Now showing day 2: The International Manufacturing Technology Show 2010

Manufacturing industry professionals are gathered at IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show, held at Chicago’s McCormick Place, Sept. 13-18. On display are more than 15,000 new machine tools, controls, computers, software, components, systems and processes that can improve efficiency at the show and conference, held every two years. Show organizer AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology said that an anticipated 85,000 attendees are gaining ideas and insights from more than 1,100 leading equipment producers, to look and buy manufacturing technologies, as well as attend conference sessions on leading topics exhibits. With industry contraction, AMT said, anticipated attendance based on 2008 show levels, would have been 76,000.

See related IMTS coverage.

Exhibits cover approximately 1.2 million net square foot of show floor, include product category pavilions:

• Metal Cutting: contains everything from machining centers and assembly automation to Flexible Manufacturing Systems and lathes;
• Tooling & Workholding Systems: features jigs, fixtures, cutting tools of all types and related accessories;
• Alternative Manufacturing Processes: home to waterjet, plasma-arc and laser systems, welding equipment, heat treating, and related technologies; and
• Other pavilions at IMTS include Abrasive Machining /Sawing/Finishing; Controls & CAD –CAM; EDM; Gear Generation; Machine Components/ Cleaning/ Environmental and Quality Assurance.

The IMTS Industry & Technology Conference covers new manufacturing opportunities, allowing networking and exploration of fresh ideas to enhance business. Organizers said sessions explore innovative and revered technologies, business development and optimization, plus workforce efficiency and productivity. Special emphasis is placed on maintaining focus on short- and long-term goals during a tough economic environment. The conference is Tuesday, Sept. 14 – Friday, Sept. 17, 2010, in Chicago’s McCormick Place West Building.

Some of Tuesday’s 18 conference sessions include:

– Lean Safety – Transforming Your Safety Culture with Lean Management, Robert Hafey, president, RBH Consulting, LLC W195, 10- 10:55 a.m. Safety compliance (driven by OSHA) is the focal point of most safety programs. Reacting to injuries, near misses and regulation changes is the norm. Yet an opportunity exists to proactively engage the workforce in a safety improvement focused program. Lean management, a methodology employed by manufacturers, hospitals, and other business models to engage their workforce in continual business improvement, is also applicable to creating a continuous improvement safety culture. Case studies, along with an overview of some of the lean tools, help make the connection between the lean philosophy and their safety programs. How better to show respect for people than involving them in a proactive safety program that has the continuous improvement of safety as the goal. Much of the material covered in this session is contained in a book with the same title authored by the presenter and published by Productivity Press.

– The Information Age of Manufacturing Kevin Bevan, president, GBI, W193B, 3-3:55 p.m. What is state-of-the-art in machine tool control technology? Learn about the newest interfaces from MTConnect to open architecture controllers and how they will help take manufacturing into the next information age. Learn how to capture real-time process/machining parameters, check them against pre-determined boundary limits and take the appropriate actions to proactively control part quality.

– Discussions on Manufacturing Issues Today, Steven R. Stokey, VP, Allied Machine & Eng. Corp., W195, 3-3:55 p.m. – “Manufacturing and the Education System in the U.S.”

The topic, “Manufacturing and the Education System in the U.S.” has become a passionate subject for Steve Stokey, who wants to change the status quo by pushing young people to reach higher and think differently by establishing a collaborative effort between education and industry. When students were initially approached regarding what it meant to be an engineer, many of them understood it to mean driving a diesel powered train. This perception of engineering exposed the problem, validating an immediate need to move forth with a program to awaken our students to the importance of engineering, and the need to step up as the most valuable component of U.S. manufacturing. The current trends in home-grown engineering map out a course that is alarming, Stokey said. Currently, the United States is graduating 84,000 engineers each year. Over the next 12 years, a staggering 18 million open engineering positions will need to be filled with the pending retirement of the existing populace of engineers. Today’s education system needs to invest in human capital, right in our own backyard, he said.”Our children should know that they have choices… from driving the diesel-powered train engine to designing and manufacturing one.”

Other session topics include multi-sensor metrology, aluminum high-speed machining, “Increased Capabilities and Flexibility Equals Higher Productivity,” capital equipment justification and ROI truth, and new software algorithms to improve CAM programming.

Other highlights from the show include the following.

– Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau (CCTB) said it is the first convention and visitor’s bureau to offer the SCVNGR social gaming platform to show organizers. SCVNGR is the CCTB’s latest interactive marketing tool to help show organizers add value and promote attendee engagement in an increasingly competitive meetings and convention environment.

– IMTS 2010 and the American Precision Manufacturing Museum present “IMTS Remembers When…” Museum, a manufacturing museum located in the East Building in Booth #E-4771.

– Show organizers expect more than 250,000 attendees and nearly $600 million in convention-related spending for Chicago.

– The IMTS Emerging Technology Center features cloud computing, MTConnect, nanotechnology/micro manufacturing, and additive manufacturing; see video;
– Show management and exhibitors are invited to donate usable items to the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS).

– AMT and NAM, partnering to promote the importance of manufacturing in the U.S. economy, agree to include CEO and former Governor Engler to deliver a kynote address at the IMTS Emerging Technology Center. 

– Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, full-scale model is exhibited at IMTS;

– IMTS Inspiration Day, held Sept. 13, included experts from the aerospace, medical, automotive and energy industries in a keynote program on manufacturing.

– The NIMS Student Summit at IMTS combines an interactive orientation and Career Development Center (CDC) with a dynamic self-guided tour of the technology and manufacturing exhibition.

 IMTS is being held September 13-18, 2010, at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

Find out more about the pavilions.

www.AMTonline.org

www.imts.com

– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com.

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