JEDDAH — The Middle East's dedicated trade show for intralogistics, warehousing, supply chain management, freight and cargo got off to a new start in Jeddah on Monday, as major manufacturers, industry experts and decision makers from Saudi Arabia's supply chain, logistics and warehouse business manufacturers and suppliers set sights on Saudi Arabia Materials Handling Equipment market. Mazen Batterjee, Vice-Chairman, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, inaugurated on Monday the 1st edition here in Jeddah at Park Hayat. Running until today (Nov.29), Materials Handling Saudi Arabia gathered as the construction, automotive, retail and public sectors fuel demand for the latest warehousing and L&D (logistics & distribution) solutions in an industry that is constantly on the move. An exhibition featuring 25 top line global and local companies is being staged in tandem with the Supply Chain and Logistics Forum, creating a dual platform with a double focus on new technologies in L&D, and the future opportunities and challenges of Saudi's warehouse and logistics supply structure. A panel of 17 industry experts from a broad cross-section of industries is sharing insights into key issues, from maximizing supply chain profits and implementing automated solutions successfully, to developing the next generation of logistics and supply chain talent. Organized by Messe Frankfurt Middle East in partnership with Saudi-based Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions (ACE), Materials Handling Saudi Arabia is a biennial event alternating between the flagship Materials Handling Middle East exhibition in Dubai. Ahmed Pauwels, CEO of Messe Frankfurt Middle East, said: "Materials Handling Saudi Arabia arrives as the trend of modernization in logistics and warehousing and the need for automated systems means industry players are searching for innovative solutions to stay competitive." "Every day we see new innovations, with Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution already transforming how materials, consumables, and commodities are processed, manufactured, stored, and distributed. Our objective is to position Materials Handling Saudi Arabia as the focal point that connects industry stakeholders and offers them a platform to navigate the way forward." Hadi Muwaffaq Al-Harith, Managing Director of ACE, added: "Saudi Arabia is a place of huge interest for the global supply chain and logistics industry, and Materials Handling Saudi Arabia provides an ideal platform to search for new partners and clients." "The Kingdom's warehousing and logistics sector is expanding rapidly, and with this comes significant challenges and opportunities in equal measures. Key industry players will learn this week how they can bring benefits to operational processes, improve productivity, reduce inventory, and achieve better ROI on their materials handling processes." Meanwhile, Daifuku, SSI Schaeffer, and Swisslog spearhead an impressive exhibitor line-up showcasing automated warehouse solutions aimed at a vast range of industries, from pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, food and beverage, retail, automotive, and manufacturing. Daifuku from Japan, the world's largest materials handling system supplier by revenue, is showcasing its warehouse automation portfolio along with a model of its stacker crane, its key product. Andrey Kras, Account Manager at Daifuku's International Business Department, said: "For the past several years since we started doing business in the Middle East, Daifuku came to an understanding that Saudi Arabia has more potential for the storage and factory automation market than any of the other Gulf countries. KSA is an important marketplace for us, and therefore it's important for us to be here this week to build brand awareness and generates some strong sales leads." Kras' comments were shared by Paul Duerrschnabel, General Manager in Saudi Arabia & Northern Africa for German-headquartered SSI Schaefer, who added: "Saudi Arabia is the most important marketplace in the GCC, with extraordinary growth potential in the long run and growing demand for more sophisticated yet efficient storage and handling solutions. "We're highlighting the beginning of a new era of materials handling systems, namely Integrated Standard and Combi Logistics Solutions. The KSA is on the way to new frontiers in intralogistics and related industries and it's our duty and pleasure taking up the task of ensuring it'll keep its competitiveness and attractiveness for years to come." Elsewhere, UAE company Log Square in collaboration with Span Arabia is at Materials Handling Saudi Arabia 2016 to highlight the continuously growing spectrum of solutions mainly focusing on its recent references in automated food & beverage and Rack Clad building capabilities. Jacques Adem, Executive Director for Log Square, said: "Log Square is an intralogistics solution and system integration provider, from simple storage systems to highly automated applications that are designed, engineered and deployed by an in-house team of professionals. "Traditionally our customer base is mainly FMCG and retail in addition to airport logistics and catering services, however our engineered solutions is gaining way in the automotive sector. The Saudi market is vital for the material handling applications, namely those involving automation. The manufacturing base and size of the market makes it a natural environment for our services," he added.
