delivered an immersive digital manufacturing experience for 89,020 registrants, and 1,737 exhibitors served up high-productivity solutions, demonstrating them in the context of integrated, automated, and connected turnkey solutions. However, the real genius that excited visitors was the hope of driving more efficiencies at every step of the product life-cycle.
鈥淚MTS 2024 accelerated the adoption of advanced technology in ways visitors could not have imagined before the show,鈥 said Peter R. Eelman, AMT鈥檚 chief experience officer, which owns and produces IMTS. 鈥淎 sense of new possibilities generated an enthusiasm felt throughout the show.鈥
Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT, added, 鈥淓xhibitors fine-tuned their demonstrations, packaging their solutions in the way people want to consume it. Rather than featuring a product, exhibitors showed how they solved problems with systems.鈥
In a keynote address, contract manufacturers learned how they could partner with the U.S. Navy and its submarine industrial base. 鈥淭he Navy is here [at IMTS] to support the recapitalization of American manufacturing,鈥 said Rear Admiral Todd S. Weeks, program executive officer, strategic submarines.
鈥淎s part of the supply chain that supports the defense industrial base, IMTS is a critical show to help look at new technology and figure out how to do more with less,鈥 said Mike Griffith, president of Major Tool & Machine.
Automation was everywhere at IMTS 2024, which saw the launch of the new . Further, every major machining exhibitor in the Metal Removal Sector demonstrated integrated systems featuring large pallet changers, bar feeders, load/unload robots, chip removal systems, and more.
鈥淟abor issues are off the charts,鈥 said Tim Caron, an area sales representative from EMEC Machine Tools in the exhibit. 鈥淎utomation such as pallet pools allows you to have multiple jobs set up for longer unattended run time.鈥
The technology in the and educational opportunities on the made IMTS an additive manufacturing destination.
鈥淥ne of the major reasons we came to IMTS is that we have been looking to step into bigger SLA technologies and more capable machinery for medical applications,鈥 said Jon Cackler, the owner of . He drove from Ames, Iowa, specifically to check out the new Form 4 printer from .
Summing up the six days of the show, Tom Sheridan, president of and incoming chair of the AMT Show Committee, said, 鈥淭his has been our best IMTS for quality engagements. The show was front-loaded with tremendous interest for our six new products; then, a number of people came back two or three times with different members of their team.鈥
We are grateful to all of you, visitors, exhibitors, and partners, for making IMTS 2024 a success!
To read the rest of the Space Issue of MT Magazine, click .