to DC managers looking for new materials handling tools, but there are also sessions on supply chain analytics, robotics, and an outlook on transportation and freight rates and the war for talent. In short, something for everyone looking to improve their business, and not just the throughput rate on their sorter.

Today's opening session got underway against a backdrop of economic uncertainty. The stock market took a hit at the end of last week and that led some economists to argue that we're already in a recession and just don't know it. To listen to much of the political dialogue, it’s a wonder that most of us aren't standing in soup lines for our nightly dinner. And yet, before walking down to the opening session this morning, CNBC commentators were arguing that the economy may be sluggish, but continues to chug along. Things are actually OK.

Full disclosure, I fall into the latter camp. While I admittedly talk to a self-selected group of professionals who are in the middle of supply chain initiatives to deal with growth, most people I talk to are chugging along. So, apparently, are many of the attendees at this week's conference. Near the end of the opening session, attendees responded in real time to a seven questions. Here are four that caught my attention:

Asked whether their companies were preparing for growth or decline over the next three years, 20% were planning for steady business; 59% were planning for a modest increase in business; and 14.3% were anticipating a tsunami of growth. Less than 7% were expecting a decline in their business. Admittedly, conference attendees are probably a self-selected group, but the vibe is upbeat.

For those anticipating growth, the biggest risks are coming from an inability to get talent (27%), new customer expectations (27%), technological adoption (22%) and political uncertainty (20%).

The disruptive technologies most likely to impact their businesses included Big Data (41%), the Uberization of the supply chain and on-demand resources (23%); the internet of things (16%); and robotics (11.6%).

Last, did those companies anticipating growth have a strategy for dealing with – or adopting – disruptive technologies: 53% said they did, but 47% said they did not.

As someone who still sees good economic times on the horizon, I was encouraged. Yes, we're facing challenges, including threats from new technologies, but at least half of us are thinking about how to address those challenges now. I suspect the other 43% will soon follow.

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