Make CTE Booth 432313 Your Home Base at IMTS 2026

For those of you attending IMTS 2026 next month, consider making Cutting Tool Engineering booth 432313 your first stop. IMTS brings six days of manufacturing technology to Chicago’s sprawling McCormick Place convention center, and a useful show plan starts with a clear home base.

Located in the Tooling & Workholding area in the West Building, Level 3, the CTE booth welcomes you to stop by and take full advantage of all our booth has to offer:

• comfortable chairs to take a load off,
• converse with the Grinding Doc, Jeffrey Badger, Ph.D.,
• view live demonstrations of the CHAMPION NOW! tabletop CNC lathe used at Camp CHAMP! events to help teach middle school students about machining careers,
• meet Terry Iverson, founder of CHAMPION NOW!, and learn about his efforts to spread Camp CHAMP! throughout the country,
• get help with your CTE subscription,
• grab some merch,
• chat about the show,
• have a beer at our Bourbon With The Editor bar,
• browse through the last two years’ worth of CTE magazine issues,
• and definitely grab a copy of the August issue if you forget your copy at home.

Once you have this issue in hand, use the IMTS 2026 Preview section in this issue to map a route around the convention center to learn about the equipment, applications and services that matter to your shop.

This issue also includes a special eight-page insert from the United States Cutting Tool Institute titled “IMTS 2026 Guide: Exploring the Benefits of USCTI.” USCTI represents, promotes and works to expand the U.S. cutting tool industry. You will find the insert between pages 36 and 37. If this issue gets too heavy to lug around, pull out the insert and read it at your leisure.

Speaking of leisure, we open the bar at 2 p.m. Monday through Friday (Sept. 14-18) and we’re happy to sip a Belgian-style wheat ale with you and discuss show highlights, industry news or whatever you like.

One more thing, be sure to drop by the Smartforce Student Summit in the North Building, Level 1. And if you happen to speak with Catherine “Cat” Ross, AMT’s director of community engagement and director of the Smartforce Student Summit, ask about her visit to a Camp CHAMP! she attended last Fall. She understands the importance of connecting young students with hands-on manufacturing experiences. The Smartforce Student Summit is itself a reminder that the technology on display at IMTS matters both to today’s workforce and to the people who will fill those shoes next.

–Dennis