Digital transformation and high-productivity solutions empowered the manufacturing community at IMTS 2024 – The International Manufacturing Technology Show. Manufacturing products were demonstrated in the context of integrated, automated, and connected turnkey solutions. Tech giants demonstrated software, AI, machine learning, and cloud-based applications, while manufacturing leaders and small innovators showcased solutions to improve workforce productivity and lower costs.

Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT, welcomed visitors to IMTS 2024, saying, “You’re the backbone of the economy in the United States, and IMTS is the place where the very best manufacturers connect with the very best technology.”

IMTS 2024 ran Sept. 9-14 in Chicago. It featured 1,609 exhibitors, a record of more than 40 million pounds of machinery, 1,226,523 square feet of show space, and 89,020 registrants, including 14,713 at the Smartforce Student Summit. The IMTS 2024 Conference attracted 53% more registrants. There were 170,000 organic impressions on posts from the IMTS official channels (#WEAREIMTS) and hundreds of thousands more impressions for all IMTS posts.

“IMTS 2024 will accelerate the adoption of advanced technology in ways visitors could not have imagined before the show,” said Peter R. Eelman, chief experience officer, AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, which owns and produces IMTS. “A sense of new possibilities generated an enthusiasm felt throughout the show.”

Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT, said: “Exhibitors fine-tuned their demonstrations, packaging their solutions in the way people want to consume it. Rather than featuring a product, exhibitors showed how they solved problems with systems. That’s the genius that excited visitors.”

“This has been our best IMTS for quality engagements,” said Tom Sheridan, president of Royal Products and incoming chair of the IMTS Show Committee. “The show was front-loaded with tremendous interest for our six new products; then, a number of people came back two or three times with different members of their team to try out products such as our new Royal MTC multi-tasking chuck.”

“IMTS 2024 exceeded expectations once again, despite some economic headwinds,” said Daniel Janka, president of Mazak and chairman of AMT’s board of directors. “Manufacturers of all sizes, representing all vertical industries, came to Chicago looking for new technology and manufacturing solutions enabling greater productivity, automation, and profitability. IMTS 2024 did not disappoint. Mazak’s focus for IMTS 2024 was to help manufacturers ‘learn more, do more, and make more.’ We certainly surpassed our goals for this great event.”

The Navy Wants You

In a first for IMTS, contract manufacturers learned how they could partner with the U.S. Navy and its submarine industrial base.

“The Navy is here [at IMTS] to support the recapitalization of American manufacturing,” said Rear Admiral Todd S. Weeks, program executive officer, strategic submarines, during an IMTS+ Main Stage keynote address on Sept. 11. “Building submarines is no longer the purview of big defense companies. The Navy needs more. We need small and medium-sized businesses that are innovative, that are committed, and that work hard. We need you because we need these submarines. This is what preserves our way of life and ensures that we can continue to enjoy peace.”

The admiral provided contacts for the U.S. Navy Submarine Industrial Base program for manufacturers that want to win defense business (see end of release for contact information).

“As part of the supply chain that supports the defense industrial base, IMTS is a critical show to help look at new technology and figure out how to do more with less,” said Mike Griffith, president of Major Tool & Machine, which has 450 employees supporting mission-critical developmental and production programs in aerospace, defense, power generation, oil and gas, nuclear power, and semiconductors.

“At IMTS, we looked at how we could take information that is already available in our existing processes and use automated data applications to improve efficiency,” added Kevin Bowling, chief operating officer of Major Tool. “We can do that in planning, we can do that in execution, and we can do it with equipment. Another benefit of integrating more technology into manufacturing is that it makes our industry more attractive to the upcoming workforce.”

AMT’s Eelman added, “IMTS has always been known as the show where you learn how to improve your business and make connections. With the involvement of BlueForge Alliance, the non-profit defense industrial base integrator, IMTS is now a show where contract manufacturers can come to win new business.”

A Hub of Innovation

BlueForge Alliance exhibited in AMT’s Emerging Technology Center, which also featured a convergent manufacturing platform from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

“The platform is a natural progression of additive manufacturing technology because it weaved together many essential processes in one platform, including subtractive, metrology, automation, and induction heating,” said Dr. Craig Blue, ORNL chief manufacturing officer. For the six days of IMTS, the platform alternated continuously between demonstrations relevant to the tool and die industry, wind tower gear repair, and forging and casting replacement.

“Agile companies – those that can move from product A today to product B tomorrow – are the future of manufacturing. Small lot sizes, specialization, and flexibility create new business opportunities,” said Blue.

