MODEX 2026 Recap: What's Actually Changing in Warehouse Technology

MODEX 2026 just wrapped at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta: 4 million square feet, 6,000 exhibitors, and a clear signal that the warehouse industry is in the middle of a fundamental shift.

In this episode of The Frontline Mobility Edge, Brett Cooper and Richard Makerson break down their top 8 takeaways from the show floor, covering everything from robotic forklifts to AI-powered workflows to why one warehouse manager is ripping out RFID in favor of cameras.

→ Why the warehouse conversation has shifted from products to systems, and why vendors that can't play in an orchestrated ecosystem are getting left behind
→ Same problems, different maturity levels: why there's no one-size-fits-all in warehouse tech
→ AI is no longer a marketing buzzword. It's embedded infrastructure driving real workflow improvement
→ Vision technology is advancing fast: LIDAR, drones doing shelf inventory, cameras replacing RFID for tracking
→ Frontline mobility is getting smaller, smarter, and more hands-free with AI on the edge
→ Robots are everywhere, but humanoid robots in the warehouse are still a question mark
→ Buyers care about stubborn operational pain, not flashy demos, and BlueFletch's agentic login demo hit that nerve
→ Don't boil the ocean: one warehouse veteran's advice on solving problems one bite at a time
→ The flexibility vs. throughput debate: is the industry prioritizing smarter over faster?

Whether you run a warehouse, manage a supply chain, or make technology purchasing decisions for frontline operations, this is a ground-level look at where the industry is heading in 2026 and beyond.

Learn more about BlueFletch: https://bluefletch.com
Request a demo: https://bluefletch.com/book-a-demo/

#MODEX2026 #WarehouseTechnology #SupplyChain #Robotics #AIinWarehousing #FrontlineWorkers #EnterpriseMobility #WarehouseAutomation #FrontlineMobilityEdge #BlueFletch #ManufacturingTech #LogisticsTech

Transcript

Welcome To Frontline Mobility Edge

SPEAKER_01 0:03

I'm Brett Cooper and this is the Frontly Mobility Edge where we discuss the latest in mobile device technologies and how they're shaping the frontline landscape business. Thank you for joining us. Let's get started. Hello, welcome to another episode of the Frontly Mobility Edge brought to you by Blue Fletch. I'm Brett Cooper joined by Richard Mickerson. And today we're going to be talking about Modex 2026. So we spent uh the last uh couple days at Modex. I want to do a quick recap of what we saw, what was different, what we learned. Um, before we hop into it, I'll do a quick overview. I made some notes of what we saw. And Modex is just to set the picture if you've never been, it's a conference in the Georgia World Conference Center in Atlanta. It's a sister conference in ProMat, which happens every other year. And it's a it's about 4 million square feet of 6,000 exhibitors showing the some of the, I guess everything you might find in a warehouse, manufacturing, or supply chain. So I made a quick list. I'll run through this in about 20 seconds, but things I saw: flooring, paint, signage, forklifts, racking, anything with loading bay ramps, doors, fans, casters, belts, motors, assembly lines, forklifts, hostlers, pallets, pallet jacks, robotic pallet jacks, trucks, toilets, ladders, seats, plastic wrap machines, robotic unloaders, robotic inspection dogs, uh robotic robots, uh inspecting drones, uh printing solutions, RFID solutions, mobile devices, mobile scanners, safety gear, radios, walkie-talkies, camera technology, voice picking, light picking, auto sorting machines, software of every sort. So ERP, WMS, uh software companies like Blue Fletch were there. Um it is a just vast array of vendors. So, you know, of the 6,000 vendors, there's probably 10 of every type. So if you can't find what you want in one booth, you hop onto the next one, you'll see it. Yep. Um, for for this discussion, uh, we wanted to cover the top eight things we we saw that were new or interesting to us. Uh, Richard and I each picked out four. And so we'll hop into those. So uh you're your number four. What was your the number four item you called out?

