As manufacturers wrestle with supply chain and workforce challenges, they are increasingly searching for and adopting digital manufacturing practices and products, many of which are now embedded within our industry’s traditional machines that use automation and robotics, additive manufacturing, augmented and virtual reality, digital twin, generative design, and more.
IMTS 2022 will be replete with multi-tasking CNC and hybrid machines; CAD-CAM, modeling, and simulation software; cybersecurity protocols; metrology systems; and other digitally enabled tools throughout all nine pavilions and in the AMT Emerging Technology Center (ETC). Following is just an inkling of what you’ll see.
Cybersecurity
The prioritization of protecting networks, machines, and programs from digital attacks is at an all-time high. More companies providing software for digital manufacturing are implementing safeguards and guidelines to ensure data is safe and behind firewalls. A visit to the CAD-CAM/Controls Pavilion and the Quality Assurance Pavilion, both in the East Building, will help you enhance your cybersecurity defense and prepare for the U.S. Department of Defense Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) implementation.
Automation and Robotics
Augmenting CNC machines with digitally connected automation and robotics systems enables a new generation of multi-tasking machines, which will be on full display in the Metal Removal Pavilion in the South Building. These magnificent machines combine cutting with turning, milling, drilling, tapping, deep-hole boring, hobbing, skiving, broaching, grinding, and surface preparation. Hybrid multi-tasking machines add laser hybrid, friction stir welding, additive, and hot wire EDM. By performing all work in a single clamping, these machines cut setup time, eliminate the risk of losing zero when parts move between workstations, and free operators to perform other tasks.
This multi-tasking technology especially appeals to job shops that would previously move parts between a lathe, vertical mill, and other machines to produce a final part profile. Even better, exhibitors are launching a new generation of more affordable machines with new controls and conversational programming. They are making a concentrated effort to remove barriers to technology adoption.
Additive Manufacturing
The pace at which additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have accelerated to improve performance, lower lifecycle costs, and help reshore production is contributing to an increased use of AM in North America. More than 70 companies will be displaying new additive systems and software in the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion in the West Building of McCormick Place. And it is not just small parts that are gaining traction in AM. Large print beds continue to expand and deliver deposition precision and repeatability for the toughest standards, thanks to in-situ metrology and closed-loop controls.
The Future – Now!
IMTS 2022 will again host AMT’s ETC, which will present the absolute latest advancements on the horizon. You’ll see the 3D printing, automation and robotics, and 5-axis and hybrid machining techniques and processes that manufacturers are presently using to create parts for outer space missions for long-term presence on the moon and deep space exploration. You can also expect to see not only the technology used to make the parts but also the rocket parts themselves.
Additionally, the film “What’s Now, What’s New, What’s Next” will focus on the industry’s challenges and opportunities to present a perspective of manufacturing’s future from key forward-thinking technologists who examine major shifts in markets, technology, materials, agile manufacturing, and revolutionary design strategies.
See it all at IMTS 2022, Sept. 12-17, 2022, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Get a head start and discover more at IMTS.com and register at IMTS.com/Register.
