If there is a race to the future, manufacturing is winning. Throughout IMTS 2024, visitors found new groundbreaking machines, process improvements, software innovations, automation solutions, and advancements in additive manufacturing and robotics, along with lots of peers eager to talk technology. That focus on the future was also featured on the IMTS+ Main Stage.
From industry icons to next-generation innovators, presenters on the IMTS+ Main Stage shared a common conviction that the future of the manufacturing industry is limited only by imagination – and there is no shortage of that. Featured speakers also emphasized how technology is helping to democratize manufacturing by creating more opportunities for more trailblazers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries to compete and win.
Here are a few highlights from four industry leaders who appeared on the IMTS+ Main Stage.
A Global Future
We are now entering an era where we'll see creators anywhere designing products being able to transmit those designs to a manufacturer. At Siemens, we believe that the future of manufacturing is global and open to all. We're looking for small and medium enterprises who want to be part of that network to be able to manufacture what's needed closer to the point of demand using technologies like the digital twin.
– Barbara Humpton, President and CEO, Siemens USA
Watch this session at IMTS.com/Democratization.
Designing the Future
We want to give the power back to the designers, the really talented ones, that people don’t know about. We want to help bring their pieces to fruition using 3D printing technology.
– Alex Tholl, CEO and Co-founder, DIVE Design
Watch this session at IMTS.com/IconicBrands.
The Workforce of the Future
Companies tell me they wish that engineers had hands-on skills, and they wish that technicians had analytical skills. There is a gap between the technicians and the engineers. I am proposing a new type of workforce to help move forward advanced manufacturing, and I am calling it the technologist – a technician-engineer hybrid who is on the shop floor to integrate advanced technologies.
– Dr. John Liu, Director and Principal Investigator, MIT Learning Engineering and Practice Group
Watch this session at IMTS.com/Technologist.
Partnering for the Future
The MDF (Manufacturing Demonstration Facility) at ORNL is really embracing industry partnerships. We have 280 different partnerships to date. Industry is not only giving us problems to solve, but they are also a part of the solution. We work at the speed of industry and are focused on being fast and agile with our products and solutions.
– Ryan Dehoff, Director, Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Watch this session at IMTS.com/Convergent.
Watch the presentations, panels, and live shows featured on the IMTS+ Main Stage at IMTS 2024 at IMTS.com/MainStage. For more must-read manufacturing content from IMTS 2024, visit IMTS.com/Read.
To read the rest of the Industry Outlook Issue of MT Magazine, click here.