Warehouses Move From Products To Systems

SPEAKER_00 2:05

So my number four item for Modex 2026 was that the warehouse conversation has shifted from products to systems. So Brett listed out a number, a litany of products. And normally you would go to that show and you're let me go see Bulk Forklifts, I need to see about casters, let me talk to my WMS vendor, let me talk to the safety vendor, let me talk to this other ERP vendor. Um, but more and more as um, you know, robotics, AI, you know, software, mobility, scanning, safety, converge, I think the winning um vendors are really telling a story and not just selling tools, they are selling interoperability, but also orchestration. And so if you can't play in um someone's system and play nicely, then you're gonna have a hard time getting into the warehouse of the future or being a part of that supply chain of the future project.

Why One Size Fits None

SPEAKER_01 3:01

I saw a good example of that with a a robotic forklift company. So hey, forklift with no no driver, just had robot, GPS antennas, cameras all over it. And I asked the guy how it actually goes to figure out what to pick, and he goes, we'll just tie into your WMS system and you'll have your warehouse pre-maps, and it'll go to the WMS and fill it. So it's take all the different pieces and put them together. Whereas in the past, it would be like, oh, you need to create a custom map to go unload things. And it was uh definitely putting things together as systems is a big, big win for a lot of folks. Um, for for me, I think the my number four learning was just talking to a lot of different warehouse managers and manufacturing managers, that they all share the same problems, but they're vastly different. So the one warehouse may be you know in a different uh, I'm gonna call it a different level of maturity than somebody else. So, you know, a existing facility versus somebody who's building a brand new facility is gonna have completely different problems to go solve, even though it's the same core problems you want to do. And I think from a technology perspective, the way to think about this is there's there is no one size fits all. You have to have products that meet the needs of your organization specific to what you have. Like yeah, blue fletch may not be a good fit for somebody looking for single sign-on. They may want to use a sodium privata because they have a different set of requirements. But you know, um, in other cases, blue fletch may be perfect. And I think across all these different products you mentioned, yeah, there are different systems that work better for each other.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Did you have any thoughts around traditional warehousing um versus supply chain that is either standalone or tied to you know a large retailer like a Lowe's or a Home Depot that has many distribution facilities?

SPEAKER_01 4:45

I I think even within that, it varies by the organization. So I I talked to some food um grocers and they have completely different sets of requirements than you know, some of the hard goods manufacturers I talk to that are selling paper-based products, and just even those two are so vastly different. I don't think there's any like one size fits all, which is another thing to think about too. Like when you have food is cold storage, FSMA, expiration dates. But if you're storing paper towels, is it they'll they can sit anywhere else forever?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

They can.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Yeah. So all right, your your number three. What was your number three takeaway?

AI Becomes Core Warehouse Infrastructure

SPEAKER_00 5:18

So AI is becoming a core piece of infrastructure. Um it's not generic hype anymore. It's embedded um in workflow and workflow improvement. And so um it's not uh it's it's beyond table stakes to say I just have AI and I'm slapping AI on something, or I'm putting an agent on something, or having a chat bot on something. Um, you know, in these environments, a lot of times they're high risk. So safety plays a um uh a part of that. But also you have to be highly accurate because you're dealing with a lot of transactions, things um happening all the time when you think of, you know, you buy something on Amazon as soon as you click that button, things are happening somewhere in some facility to get that product to you. And so um what I saw was that you know AI in the warehouse um is already, you know, driving workflow conversations and um and it feels almost like a win a win or sale behind you or a bit of a superpower, meaning you're doing the same things, you're just doing them way more efficiently or using less brain power, less Excel spreadsheets because the AI is helping you get to um you know the information that you need.

