Geoff, Danny and I have been at IMTS in Chicago this week and wanted to bring you a few key highlights of this important biennial event. Our three key takeaways are:
- There is a palpable sense of optimism despite some recent weakness in the market.
- The big Tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services have a large physical presence across the show indicating a mutual need to be working together with the hardware that historically makes up our industry.
- AMT, the organisers of IMTS, have put a large effort into the Student Summit with a number of companies providing interactive resources for over 15,000 students mostly from the Chicago area.
From conversations with exhibitors, there are certainly positive signs about the market and there is a distinct buzz about the exhibition. Demand for machine tools looks to have reached the bottom of the cycle and, while the recovery is being held up by the inevitable uncertainty of the election cycle, the inquiries are there and it looks like an upswing is coming over the next few months once the identity of the new President has been resolved in November. In contrast, the tooling market is close to the top of its cycle, held back in part at least by the various issues that Boeing is facing in increasing its production rates; the defence side of this industry is, however, strong and has a significant presence at IMTS.
It was great to see the physical presence of the Tech companies so strongly across the exhibition because we have realised for a long time as an industry, the importance of software and hardware working together to enable manufacturing to continuously improve the productivity and competitiveness of its customers. Microsoft were the keynote speaker at the opening of IMTS, emphasising the importance of AI and that it is much more than just a tool. It is already being adopted widely from design through production to customer service.
The emerging technology centre at the show included, for the first time, a cell with conventional machining, AM, welding and a diverse set of manufacturing process all incorporated within it. The US Department of Defence also had a strong presence in emerging technologies and skills.
The AMT student summit hosts over 15000 students across the event. The area set aside gives them the opportunity to engage directly with exhibiting companies; among them were some of our member companies including:
- Fanuc
- ABB
- Haas
- Siemens
- Mitutoyo
- Mazak
- Renishaw
- Zeiss
Getting hands on with their educational equipment as well as the current equipment and gaining an understanding of what they do and the opportunities available. There was also significant presence from training providers and organisations offering pathways into careers. Including the Blueforce Alliance who create careers opportunities in building submarines with a focus on the AUKUS programme. One of the highlights was an area were students showcased the great work they are doing in partnership with local machine technology companies. Using their knowledge and equipment to bring their studies to life. It has given plenty of food for thought for the next Education & Development Zone at MACH 2026.
MTA Training will be working very closely with the Tooling U who provide online training content across the US, central & South America. MTA Training will be offering a range of Tooling courses on the MTA Training Learner Management System in the very near future. We also had demonstrations on their VR & AI training content that we planning to be a key part of the MTA Training offer.