IMTS 2012 - Emerging Technology Center

 

Since its debut at IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show in 2004, The Emerging Technology Center (ETC) has become known as the place that educates, informs and excites the manufacturing community about ground-breaking innovations in manufacturing technology. 

The ETC has become the “must visit” at IMTS and is renowned around the globe for showcasing state-of-the-art and disruptive technologies that will impact manufacturing in the years to come.

 

At IMTS 2012, four big features will be spotlighted in the ETC: 

 

In one of the most exciting and energizing displays ever featured in the ETC, Collaborative Manufacturing will feature a live, on-site car build by Local Motors (www.Local-Motors.com).  

Local Motors is an open-source automaker built on the principle of collaborative manufacturing in which a community of engineers, designers and car enthusiasts produce its vehicles. Industry experts predict that the open-source process will become a key part of manufacturing much as it has in the computer industry.

 

Additive Engineering will feature the latest advances in this exciting manufacturing concept.  These technologies can actually "compress time" because they dramatically reduce the time between design and production and eliminate some processes associated with traditional machining, such as tooling.  

 

Additive Engineering has been gaining attention as an avenue for “home-grown” manufacturing due to the advent of low cost, open-source 3-D printers – desktop-sized machines that can be used to build custom prototypes quickly and affordably, as well as open source CAD/CAM software. But this technology is not only for prototypes or the home market, it is becoming mainstream in the manufacturing community and examples range from aerospace and motorcycle parts to high-heeled shoes. 

 

MTConnect® (www.MTConnect.org) will return to the ETC in 2012.  First introduced at IMTS 2008, this free, ground-breaking interconnectivity and communications standard is changing the way manufacturing equipment and devices are monitored and their productivity analyzed.  

 

The standard has been gaining widespread use throughout the industry because it allows equipment and devices to speak a common language just as Javascript® catapulted the computer industry forward in the 1990s. As its adoption has grown, even more creative uses and benefits of MTConnect are being discovered frequently and shared among manufacturers worldwide. 

 

New to the ETC is MTInsight (https://www.MTInsight.org), the robust business intelligence tool custom-designed just for the manufacturing industry.  

 

With its fast-growing market of apps, MTInsight can deliver manufacturing business leaders data and insights never before possible.  Shop owners and plant managers can rely on MTInsight to be a virtual business intelligence department that provides everything from market data gleaned from benchmarking surveys, to sales leads and even an IMTS tool.  

 

ETC visitors will have the opportunity to use and experience the full range of MTInsight’s capabilities and learn more about how it can change the way a company does business. 

 

Be sure to make the ETC a part of your IMTS visit. You will find it just off the Grand Concourse at the entrance to the North Building of Chicago’s McCormick Place. For complete information, visit http://IMTS.com.