Computer Vision Levels Up Fast

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yeah, I uh I love that. That's a good call. And I love the fact that that very few vendors had AI all over their uh their marketing materials. It was just, you know, it's just a core piece of infrastructure now, which just makes makes me happy. I don't know why, but uh my my number three is actually pigging piggybacking on that a bit, which is um vision technology is advancing. So, you know, leveraging cameras for um for inspection safety, the there's a lot of things where the camera technology has gotten so good, the amount of data it can take in. And now that you have the processing, you have the AI that sits on top of it. So you can do things like have drones that are actually doing a good job, you're taking inventory and shelves, you're putting cameras on these forklifts and they're actually drive around safely, which you know, we've all been uh, or you and I have been in a Waymo, which can be a little scary at times. And some I feel like some of the self-driving things of like Tesla are maybe better, but that technology is coming to the um the manufacturing and supply chain and warehouse space. And it's you know, it's pretty neat. I think you had another example you saw on just like what lidar and some of the other pieces around that.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Yeah, we saw one company that had um a piece of equipment that looked like the old Xbox Connect, but it had LIDAR inside. And so it had millimeter level of accuracy of um determining someone, and we were thinking, well, man, that'd be really cool for um some of our biometric login because now you get highly accurate data, but you also, if you had millimeter accuracy, you can't show up, you know, work one day and then slip and fall and have like a black eye. It might be too accurate at that point. But no, it was just really cool because now you start to think about what you could do with um this new piece of technology. Um similar concept, but just updated technology.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

I think one of the interesting ones I I heard from plant manager or sorry, warehouse manager on was I asked him about RFID, and he's like, We're we're taking out RFID and just going to cameras because it's you know, all of our boxes have labels. It can the camera technology can do a lot of the stuff that RFID actually can't do. Um, if you forget an RFID tag or lose it, yeah, it's not it's gonna be missed. Whereas a camera is gonna pick up the box and say, You got three boxes on this rack that are you know for this product, which I thought was a really interesting insight.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

It's way more um efficient to be accurate with a camera than RFID. RFID is great and it's magical when it works, but it can also be very noisy and messy that's not set up properly, tuned properly, um, uh focused properly, especially um in a warehouse environment.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Yeah, millions and millions of items on shelves. Um you're number two. What do you want to cover this, the frontline mobility one?

Smarter More Hands Free Mobility

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yeah, so frontline mobility is becoming smarter, more hands-free, and more strategic. And so just highlighting um some of the mobility vendors that we saw there from Data Logic, Honeywell, but um definitely at the zebra booth um showing off their uh WS devices, whether they're smaller um um scanners, so making it easy to do picking, um scanning things in the warehouse without having to have um a larger device, although the devices aren't as large as they used to be. Um but then also having those WS devices like good, better, best, that um could take voice commands and had the AI on the edge at those smaller devices to run through tasks, ask questions, um, to think about um safety. And so uh mobility is still a thing. Um it was well represented, but it's definitely getting smaller, it's definitely getting um smarter and more hands-free.

Robots Get More Useful And Diverse

SPEAKER_01 10:23

More more strategic. I like that. Yeah, it's definitely it goes back to the point earlier of there's a there's a different solution that meets the needs of everybody. There's no one size fits all, whether it's a you know, when some people might need zebra, keence, honeywell, data logic. They all have different places where they probably will accelerate or work better versus others. So it's you know, do do run your POCs and do analysis there. Um my number two was uh no shocker. Robots are getting power more powerful and more diverse. I think the first modecs we saw robots at was like eight or ten years ago.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

And they were juggling or bouncing a ping pong ball. Yeah, the bug.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

The Boston Dynamics showed up, and there were like two or three other booths of robots. I think every booth had a robot for specific tasks, um, whether it's picking things up, moving them off the lines, taking things in and out of trailers. Um, there are, you know, there were some humanoid robots, not a ton of those. I think those are still a little bit further out, but the the robot game is definitely, definitely stepped up.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Yeah, um, but I also push back and say how much is a humanoid robot needed in a true warehouse? Um I mean when when when Rick doesn't show up for work, it's no, I think what companies like Tesla um with Optimus uh they're doing is is really, really cool. But when you think about um a true warehouse, a true supply chain, and I'm moving um either big boxes or pallets, um, you know, your robots don't necessarily need arms and legs. They just need to be able to move um equipment through a facility um fast, safe, and accurate.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

I think the the one I think is super true. I think though the robotic forklifts, a lot of stuff where you're taking an existing machine that's already built for a warehouse and putting it in there. I think the a lot of warehouses are built for humans. Yeah, certain places where I think it may fit, but yeah, that it's still still nascent and gonna be a couple years out. We'll we'll see, we'll see where it comes up. Um your number one uh item you saw or learned about, I think the uh operational pains.

