Materials and logistics show opens

Materials Handling Middle East was officially opened by Sheikh Hasher bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, Director General of the Department of Information, who then met many of the show's 80 specialist exhibitors.

Featuring some of the world's major exponents of the industry, notable inclusions were Schenkers / Airlink, DHL, Goodrej, INMA Alimak Haulotte, Bin Brooke Motors and Equipment, Al Shirawi Enterprises and many more.

According to Ms Amanda Westerman, Exhibition Manager for Materials Handling and Logistics, "we set out to make the show live and dramatic and we have managed to achieve that with the introduction of a fork lift demonstration area. This area, which has been set up by Schaefer with CHEP pallets and racking systems, will be hosting live fork lift demonstrations throughout the show. On a daily basis, visitors can see the latest Linde, BT, Daewoo, Toyota and Still forklifts in action."

According to Chrys Mendonca, General Manager of Logistics & Operations for Airlink, "the exhibition helps the company's profile in a region where they've experienced phenomenal growth in recent years. Keeping up with the latest technology and innovations is crucial in keeping ahead of the game," he said.

Al Shirawi Enterprises, one of the leading business houses in the UAE, represent the German brand STILL GmbH, the material handling equipment manufacturer. STILL offers a complete range of material handling equipments like electric counter balance forklifts, Rider Reach Trucks, Double Deep Reach Trucks, Order pickers, Very Narrow Aisle Turret trucks, Electric stackers, Electric pallet trucks, Tow tractors plus the standard IC Trucks and much more.

According to Mr Thani Al Shirawi, Executive Director of Al Shirawi Enterprises, "we have been participating at the Materials Handling and Logistics exhibition since its inception and we look forward to establishing Al Shirawi as the leading logistics solution provider and in that occasion I am pleased to announce our long term lease division while continuing our services in marketing and sales. This will add more value to our customers as a total solution provider."

Siemens have been based in the UAE for several years and are mainly involved in Airport Logistics. Mr Jean Zacca, Business Development Manager, Siemens, explained that the company is currently involved in the new development at the Dubai Airport expansion, mainly in the terminal 3 baggage handling system and in the Cargo mega terminal.

"At Materials Handling and Logistics we are introducing two new paperless picking systems, the Pick Director/Pick by Light and the Pick to Voice Systems which uses voice recognition software. These systems are for fully automated warehouses," explained Mr Zacca.

For Rugged Wireless Mobile Computing, LXE Middle East are exhibiting their latest technology and hardware. The equipment works with a hand held scanner for barcodes which then enters all the information directly into a warehouse management system. "Two hours into the show and we have already received 2 good leads which is very encouraging for our highly specialised company," said Mark Jones, General Manager, LXE Middle East.