MODEX 2026, North America’s largest supply-chain trade show, runs 23-26 March at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center. The 600,000-square-foot expo will pack 1,050 exhibitors, 200 no-cost seminars, and an anticipated 50,000 buyers and engineers into four days.
600,000-Square-Foot Technology Showcase in Atlanta
Building B has been re-striped into a working warehouse city. Aisles are wide enough for a forklift to travel the full hall without leaving carpet, letting visitors watch robotic palletizers, autonomous mobile robots, and 50-foot vertical lift modules run at full speed. Turnstile data from 2024 flagged congestion between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; organizers have added a second sky bridge and staggered demo slots for 2026.
200 Free Seminars Span AI to Yard Management
Education director Mary Jane Huggins says the roster was built from 700 speaker submissions and favors live deployments over theory. Monday opens with “Cutting WMS Deployment Time by 40 %,” followed Tuesday by a block on generative-AI prompt libraries for slotting. Classrooms are wired for real-time data; dashboards can be downloaded on the spot. Overflow screens are being installed after 30 % of sessions hit fire-code capacity last year.
70 Product Categories Under One Roof
Exhibitor tags released 15 May show 28 % robotics, 19 % warehouse software, and 12 % safety gear. A new micro-fulfillment zone lets grocery chains walk a 40-foot dark-store mockup and trigger shuttle systems by scanning SKU cards. A sustainability pavilion groups vendors of recycled totes, lithium-ion retrofits, and energy-recapture belts; each posts a QR-coded carbon sheet audited by a third party.
Keynotes Target Margin Pressure and Disruption
Target’s EVP of supply-chain automation, Gretchen McCoy, leads Tuesday’s opener, detailing how re-slotting 1.2 million SKUs saved 18 cents per e-commerce parcel. Wednesday brings Maersk’s ocean-network chief on Red Sea reroutes; Thursday pairs MIT’s Dr. Maria Álvarez with FedEx’s top data scientist to debate AI governance. Friday closes with three unicorn founders in a fireside chat moderated by Wall Street Journal reporter Paul Berger.
Networking Events Built for Career Moves
The Women in Supply Chain Forum, shifted to Monday after last year’s sell-out, adds a résumé clinic run by six executive recruiters. Young Professionals Reception caps attendance at 1,000 and uses color-coded lanyards to match engineers in the same software ecosystem. Industry Night shuts down Andrew Young International Boulevard for sidewalk beer gardens—vendors can pitch without booth noise limits.
Useful Resources
MODEX 2026 registration portal – free expo pass
Georgia World Congress Center travel page – parking, EV charging, MARTA
MHI Industry Report 2025 – automation adoption benchmark
Association for Supply Chain Management – CEU credits
Warehousing Education and Research Council – post-show white papers
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