The Showstopper Was Us: Manufacturing Community Reconnects at IMTS 2022

With handshakes, hugs, high-fives, and hearty backslaps as people greeted each other after four years apart, the connectedness of the manufacturing community was the literal showstopper at IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show. Held from Sept. 12-17 at Chicago’s McCormick Place, IMTS 2022 achieved a total registration of 86,307, including 11,715 students, and featured 1,212,806 million square feet of exhibit space representing 1,816 exhibitors and 1,603 booths. The North American visitor-to-exhibitor ratio increased by more than 10% compared to 2018’s record-breaking show, reaffirming the need to meet in person.

“While the excitement and electricity were clearly evident in every aisle of the show, what was most gratifying for the industry and the country was the scope of commerce taking place as visitors sought out, and found, key technologies and productivity solutions to move their businesses forward,” says Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, which owns and produces IMTS.

“At IMTS 2022, the manufacturing community achieved something that hasn’t been done since World War II: it brought our industry back together after a worldwide disruption. We proved our resiliency, but we achieved much more,” adds Peter R. Eelman, chief experience officer at AMT. “The digital technologies and other new products at this show aren’t just advanced: they are accessible, inclusive, and ready to be implemented by small and medium-sized businesses regardless of their workforce composition.”

The show attracted 7,647 people to its educational and networking events. The IMTS Women Make Manufacturing Move specialty program attracted more than 1,213 people, representing 400 companies and 52 countries, to its three events. Three IMTS Job Shops specialty programs attracted 293 people and covered topics such as taking shops digital, the Top Shops award winners, and the Top Shops benchmarking program, presented by AMT, Modern Machine Shop magazine, and Additive Manufacturing magazine by Gardner Business Media.

The inaugural IMTS Investor Forum, powered by AMT, featured curated tours on additive manufacturing, digital technology, machining, and automation and was designed to help the investment community understand the opportunities in manufacturing. Presenter David Burns, principal and founder at Global Business Advisory Services, notes, “With the number of innovative products hitting the market now – cutting across the entire swath of automation and digital technologies that change the way we manufacture parts – we’re in a period of time that will not be paralleled again for decades.” Burns points out that manufacturing technology orders per sale continued to increase from 2019 through 2022 and that they will continue to accelerate as companies use technology to compensate for a smaller labor force.

The AM4U Area, presented by Formnext, a new venue for IMTS, featured well-attended daily presentations such as a panel of nine additive manufacturing experts discussing the benefits and drawbacks of various AM technologies. Formnext is the leading industry expo platform for additive manufacturing and industrial 3D printing.  

AMT and Gardner Business Media have collaborated with Mesago, the organizers of Formnext, and Messe Frankfurt Inc. to launch Formnext Forum Austin (Aug. 28-30, 2023), the Formnext Forum co-located at IMTS 2024, and Formnext Chicago (April 8-10, 2025) at McCormick Place.  

“We hosted several successful conferences at IMTS 2022,” says Allison Kline Miller, chief events officer, Gardner Business Media. “The Additive Manufacturing Conference at IMTS 2022 featured the kind of quality technical content our attendees have come to expect. It served as a perfect launching point as the AM Conference evolves into Formnext Forum Austin next August. Modern Machine Shop was thrilled to bring its Top Shops program to IMTS. Our annual benchmarking program (see award winners video from the IMTS+ Main Stage) helps job shops better understand how their peers are implementing best manufacturing processes and business practices to make their shops more successful.”

“After a four-year gap due to the pandemic, we were happy to bring back HANNOVER MESSE USA as a co-located show with IMTS 2022,” says Ed Nichols, CEO of Hannover Fairs USA. The show is a leading knowledge and networking event focused on Industry 4.0, AI, robotics, automation technology, logistics IT, and industrial software. “While personal emotion is not commonly associated with trade shows, this year really reinforced how much exhibitors and attendees appreciated reconnecting. Everyone expressed gratitude and grace for their support in coming to HANNOVER MESSE USA and IMTS."

IMTS 2024 will take place Sept. 9-14, 2024, at McCormick Place, Chicago, so mark your calendar. In the meantime, more news, photos, and videos from IMTS 2022 will continue to be posted on IMTS.com. You can stay even more connected at IMTS+, a multimedia content destination.

For more information, visit www.IMTS.com and www.AMTonline.org.

