IMTS 2024 – The International Manufacturing Technology Show says it plans to showcase unexpected solutions at more than 1,500 booths, including more than 65 first-time exhibitors offering innovative solutions. Examples include haptic feedback to improve remote robot operation and digital training, quality control software that can manage millions of data points, additive manufacturing powders and gases, business services to address labor issues via an app, and many more.
IMTS 2024 runs Sept. 9-14 at McCormick Place in Chicago and is held every even-numbered year. IMTS 2022 attracted 86,307 registrants.
“What makes IMTS 2024 extraordinary is that every aisle offers new approaches to improve productivity, lower costs, and solve problems,” says Peter R. Eelman, chief experience officer at AMT –The Association For Manufacturing Technology, which owns and produces IMTS. “One of the comments I hear every show is, ‘We would have never learned about this solution if we didn’t come to IMTS.’ Solutions range from foundational products to technologies that transform your business operation.”
Matt Gawlik, president of 3D Graphite & Machining in Schaumburg, Illinois, has attended every show since 1992.
"We found a cutting tool that decreased run time by 300%, but my best bang for the buck at IMTS has always been on the technology side. Specifically, solutions in the software sector for streamlining all of our processes, from ERP to design to CAM,” said Gawlik. “One thing to check out at IMTS 2024 is APIs(application programming interfaces) and how their utilization allows software solutions to talk to each other. One of the problems right now is that there are so many different things happening at once that it’s hard to collect data and present it in a usable way.”
Hidden Gems
Benjamin Moses, director of technology at AMT, notes that visitors come to the show to connect with existing suppliers and see new product launches from major brands.
“There are always hidden gems at IMTS,” says Moses. “These often come from startups exhibiting for the first time and established companies trying to reach new markets in the manufacturing sector.”
“I never miss IMTS because technology is moving so fast,” said Gawlik. “I have visited hundreds of shops, and all the top shops use technology and take the time to go to IMTS because it is the epicenter of what is possible. It is ‘potentiality’ realized.”
Related Glossary Terms
- computer-aided manufacturing ( CAM)
computer-aided manufacturing ( CAM)
Use of computers to control machining and manufacturing processes.
- quality assurance ( quality control)
quality assurance ( quality control)
Terms denoting a formal program for monitoring product quality. The denotations are the same, but QC typically connotes a more traditional postmachining inspection system, while QA implies a more comprehensive approach, with emphasis on “total quality,” broad quality principles, statistical process control and other statistical methods.
