Following a four-year hiatus, EMO will take place in Hannover, Germany, Sept. 18-23. Almost 1,900 organizations, mostly from Europe, already are signed up to exhibit at the trade fair for the metalworking industry.
“The different details and aspects of Industry 4.0 have been discussed by different players along the value chain,” said Dr. Wilfried Schafer, head of VDW German Machine Tool Builders Association in Frankfurt, Germany. Schafer and Dave Koepp, president and CEO of All World Machinery in Roscoe, Illinois, spoke at a press conference in March.
EMO 2013 had 143,000 visitors, 41% of them coming from outside of Germany. More than three-quarters of 2013 attendees were from Europe, and 17% were from Asia. “Eighty percent of visitors were directly involved in purchasing decisions,” said Schafer. “More than 1,300 exhibitors were from top supplier countries to the United States; and 2,200 visitors at EMO 2013 were from the Americas, with 1,100 from the United States.”
EMO 2017’s theme is connecting systems for intelligent production. “It’s not all about connectivity,” cautioned Schafer. “At the end of the day, you need a part. You’ll be able to see a lot of new solutions and innovations at the show. The Googles, IBMs and HPs of the world are now entering the industrial space because of IoT. They’re offering IT solutions in the production surroundings. We already see numerous applications in predictive maintenance—big and useful data, condition monitoring, predictive maintenance and augmented reality. It’s about increasing productivity and reducing downtime.”
Global machine-tool consumption rises more steeply after an EMO show, said Schafer. “Since 2015, we are at a very high level with 69.5 billion euros of consumption,” he said. “For U.S. machine-tool imports, Japan is the largest, and Germany is second largest. For U.S. machine-tool exports, Mexico is largest, and China is second, followed by Canada, Belgium, Japan and Germany.”
The term “Industry 4.0” was coined at Hannover Messe in 2011, and this year at EMO, the connected environment is a key part, explained Larry Turner, CEO of Hannover Fairs USA. “Trends and new technologies are typically unveiled in Hannover and typically aren’t seen in the United States until two years later,” he said.
“As a company that’s visited the EMO show, I can say the scale is huge,” said Koepp, whose company is a member of Daikin Group, which holds about 300 companies. All World Machinery has been around for 24 years and grown into a $30 million/year company. “I saw the need for parts and service for German and Japanese products that were imported,” he said. “We’ve grown steadily, with headquarters in Illinois and offices in Ohio, Georgia, Texas, Germany and Mexico. We employ approximately 100 people.”
All World Machinery focuses on oil hydraulics. “We’re the North American rep for Daikin, but we don’t just do Daikin. We have strong partnerships in mechanical and pneumatics and do custom machine builds and PLC upgrades. Growing our business has been a perfect fit for a show such as EMO.”
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The scope of products at EMO is impressive, said Koepp. “You go to a booth and you talk with an engineer or CEO, and they might pull in someone from another booth, and they’re creating a solution for you. It’s not where you visit a booth and they hand out a brochure,” he explained.
Mike Bacidore is the editor in chief for Control Design magazine. He is an award-winning columnist, earning a Gold Regional Award and a Silver National Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. Email him at [email protected].