you only visit one logistics event in 2013, it has to be IMHX.

With over three months until the doors open, space sold already exceeds that of the last show, making the joint organisers of IMHX – Informa Exhibitions and the British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) – confident that the 2013 show will be the best ever.

Visitors to IMHX 2013 will experience many added-value activities including an expanded conference programme and brand-new feature areas. The IMHX ‘Logistics Excellence' Conference will have two streams: a themed series of seminars at strategic level delivered by renowned industry experts – including Professor Alan Waller, visiting professor at Cranfield School of Management, and Professor Alan Braithwaite, visiting professor at Cranfield School of Business – plus an interesting choice of case study presentations at operational level to demonstrate examples of logistics best practice. Details of the seminars will be available on the show's website at www.imhx.biz.

For the first time ever, IMHX will have a Skills & Apprenticeships Zone in a bid to bring together talented young people and companies needing new recruits. Situated in Hall 17, the Skills & Apprenticeships Zone will be spearheaded by the BITA Academy, a dedicated apprenticeship training facility operated in conjunction with City of Bristol College. Established earlier this year to help find and train the next generation of materials handling engineers, the BITA Academy is supported by all the major manufacturers, suppliers and service firms. The Skills & Apprenticeships Zone will feature the winning vehicles from BITA's ‘Enduro Challenge' engineering competition for secondary schools, some hands-on engineering activities and a consultation area for employers. The prizes for Endurance (furthest distance travelled), Design/Innovation and Entrepreneurship – £5000 plus an expenses-paid visit to a European forklift truck manufacturing plant, £3000 and £2000 respectively – will be presented to the winning schools on the first morning of IMHX.

Also brand-new at IMHX will be the UKWA 3PL Zone, hosted by the United Kingdom Warehousing Association, and the International Visitors' Lounge, where visitors from overseas can relax in comfort or hold meetings with clients or suppliers. In addition, with many exhibitors using IMHX as the launch pad for new products and services and over 40 first-time exhibitors already confirmed among the show's expected 400 stands, visitors are guaranteed to see a whole host of new technologies and innovative ideas for materials handling.

As well as the new activities, many features will be making a welcome return to the show. The heats of what promises to be another hotly contested RTITB Operator of the Year Competition will take place at IMHX 2013. Over the four days of the show, forklift operators from across the UK and Ireland will compete in a special arena designed to test their skills to the full, with the best then moving forward to the Grand Final – to be held at RTITB's headquarters in Telford, Shropshire, in September 2013 – where they will have the chance to win a brand-new car. The show will once again feature the AMHSA Pavilion, hosted by the Automated Material Handling Systems Association. With a number of AMHSA member stands clustered around a hospitality and presentation area, the AMHSA Pavilion provides a focus for suppliers of automated handling systems. Members will be giving short ‘Meet the expert' presentations in the pavilion to give visitors an overview of key automation topics such as AGVs and voice picking technology. Also returning to show are the Design 4 Safety Awards, which recognise the importance of product design in improving safety throughout the materials handling industry. Entry is now open – via the IMHX website – to all exhibitors in seven award categories: industrial vehicles & ancillary products; automation; goods-in/goods-out; racking & storage; technology; safety practices; and apprentices (a special category in which industry apprentices can submit their ideas for how existing products and procedures could be improved). Three entries from each category will be shortlisted early in 2013, with the winners in each category celebrated in the Design 4 Safety zone at IMHX 2013 and in the show catalogue; visitors to IMHX will then be invited to vote for an overall ‘People's Choice' award, to be announced at the exhibition.

IMHX to showcase innovative solutions for the retail sector

Many IMHX exhibitors have products and services specifically designed to meet the needs of companies in the retail sector, including e-commerce. For example, the Step Lift 500 tail lift from Penny Hydraulics (stand 20B62) is ideal for busy retail delivery routes with frequent stops, where only occasional items exceed the weight limits of manual handling regulations. Its unique folding tail lift design facilitates handling of maximum working loads of 500kg while providing continuous, full access to the rear doors and load compartment. Unlike conventional tail lifts, the Step Lift 500 folds away below door level to replace or provide a full-width rear step without obstructing the van doors. It does not need to be deployed to allow access to the vehicle and can be used when folded as an adjustable-height step or as a shallow tail lift for handling loads quickly and when space is limited at the rear of the vehicle.

Leading provider of automated materials handling equipment and integrated storage solutions SSI Schaefer (stand 18N100) recently won the contract to provide NBTY Europe Ltd – the parent company of the retail brand, Holland & Barrett – with an automated system at its distribution centre in Burton-on-Trent in order to serve its online customers. Significant growth in its e-commerce sales has put pressure on the DC's manual system. The new automated system will operate at five to six times the current output of the manual operation, while removing the necessity for temporary labour and also ensuring increased picking accuracy. SSI Schaefer has recently completed a second major project for baby specialist, Kiddicare, now owned by Morrisons. The company has extended the system it supplied in 2008 at the client's warehouse in Peterborough, increasing the facility's footprint by 3180m². The expanded solution provides Kiddicare with thousands of additional pallet positions and pick faces to support its predominantly online business. To minimise disruption to daily operations, SSI Schaefer meticulously planned the project to ensure that Kiddicare remained fully operational throughout the entire period of installation.