Connections, Automation, Education and Careers, and Special Attractions Mark IMTS 2022

“You could talk about automation, hardware, and software, but the biggest buzz at IMTS 2022 is the humans – we’re here,” says Jason Zenger, president of ZENGERS Industrial Supply and co-host of the “MakingChips” podcast, which broadcast from the IMTS+ Main Stage. “Every couple of minutes, I run into somebody I know or make a connection that is going to be a great resource. IMTS is the epitome of the manufacturing community coming together to build the future.”  

“The opportunity in manufacturing is for all of us,” says Andrew Crowe, founder of the New American Manufacturing Renaissance. “The collaborations have been crazy positive. This show is historic, and people are going to point to IMTS 2022 as a catalyst. It’s been amazing to see the people we’ve been talking to online and realize how important the human ecosystem is.”

Kristina Schulz and Markus Schulz, CEOs at Frantzen Discomatic, Remscheid, Germany, agree, saying, “We came to Chicago in order to meet all our U.S. customers, both European and North American, in one spot – in one hall, actually. Here we can network with all the people we cannot meet with on a daily basis.” The company makes high-quality grinding discs and works with companies in the Gear Generation, Abrasive Machining/Sawing/Finishing, and Fabrication & Lasers pavilions.

“I was always optimistic about the show because people want to hold the product, but it exceeded my expectations,” says Michael Larson, marketing director, Hainbuch America, Germantown, Wisconsin. “Even though IMTS 2018 was a record year for visitors, we beat our previous record for qualified leads by the third day of IMTS 2022. People came in with a different mindset, a different purpose. They didn’t just ask what’s new; they came in looking for solutions for specific problems.”

Automation 

After the human connection, IMTS 2022 will be remembered as the show of a thousand robots. Exhibitors integrated robots, cobots, and other automated functions to machining centers, welding systems, tooling centers, workholding pallets, inspection systems, and more.

“The automation systems at IMTS focused on ease-of-deployment, iPhone-level programming simplicity, and affordability for small and medium-sized businesses,” says Tim Shinbara, chief technology officer at AMT. “Visitors could find new startup automation companies and spinoffs in every hall, and every one of them introduced solutions for high-mix, low-volume applications to help job shops address their workforce and productivity issues.”

“I didn’t go to school for robotics. I graduated with a mechanical engineering degree, and I just kind of hopped right in,” says Jordan Olsen, an automation engineer with B&B Manufacturing in LaPorte, Indiana. “We’re a small manufacturer [of gearing and synchronous power transmission products,] and we’re just getting into automation. We purchased our third robot at the show, a FANUC R-2000, and we’re looking at [FANUC CRX] cobots to figure out what would work best for our next cells.”

“Apparently, you don’t have to have any welding experience,” says Christopher Digangi, general manager and CNC manager at West Palm Machining and Welding, West Palm Beach, Florida, after a demonstration of Trumpf’s TruArc Weld 1000 MIG welding cell equipped with a universal robot.  

Automation solutions at IMTS 2022 also combined the flexibility of a collaborative robot (cobot) with an autonomous vehicle that can drive around a shop and tend multiple machines without human intervention. Two exhibitors had eye-catching demonstrations of this technology. Staubli Robotics introduced the new HelMo mobile robot system, equipped with multi couplings, a tool-changing system, and a tool station. Nachi Robotic Systems demonstrated a CZ10 cobot arm mounted on an EffiBOT autonomous mobile robot simulating machine tending work.  

John Mayer, USA director of operations for Preci Dip USA, a Swiss-based producer of interconnect components that is expanding its operations near Savannah, Georgia, says, “I’m looking at automated solutions so we could run lights-out.”

Eric Sun, owner of Orange Vise Company in Placentia, California, was intrigued by the Zoller roboBox, which automates tool management, including storing all the tool measurement data. “This roboBox really caught my attention because it automatically changes end mills inside of shrink fit holders. To us, it is a huge leap forward because tool life is generally what bottlenecks horizontal machine centers. We’re very lean, and this type of technology kind of shows how we’re moving forward in the right track.”  

���Even though there's a lot of uncertainty in the economy right now, the pressure on labor is not letting up,” adds Joe Campbell, senior manager, strategic marketing and applications development at Universal Robots. “Shops have an immediate problem to solve today, not six months from now.”

Motivating Technical Education and Careers 

Working closely with exhibitor partners, the Smartforce Student Summit at IMTS 2022 presented 24,000 square feet of interactive experiences, its largest floorplan to date, with technology and dozens of education-to-career pathways on display.  