Buyers Prioritize Real Operational Pain

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Yeah, so buyers are paying more attention to stubborn operational pain than than uh flashy demos. And so I think that speaks to your robot point where um our first modex maybe four, six years ago, where robots balancing ping pong balls, juggling robot. I forgot about the juggling robot, or walking through the crowd, but now they have them actually either unloading a truck, um, they're actually showing that operational workflow. And, you know, buyers are really focused on return on friction. So if I do invest um in this product or this solution, and these are truly investments because they are massive and complicated, that it's not creating another headache for me, meaning uh this thing is great, but when it jams or when it doesn't work, I can't run my business. And so um, you know, although we had what I would consider a flashy demo, it really spoke to um a pain point when you think of transient workers in a warehouse. Um, how do you drive operational efficiency, but also um a device accountability? And so us leveraging a gentec login to have this passwordless reg uh sorry, not pass well, yeah, passwordless, but um a biometric registration with biometric login to show how easy it is to register, but also get to work um with those mobile devices was you know focusing on our pretty big pain point for some of these uh customers.

Don’t Boil The Ocean On Upgrades

SPEAKER_01 13:55

I still miss the juggling robot. My my number one is actually a it's probably a riff on that, but it's uh don't don't boil the ocean. So I was talking with a very, very tenured warehouse manager who's run all parts of the warehouse, and his you know, I was I was asking him about his experience and you know what he's planning on doing based on his takeaway from Modex, and he really you know distilled it down to there is so much improvement he could do in his warehouses, but he has a limited amount of capital to go apply to it. So really think about you know not boiling the ocean. Go pick the core problem that you can discreetly go and solve, um, understand how the money's gonna have an ROI, go solve that, you know, increase that efficiency, and then from there go solve the next set of problems. Don't try to boil the ocean. And what's the uh what's the old saying about how do you eat an elephant? Just one bite at a time. One bite at a time.

Flexibility Versus Throughput Tradeoffs

SPEAKER_00 14:50

So I got a uh uh a curveball question for you. Um thinking about the couple days we spent at Modex, um, what would you gauge the ratio of flexibility versus throughput?

SPEAKER_01 15:06

I I think it depended on the people I talked with. I think in some people and the the way I say this is that um there are organizations that are like I said in a different part of their journey. Um like if you have an existing warehouse and you try to change something, you have a lot more rigidity, you can break a process a lot quicker. Um so you know, you don't want to mess up the existing throughput to bring in something new. Um I I think that's that's that's really how I think about it. And there's probably some other subpieces in there. What about you? What did you, if you had to answer that, what would you say?

SPEAKER_00 15:43

I felt like the focus on flexibility and automation was was very apparent, and that may be another way of saying AI without saying AI or robotics. Um I saw some throughput, but I saw less conveyor belts, less fast WYSI moving, putting stickers and stamps on there, and more um thinking about how do we do this smarter and better. I think the one thing that was kind of cool was the conveyor belt that sucked the box upside down. I don't know what problem that was solving, but it looked cool.

ProMat Preview And Closing Notes

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah. I mean the the other like he's describing there's a lot of things that have like vacuum suction. So things can things can move around, you know, and be in a different uh plane, which is yeah, it's kind of interesting. Um, there's a lot of really cool things at Modex 2026. I think there is a lot of focus on you know leveraging AI, leveraging newer technologies. Um things are moving faster. I'm I'm excited to see what happens at at ProMat next year and year after. Maybe we'll have we'll have some humanoid robots or maybe the uh the forklifts will just have taken over everything by then. The Transformers. Transformers. Awesome. Um thank you for joining us today for this uh Frontline Mobility Edge. If you have questions, as always, feel free to reach out to us at bluefletch.com. And we look forward to seeing you at a future modex or ProMat. Thanks. Thank you for tuning in to the Frontline Mobility Edge. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe for more content every month. If you'd like to learn more about Blue Fletch, check out the link in the description or visit at bluefletch.com. See you next time.