IMTS 2012 starts on Monday, and invitations are still rolling in to meet with various companies exhibiting at McCormick Place in Chicago. The editors are setting up appointments with automation vendors, to be sure. We want to make sure we keep up with the latest technology and find out what kinds of industry trends and requirements they're working to address. But, to be honest, the meetings I and I assume the other editors are most looking forward to are those with the machine builders.
As you may have noticed, Control Design’s articles favor the machine builders and system integrators over the automation suppliers. On the supply side, we give advertisers and non-advertisers alike the opportunity to tell us about their latest products in our Product Roundup and Product Showcase sections; to contribute information to staff-written articles; and to offer their insights for the monthly Real Answers column. But we don’t let them byline feature articles or columns, and we don’t give them as much visibility in our own articles.
That’s because we understand that who you’d most like to hear from are your peers. You all have different experiences to share. While one machine builder might have suffered a production loss and lived to tell the tale of how they overcame it, another might have come across a more effective way to control motion. We’re here to help facilitate the telling of your stories—whether that means interviewing you and writing something here, or just poking you with a stick to make you do our work for us.
If you’re a machine builder or system integrator with a story you’d like to share, let us know. If you’re exhibiting this coming week at IMTS, drop me a line at [email protected], and let’s see if we can find a time to meet up. I’d love to see what you’re displaying in your booth, and hear about what makes it special. If you won’t be at IMTS, drop me a line anyway.
Aaron Hand is the managing editor for Control Design and for Industrial Networking. Email him at [email protected] or check out his Google+ profile.