“For the younger students who attended the Summit, we believe that we expanded on the IMTS ‘Find Me’ campaign, as we showed these students how they could find themselves and provide them choices in the education-to-career pathway that they might not have considered,” says Greg Jones, vice president, Smartforce Development, AMT. “Our focus is always on presenting our industry’s vision of the manufacturing technology classroom of the future. This year, we added Smartforce Careers Connections, a kind of digital career fair that allowed college students who are nearing graduation to connect to hundreds of open jobs at manufacturing technology companies.”

One of those students was Saylor White, who wanted to visit IMTS with her father as a very special 10th birthday present for her. Father Todd White operates Todd White Metal Works, a small shop in Glendale, Arizona. Todd has introduced Saylor to the basics of shop safety, reading blueprints, and loading, running, and unloading parts.

“Machining is cool because parts come from nothing, and then they go into something as a finished part,” says Saylor. “My favorite part of the show was the student area. You can only look at machines on the show floor, but here in the Student Summit, you can actually touch them. That can bring more kids into machining.”

Students from Penn High School in Mishawaka, Indiana, ran a booth about their FIRST Robotics program in the Smartforce Student Summit. Teacher and team coach Kyle Marsh stayed behind the scenes to let students do all the talking about designing and building their competition robot.  

“It was cool to just sit back and watch the kids interact at the booth and really shine,” Marsh says. “Plus, they walked around the other pavilions to get new ideas to try in our shop. It really threw gas on the fire of their curiosity. Coming to this show has reinforced real empowerment for the students and given me the ability to stay cutting edge on technology.”

Special Attractions 

The IMTS+ Main Stage featured full programming every day of the show. Highlights included a conversation with Barbara Humpton, CEO of Siemens USA, and Tim Shinbara, CTO at AMT. One topic they explored was the recent government investment in the semiconductor industry, its implications for the private sector, and its connection to the IMTS Investor Forum.

“I’m delighted to see the investment community stepping up to the plate,” says Humpton. “Because while we face disruption in Europe due to energy, and while we face disruption in Asia due to the pandemic, we in the U.S. have relative health [… and] energy security. Now is a time when builders in America can get going. We’ve got makers all across the country ready to bring manufacturing back close to the source of demand, and we [Siemens] stand ready with the technology to do it.”

Siemens also collaborated with IMTS exhibitor Ingersoll Machine Tools Inc. on some of the exhibits in AMT’s Emerging Technology Center (ETC). The ETC featured a scaled section of the Rosenberg Space Habitat and live demonstrations of the robotic 3D printing technology used to make the habitat.

Ingersoll CEO Dr. Jeffrey Ahrstrom elaborates on advanced manufacturing and the future of space exploration during a presentation from the IMTS+ Main Stage, saying, “Space explorers can’t bring everything necessary to colonize space. This demands that we develop a space manufacturing economy. As you walk around the show, the presence of additive manufacturing is significant. No longer the stuff of research labs, it is mainstream and driving active change throughout the capital equipment industry. Who could have conceived of printing space thermoplastic habitats or metal tank hulls, and we are doing this today!”

Other keynote presentations from the IMTS+ Main Stage included:

• The Monday opening ceremony with Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT, and Dr. Jochen Koeckler, chairman of the managing board of Deutsche Messe AG, Hannover, Germany.
• A Tuesday presentation with Stephen Hooper, vice president of design and manufacturing at Autodesk.
• Thursday, Eric Foellmer, vice president of marketing at Boston Dynamics, focused on use cases for quadruped robot technologies, including dynamic sensing for autonomous inspection. Spot, the agile mobile robot, came for a visit and was an IMTS showstopper.
• The Manufacturing USA network keynote speakers included Dr. Diana Bauer, acting deputy director of the Advanced Manufacturing Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy; Mike Molnar, founding director of the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office; John Wilczynski, executive director at America Makes.

“Our message here is that this is an exciting time to be in manufacturing,” says Molnar. “We are in the fourth industrial revolution with the digitalization, the democratization of manufacturing. The message that you may hear from some economists is that automation is taking away jobs. That is not the case. Automation increases productivity, so that companies grow, thrive, and actually, on average, add more employment.”  

In the future, we were promised Jet Suits, and Richard Browning, manufacturer, technologist, and founder of Gravity Industries, delivered. Browning made three flights in his patented Jet Suit in front of McCormick Place. The suit uses many 3D printed components, yet Browning remains impressed with the 3D printed exotic alloy components in the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion, as well as scaling of large additive components, as demonstrated in the ETC.  

