Automation Fairs promise good things for industrial OEMs

08/23/2004

ISA Expo 2004 in Houston and Automation Fair in Orlando Highlight October Show Schedule

Next in line for the fall line of automation and controls shows is ISA’s Expo 2004 Automation + Control Conference, Training and Exhibition October 5-7 at the Reliant Center in Houston.
Right behind it is Rockwell Automation’s 13th annual Automation Fair October 27-28 in Orlando, Fla.

While ISA’s premier event continues to show signs that its popularity is fading among major control and automation suppliers, its organizers tout it as the biggest exhibition of instrumentation, process and machine control equipment in North America. This year’s show is scheduled to host some 500 exhibitors packed into about 300 booths, and ISA says it expects to attract attendees from more than 70 countries.

Among those choosing not to spend tight marketing dollars at the show this year are leading companies such as Emerson Process Management, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric and ABB.

Other prominent players, including Honeywell, Siemens and Invensys, have trimmed back their presence, booking booths hundreds of square feet smaller than the giant exhibits they once fielded, dominating ISA shows in years past.

This year, the biggest booths will be occupied by the likes of the Fieldbus Foundation, Hoffman, Profibus, HART Communications Foundation, Microsoft, Magnetrol, Yokogawa, Wika and Krohne. Many of the pavilion-type booths, such as Microsoft’s, host exhibits from second- and third-tier suppliers—companies that otherwise could not afford to exhibit at the show. You might just want to check these companies out—they typically use ISA’s Expo as a vehicle to unveil major breakthroughs in software, hardware and sensing technologies well before the majors do.

Exhibitors aside, Expo 2004 promises machine and production systems builders a full conference schedule with more than 100 sessions lead by industry experts sharing their knowledge of emerging industry trends as well as their experience applying the latest technologies in the real world. Sessions are comprised of original technical presentations, paper/panel discussions, and tutorials based upon applications, concepts, and techniques used today in the manufacturing process and distribution industries.

Keynoters will speak daily on diverse topics ranging from process control’s role in improving business results, automation’s key role in global productivity and the latest in biometric security technologies. Other show highlights include the Emerging Technologies Conference, Industrial Network & Systems Security Symposium, Industrial Networking & Communications Symposium, and Productivity & Asset Management Symposium.

For complete show information and registration visit: www.isa.org/isaexpo2004.

Wondering what Rockwell Automation has been doing with its marketing money? It’s been spending a good chunk of it on its own annual Automation Fair. More than 100 exhibitors—Rockwell Automation product and service departments, Encompass Partners and others—will demonstrate their wares.

Forty-nine different technical sessions will be offered during the show covering everything from control design, machine safety, industrial networking and security. Special industry tracks for the automotive, food and beverage, life sciences, packaging and material handling and water/wastewater verticals will also be featured. Several sessions, including the following, are likely to appeal to machine and production system builders:

“Power Quality: Complete Facility Solutions Utilizing UPS Products and System Management Through RSView”
“Intelligent Machines on the Plant Floor”
“DeviceLogix–the Intelligent Pneumatic Manifold”
“Reducing Time to Market Through Collaborative Design Techniques”
“The Basics of Process Weighing”
“Lean Design for OEMs”
“Minimizing Your Engineered Systems Installation Risk”
“Fault-Tolerant Solutions”
“Ten Commandments: Applying Ethernet for Control”

The popular hands-on labs return as well. The labs, 20 in all, will cover technology from basic drive programming to plant network management software, and offer attendees the opportunity to “try-before-you-buy.” Registration is on a first-come-first-serve basis so sign up early.

Running concurrently with the show are three Business Forums: “Helping You Do Business in the Asia-Pacific Region,” the Industrial and the Commercial Contractors Forum and the Entertainment Industry Forum.