IMTS—The International Manufacturing Technology Show 2012 – Quality Digest

(IMTS: McLean, VA) — The 29th edition of IMTS—The International Manufacturing Technology Show 2012 is on track to rank among the top five largest IMTS events. Scheduled for Sept. 10–15, 2012, at Chicago’s McCormick Place, this year’s show will cover almost 1.2 million net square feet of exhibit space with more than 1,800 exhibiting companies. 

IMTS show hours vary from building to building. The Lakeside Center (East) and West building hours are 9 a.m.–5 p.m. daily; the North and South building hours are 10 a.m.–6 p.m. daily.

IMTS will host 85,000–90,000 manufacturing industry professionals from more than 119 countries. They attend to see more than 15,000 new machine tools, controls, computers, software, components, systems, and processes that can improve their efficiency. They also gain valuable ideas and insights from the world’s leading equipment producers. They come to learn, to look, to buy and to network.

Enhancing the value of IMTS for visitors and exhibitors

IMTS has teamed up with Deutsche Messe to co-locate the first-ever Industrial Automation North America (IANA) with IMTS. IANA will showcase products and solutions for production automation, complementing IMTS’ focus on manufacturing technology, metalworking, and precision manufacturing.

“We are thrilled to reinforce the international nature of IMTS by having one of manufacturing’s premier trade show organizers join with us,” says Peter Eelman, IMTS vice president for Exhibitions and Communications at IMTS. “This is a major step in expanding and strengthening the range of solutions available to IMTS visitors.”

To feed the hunger for education in the industry, IMTS is offering educational opportunities in conjunction with the show. “It’s ironic because in the early years, IMTS was actually an educational event and only turned into a buying/selling forum after World War II,” Eelman explains. Along with the IMTS 2012 Conference, the show is co-locating six conference programs, two of which are part of the new partnership with Deutsch Messe, at IANA.

• The IMTS 2012 Conference (Sept. 10–14) will focus on five topic tracks with 72 industry-specific sessions. Conference topics and presentations will focus on materials, manufacturing technology, alternative manufacturing processes, quality and metrology, and plant operations.
• IANA Global Automation & Manufacturing Summit (Sept. 12–13) is a collaboration between CFE Media and Hannover Fairs International, presenting a two-day senior-level conference program at the inaugural IANA expo. Key topics in global automation and manufacturing will be highlighted, including enterprise asset management, process optimization, energy management, and sustainability manufacturing. Additionally, case studies on how plants have automated for profitability, improved performance of existing assets, and reducing maintenance costs will be presented.
• The International Society of Automation (ISA), which is recognized worldwide as a leader in nonbiased, vendor-neutral education, training, and standards programs for automation professionals, will team with Hannover Fairs International to bring a multitude of one-day training and educational workshops for all attendees at IANA and IMTS (Sept. 13–14).
• The Motion, Drives & Automation Conference (Sept. 10–11) put on by Penton Media’s Design Engineering Group and the National Fluid Power Association will present two in-depth conference tracks—Motion Control in Automation, and Hydraulics and Pneumatics in Automation—for engineers and individuals tasked with improving performance, productivity, life, efficiency, and environmental footprint of manufacturing equipment and industrial automation systems.
• The EHS Today America’s Safest Companies Conference (Sept. 11–12) provides a comprehensive learning and networking experience that includes keynote speakers, panel discussions, 18 sessions across three industry tracks, the EHS Today America’s Safest Companies awards ceremony, and various networking opportunities. EHS Today has been the premier advocate of safety excellence and a leader in covering the safety and health industry since its inception more than 70 years ago.
• TRAM³ Aerospace Conference—Trends in Advanced Machining, Manufacturing, and Materials (Sept. 12–13), sponsored by Gardner Publications, will delve into the rapidly evolving aerospace industry, which provides a unique set of challenges and opportunities. As the industry focuses on maximizing performance at minimum cost, it introduces the need for new materials, machining processes, and manufacturing methods. TRAM³ will deliver discussions on all three of these topics that will help aerospace manufacturers be more effective today and more prepared for tomorrow.
• Midwest Clean Tech 2012 is a one-day event (Sept. 12) that focuses on the clean technology community—technology providers whose products have a reduced impact on the environment through energy efficiency, reduction of waste or pollution, or other means. Attendees at this conference include clean-tech industry leaders, government officials, clean-tech-focused venture capitalists and financiers, potential customers, and corporate R&D and business development executives.

It has become clear that the IMTS community comes to the show to see and learn the latest technology, and to buy and sell equipment and products that directly affect productivity. The show theme for 2012 is “Be There” and is a call to action for the industrial decision makers from all over the world who will attend IMTS to get ideas and find answers to their manufacturing problems and challenges, but most important, to stay ahead of their competition.

To help guide visitors around the more than 1,300 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 and 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 and educational workshops as part of this exciting pavilion.
• Focusing on the 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 manufacturing technology 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 and 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 and 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 workholding systems.

Emerging Technology Center

The Emerging Technology Center (ETC) will have the biggest feature yet: a Local Motors Rally Fighter 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 three other big features in the ETC: additive manufacturing; MTConnect, the open-source communications and interconnectivity standard for manufacturing