AMT’s Eelman advises IMTS registrants that the show doesn’t end when they go home.  

“It’s easy to get mesmerized and overwhelmed by all the great exhibits. As soon as you can, write down the products, technologies, and companies that really caught your eye,” he says. “Use the IMTS.com website, directories, floor plans, the MyShow Planner, and other IMTS tools we give you. Lastly, focus on the last word of this year’s show theme: ‘Digital Manufacturing. Implemented.’ Every corner of IMTS 2022 had advanced technology that was ready to implement and was within immediate financial reach for shops of all sizes. You can literally start improving productivity and profitability tomorrow.”

Olympus Agrees on Transfer of Evident to Bain Capital

Olympus Corporation (“Olympus”) and EVIDENT Co., Ltd. ("Evident"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Olympus announced that Olympus concluded a definitive agreement with Bain Capital Private Equity, LP (“Bain Capital”), regarding the transfer of Evident. Based on this agreement, all shares of Evident will be transferred to Bain Capital on January 4, 2023, subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

To achieve sustainable growth as a global medical technology company, Olympus is striving to strengthen its management base by allocating resources to the Medical business, with a focus on the Endoscopic Solutions and Therapeutic Solutions businesses. The Scientific Solutions business of Olympus was transferred to Evident in April 2022; this decision was concluded to accelerate growth, improve profitability and contribute to the enhancement of the corporate value of Olympus as a whole by establishing management systems that match the characteristics of each business in the medical and scientific solutions fields.

Evident, the Olympus Scientific Solutions business, conducts business in fields of life science and industrial applications. These fields are underpinned by deeply rooted and strong demand from the global market. Microscopes used for life science support a broad range of academic and clinical research areas, pathology diagnostic services as well as the recently growing demand for drug discovery and fertility treatment. Evident’s Industrial solutions range from microscopes used in the expanding semiconductor sector and electronic components markets to industrial videoscopes and fiberscopes, nondestructive testing equipment, and X-ray fluorescence analyzers used in industrial applications. This wide range of applications include automotive, aviation, metal manufacturing, power generation, precious metal and several other manufacturing and inspection markets.

In light of this favorable market environment, Olympus concluded that it would be in its best interest to transfer all shares of Evident to Bain Capital in order to allow Evident to develop its business with more agile and flexible decision-making based on market needs, leading to further growth as well as to develop more innovative solutions for its customers.

“Bain Capital has a deep understanding of Evident's business value and growth potential. Importantly, they highly appreciate Evident's corporate culture, which has been a valuable asset to Olympus in fulfilling a diverse spectrum of customer needs through the global collaboration and proactive commercialization of cutting-edge technologies,” said Yasuo Takeuchi, president and CEO of Olympus Corporation. “They are capable of providing Evident with a business environment best suited to its business characteristics, which can sustainably maximize its corporate value. I am confident that Bain Capital is the best partner for Evident,” Takeuchi added.

Yoshitake Saito, the president and representative director of Evident, commented on the new company’s focus: “Evident will continue under the Bain Capital umbrella to provide its customer base with a broad range of innovative products and services across the globe. On the basis of our long-term expertise, we will expand our digital technologies, including cloud-based solutions, to enhance the customer experience and to improve the overall workflow in several research and inspection fields. With greater management autonomy, we will promote agile and open innovation, which will increase the speed of product development for solving our customers' challenges.”

For more information, visit https://www.olympus-global.com/news/ir/2022/.

America Makes Names New Executive Committee Members

With America Makes entering its 10th year, the Executive Committee will help lead the transition into the next phase of the America Makes program. Serving as the core strategic advisory committee, they will ensure that the appropriate strategy, policy, and advocacy are in place for America Makes to achieve its mission. The committee will also advise on matters concerning technical scope, membership value, ecosystem and partnership strategies, and education and training.

“I am very excited to welcome our newest members to the Executive Committee and I look forward to collaborating with such a diverse and knowledgeable group of experts,” stated John Wilczynski, executive director, America Makes. “Each of these individuals shares a passion and commitment to expanding the Additive Manufacturing ecosystem on a global level and act as champions for America Makes throughout their respective organizations and market segments.”

