Travel guide and tips for attending MD&M West 2027

MD&M West is a three-day advanced-manufacturing event where teams can compare suppliers, equipment, materials, and production ideas across medical technology, automation, design and manufacturing, plastics, and packaging. The 2027 show is set to bring those sectors together at the Anaheim Convention Center, giving you a chance to explore several parts of the production process in one trip.^[1][12]

This guide covers the decisions to make before you arrive in Anaheim: where to stay, how to set a budget, how to make supplier meetings and expo time useful, and how Navan Edge can handle flights, hotels, and restaurants in one conversation.

What is MD&M West and who should attend?

MD&M West will bring together five advanced-manufacturing sectors: medical technology, automation, design and manufacturing, plastics, and packaging.^[12] The 2027 event is scheduled to take place February 9–11 at the Anaheim Convention Center, 800 W. Katella Avenue, Anaheim, California.^[1]

The conference expects something in the region of 1,700 exhibitors and 13,800 attendees, across 319,000-plus square feet. You can expect to see manufacturing engineers, medical-device teams, sourcing and procurement professionals, operations leaders, product designers, packaging specialists, automation teams, and quality and regulatory professionals.^[1]

What makes MD&M West worth the trip

The expo is designed to help you inspect products, equipment, materials, and workflows in person. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask about exceptions, capacity, lead times, quality systems, documentation, and change control, and to also check in with peers about what production, staffing, or regulatory context shaped their results.

Before heading there, it helps to create a shortlist of suppliers you want to visit and samples to test, with an aim to get an answer to a production problem, or to advance a relationship.

Where to stay for MD&M West 2027

Anaheim Convention Center is surrounded by resort-district hotels. Before you decide where to stay, map the route from the room to the entrance or hall you will be at. A nearby property can still potentially have a long indoor walk.

MD&M West announced onPeak as its endorsed housing provider. It’s worth comparing the official housing options with others in the area, checking dates, total price, taxes and fees, cancellation deadline, and any 2027 shuttle service in the reservation.^[2]

The Anaheim Convention Center hotel guide can help you narrow down a shortlist. Recheck current inventory and cancellation terms before booking.

We analyzed 80 anonymized active Anaheim hotel bookings for the same period in 2026. With check-ins from January 31 through February 6 (the prior MD&M West period)

• The median nightly rate was $360
• The average stay was 2.7 nights
• The median lead time was 17 days.

Flights to MD&M West 2027

John Wayne Airport (SNA) is 13.5 miles from the convention center, Long Beach Airport (LGB) 18 miles away, and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) 35 miles away.^[2] Before booking a flight, compare together with airport transfers, rather than airfare alone.

A nonstop to LAX may beat a connection, but there’ll be a longer transfer and potentially more traffic. Arriving a day before the event starts means less time pressure, and could well be worth saving cost even if transfers are longer.

Book your trip with Navan Edge

Navan Edge is a personal executive assistant for business travel, powered by AI and human travel experts available 24/7 in one chat. It can search and book flights, hotels, and restaurants from the preferences you share, and after you review, it can actually book for you.^[11]

For MD&M West, you can tell it you want to arrive before Tuesday's expo, stay near the convention center, avoid a connection if possible, keep the hotel under a certain amount, and leave enough time after Thursday's close to reach the airport. Add other preferences like a quiet room, desk, gym, breakfast, preferred brand, or refundable rate if those details matter.

Navan Edge can distinguish a trip request, such as staying near the convention center, from an ongoing preference, such as a quiet room away from the elevator. Connected loyalty programs and past bookings can help inform the options that are surfaced.^[11]

Navan Edge helps you earn more from your trip

The Navan edge Loyalty Wallet shows all your connected airline and hotel statuses and points balances in one place, which makes it much easier to track progress towards the next tier. For a multi-night stay, it can help compare a convenient independent property with a chain hotel that advances a status goal.

In addition to earning hotel loyalty points and applicable credit card rewards, you can earn 5% Amazon Gift Card on eligible hotel bookings made through Navan Edge¹⁴.

How to set a budget for MD&M West 2027

Beyond flights and hotel room, smaller costs can sneak into your trip that you might not have considered. Here’s what to consider before you travel:

• Registration: Confirm 2027 pass and any add-ons that might be available at checkout.
• Hotel: Include tax, parking, any fees, deposits, and refundable-rate premiums.
• Transport and equipment: Include both airport transfers, any local rides, checked bags, cases, shipping, storage, and returns.
• Meals: Check conference inclusions and employer deduction rules. Agree on dinner host, guests, purpose, dietary needs, and cancellation terms.
• Buffer: It can be wise to include a predetermined amount for any spontaneous evening plans.

Federal per diem for Anaheim

For February 2027, GSA lists Anaheim in the Los Angeles locality: a $285 combined daily benchmark, comprising $199 lodging excluding lodging tax and $86 meals and incidental expenses (M&IE).

