Featured Image

Digital Manufacturing. Implemented.

Apr 04, 2022

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.

PicturePicture
Author
Peter R. Eelman
Chief Experience Officer
Recent technology News
Peter Eelman, the chief experience officer of AMT, is retiring after almost 30 years. Peter has, quite literally, spent the entirety of his 45-year career working on IMTS.
With more than 1 million square feet of exhibit space already booked, IMTS is poised once again to be the strongest manufacturing marketplace in the Western Hemisphere. IMTS 2026 opens Sept. 14-19, 2026. View the floor plan and get exciting updates now!
Currently spanning more than 1 million square feet, the IMTS 2026 floor plan reflects major changes driven by the technologies shaping the future of our industry.
Manufacturing is the process of transforming raw materials into something with value. When you add a fervor for art, a keenness for progress, or a desire to help, you get a passion project.
It is the quintessential event that brings our industry together – whether it’s the moment they walk into the Grand Concourse, captivated by the energy of the vibrant crowd, or the enduring relationships they build.
Similar News
undefined
Intelligence
By AMT | Jul 09, 2025

Modern manufacturing on the race track; Tariff impacts on manufacturing technology; The real speed of machines; DED evolves; And more.

6 min
undefined
Technology
By Stephen LaMarca | Jun 27, 2025

Less carbon, more boom. Smells like coffee; prints like plastic. Steelin' time. solid-state batteries that may actually ship. Carbohydrate fiber.

6 min
undefined
Technology
By Stephen LaMarca | Jun 20, 2025

Atoms for development. Birdie bots and smash hits. Metal moves. Open source. Double edged. Pantogroph poetry.

6 min