2022-2023 America Makes Executive Committee:

• Rachel Andrulonis, Director, Advanced Materials Research, National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University
• Edward D. Herderick, Director, Additive Manufacturing at The Ohio State University Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence
• Stephanie Gaffney, Director, Advanced Manufacturing Programs, Youngstown Business Incubator
• Brian Meincke, Vice President, Global Business Development and Innovation Strategy, ASTM International
• Melanie Lang, CEO, FormAlloy
• Nicholas Mule, Director, Additive Manufacturing, Boeing
• Brian Rosenberger, Senior Technical Fellow, Lockheed Martin
• Zach Simkin, President, Senvol

Government Representatives:

• Shawn Moylan, Mechanical Engineer and Project Leader, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Beth Ripley, Deputy Chief, Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
• Rick Russell, NESC Technical Fellow for Materials, NASA

For more information, visit www.americamakes.us.

ETQ Promotes Taylor to CTO, Appoints Additional ETQ Leaders to Executive Team

ETQ, part of Hexagon, announced that it has appointed John Taylor, its former Senior Vice President of Engineering & Operations, to Chief Technology Officer (CTO), effective immediately. In this new role, John will be responsible for overseeing the strategic direction of ETQ Reliance, the company’s Industry-leading, cloud-native Quality Management System (QMS). John replaces ETQ’s co-founder and CTO, Morgan Palmer, who is transitioning out of the CTO role to pursue personal interests.

ETQ also has added ETQ’s Vice President of Product Management, Jamie Fernandes, to the ETQ executive team, expanding his role to include corporate strategy and long-term product direction. Both Jamie and John will continue to evolve ETQ Reliance, along with ETQ’s Chief Architect, Heera Sharma, who has played a strategic role in the growth of the solution as the industry’s most advanced QMS.

“Over the past four years, John has been instrumental in the transformation of ETQ’s engineering organization, leading major initiatives, such as the development of Reliance NXG and the implementation of our agile development process,” said Rob Gremley, CEO, ETQ. “Because of his proven vision and deep understanding of the technology innovation that will drive the next era in data-driven quality, we’re confident that he will fill the big shoes left by our former CTO, Morgan Palmer.”    

John has 30 years of software development and senior leadership experience. Prior to joining ETQ in 2018, John was senior vice president with PTC, where he led the software development team responsible for the development and maintenance of its industry-leading IoT platform and other solutions. John previously held strategic positions with Axeda Corporation, including Vice President, Research & Development and Director of Engineering.

Since Jamie Fernandes joined ETQ in 2021, he has transformed ETQ’s product management team and processes into a highly visionary and collaborative organization that works closely with Engineering. He brings more than 20 years’ experience in Software as a Service (SaaS), marketing automation, human capital management (HCM) platforms, Product Portfolio Management (PPM) and cybersecurity. Prior to ETQ he held senior-level product positions with Mimecast, Sophos, Sermos and other technology companies.

“I’m very proud of ETQ’s growth and accomplishments over the past 30 years and I couldn’t be more pleased with its decision to appoint John Taylor as my successor,” said Morgan Palmer, ETQ’s former CTO.  “ETQ Reliance is well positioned to lead the way in data-driven, connected quality for key industries, such as manufacturing and life sciences, and I’m confident that John, Jamie, Heera, and the rest of the executive team will lead Reliance to new heights when it comes to product innovation and autonomous quality.”

In addition to strengthening its executive team, ETQ has marked significant milestones this year, including the launch of a new version of award-winning, cloud-native QMS, Reliance NXG; new Quality Events and Lab Investigation applications; and participation in Hexagon Live, a major industry event where CEO Rob Gremley, Morgan Palmer, and ETQ customers Ben Bollenbacher from Kimberly-Clark and Sara Hanks from global rail manufacturer Wabtec, presented.

For more information, visit www.etq.com.

Junia Holdings Announces Taiwo as President, CEO

Junia Holdings Inc. announced that Tunji Taiwo has been named as president and chief executive officer.

Tunji has more than 30 years of senior management experience, including roles in digital transformation leadership, strategy development and operational excellence in a variety of chemicals, energy and industrial businesses. He is well known for leading organizations through change and delivering exceptional top line growth and profitability.

“I am very excited to be joining the Junia Holdings team and I look forward to working with the talented management team to innovate, grow our OASIS Inspection Systems brand, strengthen distributor partnerships and continue to improve our George Products business,” said Tunji Taiwo.

Tunji is the Founder & Managing Partner, with TRATUS GROUP and is currently serving as the Chief Digital Officer of JEM Advisors. He led TRATUS GROUP's digital transformation practice area which provides Fortune 500 companies strategic insights into the development and implementation of digital solutions for improved business performance.

Tunji earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute; MA and he holds Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Management from Washington University in St Louis.

For more information, visit www.JuniaHolding.com.