Manufacturing Technology Goes High Tech

CHICAGO - September 10, 2002 - /PRNewswire/ -- When the predecessor of the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS 2002) arrived in Chicago in 1947, it contained no computer screens, no CAD CAM, no computerized feedback. Located in an empty manufacturing plant on Cicero Avenue, the show spotlighted equipment that provided far more approximate measurements and far less sophisticated cutting tool materials than today.

Manufacturing technology has evolved and assimilated high technology, according to Charlie Carter, Vice President - Technology for AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology. IMTS fills all three buildings at McCormick Place through September 11 and will likely, once again, rank as the largest trade show in North America. Here in Chicago, the show is located near the heart of U.S. manufacturing. The technology at the show now is categorized into nine distinct pavilions to streamline show visits.

High tech applications can be seen across the show. High tech has impacted manufacturing technology much as it has the rest of our lives. "From the unreliable vacuum tubes of the '50s, computers became smaller, faster and more reliable," Carter says. "They began to be used to drive machines. Soon they accepted information from a distance, from across phone lines and over the Internet.

"Now machines not only receive information, they've become bi-directional and send information back," Carter says. "They do diagnostics, maintenance, and report on work status."

Computer controls have expanded the capabilities and efficiency of machines. "Before one lathe might turn a part," Carter says. "Now, one machine might also drill, mill and grind."

These machines have become far more precise too. "Before we talked in terms of accuracy to 0.002 of an inch. We're now 1/10 more precise, to 0. 0002 of an inch," Carter says. "In comparison, a human hair is about 0. 004 of an inch thick."

In addition, improved cutting tool materials allow machines to cut faster. "In the past, cutting tools would wear quickly as they got hot," Carter says. "We were limited by speed and material. Now advances such as carbide insets and tool coatings are changing this as the tools now can stand the heat."

IMTS - The International Manufacturing Technology Show is the largest marketplace for buyers of machine tools and related manufacturing technology in the Americas. The eight-day show, held in even-numbered years at Chicago's McCormick Place, draws tens of thousands of attendees and exhibitors from the U.S. and some 40 nations.

http://www.imtsnet.org 

 

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