The M&IE breakdown is $22 breakfast, $23 lunch, $36 dinner, and $5 incidentals; first and last travel days are $64.50, or 75% of full M&IE.^[4][5][13] But employers may have their own policies

Plan an agenda without overwhelm

It can be tempting to attend every session and demo and soak up as much information as possible. In reality, capping fixed appointments at three or four per day, and leaving time to move between halls, write notes, and follow up while a supplier is onsite can be enough to get just what you need from the trip.

Workshop, MedTech Conference, and Sustainable Manufacturing Conference hours are still to be announced, but once this info is public, save sessions tied to an active project or decision and keep one nearby alternate.

About two weeks out start prioritizing suppliers to meet with. Save the booth, hall, entrance, and contact method in each calendar appointment so you can group meetings by hall when the final floor plan is available to save running around excessively. If you’re attending with colleagues, divide the floor by specialty and use one shared note format for a short daily debrief.

What to pack for a trip to MD&M West 2027

Anaheim winter daytime temperatures are commonly in the 60s and low 70s.^[6] A general packing list of essentials could look like this:

• Practical business casual clothes
• A dressier option for a presentation, booth shift, or formal dinner
• Comfortable closed-toe shoes;
• A light layer for AC or cooler evenings
• Battery, cables, water bottle, snack,
• Hand sanitizer, vitamins and ear-plugs if you feel you might become sensitive to surroundings
• Your question sheet, comparison template, approved nonconfidential drawings, and sample-handling supplies

Transportation from the airport to the venue

MD&M West estimates 20 minutes from SNA to the convention center, 30 minutes from LGB, and 50 minutes from LAX. These are only estimates, so account for any traffic, pickup waits, and weather which can impact journey time.^[2]

Be productive on the expo floor

After listening to many sessions and watching demos, the challenge is remembering which supplier can meet your requirements as all the info starts blurring together. To keep things organised”

• Ask competing suppliers to run the same part, tolerance, line condition, inspection step, or packaging requirement.
• Test the exception path: out-of-spec material, sensor failure, component change, or higher volume.
• Label each answer as either
  DemonstratedDocumentedCustomer-reportedUnverified
• End every “we'll send it later” promise with the exact document, sample, data, owner, and date.
• Add receptions or special experiences only after confirming the 2027 edition and access rules.

Network with intention

A useful connection starts with a shared problem, and it needs room for a real conversation. Build a target list of suppliers, technical peers, partners, and customers. About two weeks out, send the problem, required people, and requested 15 or 20 minutes. Once at the show, lead with the question and ask peers about their production constraints.

Within 48 hours, send the promised drawing, test requirement, or recap and request the agreed proof point. For each serious contact, note the requirement, evidence seen, open question, owner, and next action.

There’s a lot to see and a lot of work to be done at MD&M West 2027. With that said, carve out time to eat, drink water, if possible get a quick breath of fresh air, and tighten up your notes while your thoughts are still top of mind.

Where to eat at MD&M West 2027

If you’re planning dinners as part of your trip beyond a grab and go, choose the setting around the conversation you need to have. A lively team meal, a formal client dinner, or a flexible option for mixed preferences. Here are some recommendations:

• Team or partner dinner: Puesto Anaheim. At 1040 W. Katella Avenue, it offers private dining and events. Confirm the room, menu, minimum spend, dietary needs, and cancellation terms.^[8]
• Client or executive dinner: THE RANCH Restaurant. Its Anaheim restaurant and private events center suit a more formal conversation.^[9]
• Flexible offsite meal: Anaheim Packing House. This food hall at 440 S. Anaheim Boulevard gives mixed-preference teams more choice. Common areas are not reservable, so contact them for a large or private group.^[10]

Navan Edge can search real-time restaurant availability and book a standard table in the flight-and-hotel chat. Share party size, time, budget, dietary needs, and whether the setting should be quiet or quick. Include any other preference large or small, and Navan Edge will help find the ideal table. You can confirm booking right there in the app, alongside your flight and hotel, for the full itinerary in one place.^[11]

Finish strong on departure day

A little preparation keeps checkout and airport logistics from eating into the final show hours. Here are some of our top tips:

• The night before, charge devices, label samples, separate shipments, and check for adapters, badges, and cards.
• Reconfirm late checkout and pickup plans, adding time for equipment.
• Use any airport lounge time to organize notes.
• Save receipts through your company’s process and add attendees and business purpose to any group meals while details are fresh.
• Schedule a debrief for your team preferably before getting back into the day-to-day and circulate the supplier comparison first, so the meeting assigns tests and owners.
• If a flight changes or a hotel request remains open, you can have Navan Edge handle it for you, and if extra judgment is needed, a team of human experts are available 24/7 to join the same chat with the full context.

Planning your MD&M West 2027 trip? Let Navan Edge book your flights, hotels, and restaurants in one chat.