The death of the old mega-trade shows, which attracted thousands of exhibitors and even more thousands of attendees, may have been exaggerated. These week-long extravaganzas fell on hard times thanks to the double whammy of the Internet and economic hard times. But some of the venerable giants are stirring again.
For instance, SPS/IPC/Drives 2010—Electric Automation, Systems and Components, the yearly gathering of European process automation vendors, is reporting exhibitor space bookings matching its pre-economic blowup numbers in 2008—a whopping 90,000 square meters. Conference organizers report that approximately 1300 exhibitors will present products and services at this year’s event in Nuremberg, Germany, on Nov. 23-25.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Messe, organizers of Hannover Fair, the world’s largest industrial technology trade fair, is adding Industrial Automation North America to its international expansion plans. For the last few years, Hannover Fair has included the Interkama Exhibition, which attracted 150,000 visitors this year.
This new show will be held Sept. 12-15, 2012, alongside the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) at McCormick Place in Chicago. It will showcase products and solutions for production automation, complementing the IMTS focus on machine tools, metalworking and precision manufacturing. The move stems from a strategic alliance with AMT—The Association for Manufacturing Technology, which organizes of IMTS.
