Plans are well underway for the year 2012’s premier manufacturing event, IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show, which will be held Sept. 10-15, 2012, at Chicago’s McCormick Place.
The show theme for 2012 is “Be There” and is a call to action for the more than 82,000 industrial decision makers from more than 106 countries who will attend IMTS to get ideas and find answers to their manufacturing problems and challenges, but most importantly, to stay ahead of the competition.
Early results on participating exhibitors and exhibit floor square footage contracted, which are both ahead of the 2010 pace, reflect the strong resurgence of manufacturing.
“We are making an investment in innovative and strategic thinking to make IMTS 2012 the must-attend manufacturing event. From never-before-seen technology to an abundance of educational opportunities, IMTS is the place to be next September,” said Peter Eelman, VP-Exhibitions & Communications at AMT-The Association For Manufacturing Technology, which produces and owns IMTS.
To help guide visitors around the more than 1,000 exhibits and find their areas of interest quickly and easily, IMTS is organized into 10 pavilions:
- The Abrasive Machining/Sawing/Finishing Pavilion features technology for applications that require high tolerance and precision surface finish including grinding technology, as well as sawing and cutoff machines and a variety of finishing technologies, such as lapping, balancing, honing and polishing machines.
- The Controls & CAD-CAM Pavilion offers the world of custom automation and the latest software needed to extract the maximum efficiency from machine tools to optimize plant operations and cost efficiency.
- In the EDM Pavilion, everything from CNC wire EDM equipment to die sinking machines can be found by manufacturing professionals in the tool & die industry and especially those who specialize in one-off or specialty components.
- The Gear Generation Pavilion is devoted to gear cutting, forming and finishing, as well as broaching, shaping and slotting machines and will spotlight traditional applications such as auto, construction, mining and ship-building, plus the emerging alternative energy and wind power sectors.
- New to IMTS 2012 is the IANA – Industrial Automation North America Pavilion. World-class show organizer Deutsche Messe brings its global industrial event to North America to showcase all areas of industrial automation. Visitors can look forward to industry-specific conferences, plant tours and educational workshops as part of this exciting pavilion.
- Focusing on the myriad of goods needed to run a plant, the Machine Components/Cleaning/Environmental Pavilion will offer everything from the parts to service and monitor machines to the components necessary for safe and environmentally responsible operations.
- The Metal Cutting Pavilion is the center of the very foundation of the machine tool industry. Here, visitors will find the latest innovations in metal cutting equipment including machining centers, turning centers and the entire range of metal cutting technology.
- The latest technology in metal forming, fabrication, waterjet and laser-based machining along with displays of welding, metal treating and marking equipment can be observed in the Metal Forming & Fabricating/Laser Pavilion.
- The Quality Assurance Pavilion features metrology equipment and systems that keep processes on track, as well as the equipment that will check the accuracy of machines.
- The Tooling & Workholding Systems Pavilion offers all the necessities and innovative solutions to tooling challenges. Here, visitors can maximize the investment in their machinery and equipment by finding the latest technology that will allow for minimum setup and machining time, give new capabilities to older equipment and explore the latest in state-of-the-art workholding systems.
Other highlights that are in planning for IMTS 2012 are the Emerging Technology Center (ETC), the IMTS 2012 Conference, the Advanced Manufacturing Center, the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) Student Summit, and the co-located Midwest Clean Tech 2012 Conference.
The Emerging Technology Center (ETC) will bring the biggest ETC feature yet – a Local Motors car, built live right on the show floor, as part of the Collaborative Manufacturing section of the ETC. Local Motors is the first disruptive U.S. automaker to enter the market in decades, and is built on the principle of collaborative manufacturing. The designs for its cars come from an open source design community.
There will be two other big features in the ETC: Additive Technology, and MTConnect®, the open-source communications and interconnectivity standard for manufacturing equipment and devices.
Additive Technology will feature the latest advances in this exciting manufacturing concept. These technologies actually “compress time” in that they dramatically reduce the time between design and production and eliminate certain processes associated with traditional machining, such as tooling.
MTConnect® will return to the ETC in 2012. First introduced at IMTS 2008, this ground-breaking interconnectivity and communications standard is changing the way manufacturing equipment and devices are monitored and their productivity analyzed. The standard has been gaining widespread use throughout the industry because it allows equipment and devices to speak a common language.
The IMTS 2012 Conference, which will be extended to a 5-day program, is slated to include more than 70 sessions that explore five topic tracks including materials engineering, manufacturing technology and trends, alternative manufacturing processes, metrology/quality and plant operations.
The Advanced Manufacturing Center presented by the University of Sheffield’s internationally acclaimed Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, North America’s premier metalworking technology magazine, Modern Machine Shop and Boeing will display new dimensions and new directions for advanced manufacturing including interactive presentations and multimedia displays exploring trends and technologies being adopted by leading manufacturers. In addition, the TRAM3 12 International Conference, presented by those same sponsors will be held during IMTS and will bring together industrialists and academics to explore material, new manufacturing processes and technologies, assembly and supply-chain management in the aerospace industry.
The popular National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) Student Summit returns to IMTS to introduce students and educators to career opportunities in manufacturing through hands-on learning and networking with industry professionals. The Student Summit combines an interactive Career Development Center with a dynamic self-guided tour of the nation’s greatest technology and manufacturing exhibition.
The Midwest Clean Tech program will exhibit excellence in clean technology innovation, products and services, and connect innovators with financiers, business management expertise and the international community. This high-powered event is supported by academic research organizations, business firms and government entities throughout the Midwest.
“At one year out, we can say with confidence that IMTS 2012 will feature the innovative and game-changing manufacturing technology, educational opportunities and quality networking with industry experts that people have come to expect,” Eelman said. “We’re looking forward to another great show.”
For more information, visit www.IMTS.com.
