In 2014 the show saw more than 114,000 visitors from every level of industry from 112 countries. Now in its 31st edition IMTS has around 2,000 exhibitors occupying over a million square feet of exhibition space.
The show is divided into various pavilions dedicated to different aspects of manufacturing technology. This year’s pavilions include: Abrasive Machining, Sawing and Finishing; Additive Manufacturing; Controls and CAD/CAM; EDM; Fabricating and Lasers; Gear Generation; Machine Components, Cleaning and Environmental; Metal Cutting; Quality Assurance; Tooling and Workholding.
The conference programme will focus on five themes featuring a variety of industry specific sessions. Presentations will provide solutions to current manufacturing problems such as enhancing productivity; improving part quality; and developing a stable, competent workforce to lower the cost of manufacturing and create new levels of market demand.
Five co-located shows aimed at North American manufacturing are also part of the IMTS event: Industrial Automation, Motion Drive & Automation; Surface; ComVac and Industrial Supply.
An important element of IMTS is the Smartforce Student Summit. This programme is designed to enrich student attendance at the event and encourage a career in manufacturing. It includes features such as the Student Challenge, where youngsters are tasked to design and build products through processes such as CAD/CAM and 3D printing and challenged to build a CNC waterjet cutting machine for their school.
Another major element for 2016 will be the Emerging Technology Centre (ETC) that focuses on technologies such as additive manufacturing. This year the programme will feature exhibits such as an additive bionic human, a natural gas powered hybrid electric vehicle and all electric replicas of a Shelby Cobra sports car and Willis jeep.
Peter Eelman, vice president, exhibitions and business development at the AMT commented: “The ETC is world-renowned for showcasing projects and disruptive technologies that were previously known to only a few. We want the ETC to challenge pre-conceived notions of how manufacturing performs at its best.”
Two UK companies exhibiting at the show include Tewksbury-based aqueous parts washer specialist MecWash Systems and Mollart Engineering.
MecWash has significantly strengthened its presence in the US through the appointment of two distributors, Illinois-based Quality Machinery Systems and Minnesota-located Stone Machinery, along with MecWash’s own US-based representative located in Ohio.
MecWash will be demonstrating its Duo component cleaning system, which is one of the company’s bestsellers, on stand NC-432 at the show. The Duo provides immersion washing, spray washing, spray rinsing and hot air drying all in a single chamber with the components rotating about a horizontal axis.
Mollart, which has manufacturing centres in Surrey and South Wales will be showcasing its latest knee-type, multi-spindle gundrilling machine on stand S-9290. The latest machining concept incorporates a full Fanuc 35i control and drive package.
At IMTS 2014 enquiries from the show led to Mollart winning orders in excess of US$10 million for special purpose gundrilling machines for the US automotive market.
Another company familiar to UK manufacturers at IMTS will be cutting tool specialist Sandvik Coromant. The company will reveal for the first time a new digital connectivity-based solution designed to help manufacturers optimise their machining and decision making processes.
The data collected at each step of the digital machining processes, combined with Sandvik Coromant’s competence in interpreting and optimising this information, will provide manufacturers with better insight about their machining environment and ultimately help them increase profitability. Experts from Sandvik Coromant will be available to engage in discussion and address visitors’ specific enquires.
Sandvik Coromant has two stands at the show, W-1500 in the West Building and NC-509 in hall C of the North Building.
IMTS 2016 www.imts.com
