Canadian Industrial Machinery

MANUFACTURING NEWS
What’s Making Headlines

Some big names in the machine tool industry are working together to create a new type of event designed to revitalize manufacturing.

Scheduled for Sept. 12-14, 2011, in Las Vegas, the Interactive Manufacturing Experience (imX) will combine the best features of a corporate open house, customer training seminars, client appreciation programs, and new-product launch events.

The seeds of imX were planted more than two years ago, when CEOs from machine tool manufacturers began looking for new ways to engage and educate their customers. These CEOs asked the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association (AMTDA) and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) to help create a new kind of event that would bring manufacturers together with decision-making buyers in meaningful and informative ways that would help customers find the best solutions for their manufacturing needs.

Since then top executives from
DMG Mori Seiki, Doosan, FANUC
CNC America, MAG, Makino, Meth-
ods Machine Tools, Okuma America,
and Sandvik Coromant have been
meeting with the two associations,
conducting extensive research into al-
ternative ideas and working together to
create a new business model for indus-
try events.
The result is imX, a more intimate,
experiential, and efficient event. Com-
peting suppliers with similar product
lines will be located near each other,
so that attendees can easily compare
all the options available to meet their
needs. Product and technology demos,
learning labs, and other interactive ac-
tivities will occur on the show floor
within the Experience areas, facilitat-
ing productive, peer-to-peer knowl-
edge exchange and networking.

“Traditional tradeshows, where booth locations are chosen by the exhibiting company, require the buyer to focus on one product or one manufacturer at a time, delivering information in a piecemeal format. The attendee has to wander from one end of the show to the other to determine which products would work into a solution for his needs,” said Okuma America President and COO Larry Schwartz. “We envision that imX, which will

New Machine Tool Show Launches
Wenzel Names New GM Andy Woodward

Andy Woodward has been named general manager of North American operations for Wenzel/Xspect Solutions, Wixom, Mich.

Woodward comes to the position from the company’s U.K. office, where he was the managing director for the past eight years. For 15 years before that time he worked for Hexagon Metrology Inc. in various engineering and general management positions.

“I intend to continue to build on the
solid business model for metrology
equipment and services that Xspect
Solutions has created over the past six
years,” said Woodward. “By combin-
ing Xspect’s broad customer base and
marketing network with Wenzel’s Gear
Tec gear measuring machine tech-
nology and expanding 3-D scanning
products, we should be able to make
additional market penetration in relat-
ed product and industry areas here in
North America.”
He holds a mechanical engineering
degree from Birmingham University.

group OEMs and their partners, will
allow decision-makers to see their op-
tions in one area, make price and value
comparisons, and, ultimately, make
better decisions.”
The emphasis will be on collabora-
tion, not competition, and the show
will have a strong focus on educa-
tion. Learning labs—located right
on the show floor—have been de-
signed to allow attendees to increase
their knowledge through practical,
hands-on demonstrations; see new
and existing manufacturing technolo-
gies; and hear case studies presented
by suppliers and customers who have
already applied those manufacturing
technologies.

“I expect imX to be an industry-changing event,” said Don Lane, CEO, Makino. “It is a fresh, new approach, attractive to the host companies as well as customers. We will offer concentrated exposure to breakthrough technology development, help buyers find the business services they need, and assist them in setting up and conducting high-level private meetings.”