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Five manufacturing technology trade shows converge in Chicago

One of the largest manufacturing technology shows in North America is about to get bigger.

The Industrial Automation North America and Motion, Drive & Automation North America trade shows, hosted by Chicago-based Hannover Fairs USA in partnership with the Association for Manufacturing Technology, will add three more shows to this year's event scheduled for Sept. 12-17 at McCormick Place in Chicago. The new shows include Surface Technology North America, which will focus on surface finishings and coatings; Industrial Supply North America, for the subcontracting and components industries; and ComVac North America, focusing on compressed vacuum technology.

All four shows will run concurrently with the International Manufacturing Technology Show, hosted by the Association for Manufacturing Technology, in the same McCormick Place space.

Hannover Fairs USA CEO Larry Turner notes the while the shows bring in people and companies from around the globe, suburban manufacturing will be well represented. Companies with local connections at the events include Mitsubishi Electric Automation in Vernon Hills, Yaskawa America in Waukegan, Harting of North America in Elgin, THK and Rittal in Schaumburg and Molex in Lisle.

Turner notes that, because of the Midwest's broad manufacturing base, a majority of attendees come from the region.

"Many of the attendees are coming from within driving distance, a 200 to 300 mile radius," he said.

Turner said the decision to expand into four separate shows is to provide more specialized industry tracks. Each show is treated like a separate trade show, and will include conferences and industry specific panels.

"This is really about the audience," he said. "How do we help them get what they need and want out of an event that will help them grow their manufacturing facilities and automate their facilities?"

For Tom Kutcher, marketing communications manager for Waukegan's Yaskawa America, whose Drives and Motion and Motorman Robotics divisions will have separate booths at the two main events, the convergence of shows provide the perfect opportunity to reach out to customers.

"Typically, the Drives & Motion Division has a small display inside this booth. However, the robot target audience is often different than the automation component audience," Kutcher said. "Hannover's Industrial Automation North America segment of the show provides us with the opportunity to feature our products more prominently in a separate booth, to a more focused audience."

The additional trade shows this year will give Yaskawa the chance to market itself to a more focused audience, Kutcher said.

"In many markets, robotics and drives & motion components are becoming intertwined, but they are still sold differently and therefore, our divisions will often have different targets;" he said.

"Having a separate booth at IANA allows each division to focus on their audience and also provides each of our divisions to cross-promote the other."

Turner said the show targets front-line managers who can use the knowledge gained from the event to bring improvements into their companies.

"The focus is really on the manufacturing engineer, the plant manager ... the folks that are responsible for the operation of the plant, focusing more on practical information that they can take back and use in their organizations," he said.

While five trade shows in one place can seem huge, Turner said the two organizations agree it's a natural fit for attendees.

Hannover USA's parent company also runs the largest international manufacturing technology trade show, Hannover Messe in Germany.

"The portfolio at IMTS is a large part of Hannover Messe," he said. "Both organizations decided that it was time to really take two of the strongest industrial trade shows in the world and start a co-location."

More information can be found at https://www.imts.com/show/colocatedShows.html.

In addition to the trade show and exhibitors, conferences are a part of the program at all five industrial technology trade shows happening at McCormick Place in September. Lloyd Guiang (HFUSA)
The latest in robotics will be among the new technologies featured on the trade show floor. Lloyd Guiang (HFUSA)
Larry Turner

Get ready for Industry 4.0

Although there will be five separate manufacturing technology trade shows going on concurrently at McCormick Place this month, there will be a common theme running through all of them: the new Industrial Revolution.

"Our theme for the event is integrated industries," said Larry Turner, president of Hannover Fairs USA, which is hosting four of the five shows. "The recurring theme is what we're referring to in the U.S. as advance manufacturing or industrial internet of Things. (Globally) it's known as the fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0.

"We're moving closer to more smart manufacturing, data building, storage in the cloud, and to more automated manufacturing," Turner added. "We're seeing this across all technologies."

Digitalization of the manufacturing line will also be a prominent theme, with companies like Dell demonstrating their concepts.

"In 2012, I had one exhibitor that was talking about Industry 4.0," he said. "The last show (in 2014) had one-third of exhibitors talking about it and this year I'm expecting well over half."

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