The ETC also featured Apollo, a humanoid robot from Apptronik. Dave Lin, director of product marketing, said, “We are using AI to teach the robot how to perform tasks autonomously by leveraging a technique called imitation learning. In a sense, it’s almost like teaching a young child how to do something for the first time.”

Scott Volk, executive vice president and chief operating officer of MetalQuest Unlimited, said he was “geeking out” over Apollo: “I remember seeing a Fanuc bin-picking robot at IMTS 2002. I thought it was going to be the future, and we now have 19 robots. I have the same feeling about Apollo. We need these innovative automation solutions to continue to grow.”

Growing manufacturing also requires examining the communications and negotiations between OEMs and suppliers. To facilitate these conversations, the ETC engaged with William Sobel, co-founder of Metalogi and the chief architect of MTConnect. “If we’re going to rebuild manufacturing in the United States, we need to start by looking at our supply chain and figuring out how to implement a model-based engineering environment (MBEE) that provides a single source of truth and bi-directional flow of information.”

Data Drives Outcomes

Kathleen Mitford, corporate vice president, global industry marketing at Microsoft, opened the show with a keynote speech focusing on how “AI solutions are accelerating manufacturing outcomes across the sector from factory floors to boardrooms.” Mitford shared customer use cases of how tire manufacturer Bridgestone is optimizing production to find the root cause of operational slowdowns, how Harting uses generative AI to speed up the design of customized connectors, and how Textron automates support for aviation technicians, empowering their frontline workers.

“Manufacturing is going through a digital transformation using cloud services to help manufacturers innovate and drive business outcomes, either through improving efficiency within shop floor environments, within product design, or by creating new products and services,” said Steve Blackwell, worldwide technical leader manufacturing, AWS. At IMTS 2024, AWS announced additional edge partners for its AWS IoT SiteWise Edge service, from Belden and Litmus, which makes it easy to collect, organize, process, and monitor equipment data on-premises.

Praveen Rao, global head of manufacturing solutions at Google Cloud, delivered a main stage address. “Just as Google organizes the world’s information, Google Cloud helps manufacturers organize and understand their own data,” said Rao. “With Google Cloud, manufacturers can break down data silos and integrate across the enterprise systems to gain a 360-degree view of their operations and drive innovation with multimodal generative AI – all on secure and scalable cloud infrastructure.”

Your Shop’s Future

Mike Payne, president of Hill Manufacturing & Fabrication, said, “You have to come to IMTS because you need to know where your shop is going to be in a couple of years.”

Payne focuses on finding efficiencies with ERP systems such as Datanomix, a provider of production monitoring software that launched three solutions at IMTS. “Datanomix lets me make data-driven decisions that have an immediate impact on our company.”

“I got a lot out of IMTS this year,” said Chris Basgall, CEO of Catamount Machine Works, an AS9100-certified and ITAR-registered machine shop. “During the show, I met with Haas, High QA, and Verisurf Software representatives. It turns out we can upgrade an existing CMM to Verisurf, which will help us save more than $50,000. In addition, my team will be working with the three parties to integrate the systems with a new product, where the Haas CNC mills will capture inspection data, transfer it in real time to Verisurf and then to High QA to bring even more automation to our process. This will improve our quality, reduce labor, and drive profitability.”

Hexagon launched the Leica Absolute Tracker ATS800 at IMTS, which delivers accurate measurements of key features of large parts from a distance, as well as Metrology Mentor, an SaaS (software as a service) application designed to automate the creation of measurement programs.

“The new technology in the booth is unreal, and the new Leica Absolute Tracker ATS800 is going to change the metrology game,” said Christopher Ryan, a quality assurance specialist at Intralox.

Automation Is Everywhere

IMTS 2024 saw the launch of the new Automation Sector, accelerated by SPS – smart production solutions.

“You can’t sell a spindle anymore if you don’t automate it, and that’s why I see such an automation presence at IMTS 2024,” said Robby Komljenovic, operating board member, Acieta, who has been coming to IMTS since 1994. “We help companies use automation to load and unload parts. There is a shortage of workers, and our aim is to fill that space with automation.”

Every major machining exhibitor in the Metal Removal Sector demonstrated integrated systems featuring large pallet changers, bar feeders, load/unload robots, chip removal systems, and more.

“Labor issues are off the charts,” said Tim Caron, an area sales representative from EMEC Machine Tools in the Okuma exhibit. “Automation such as pallet pools allows you to have multiple jobs set up for longer unattended run time.”

Dave Sutton is vice president of operations at Parametric Machining, a job shop that focuses on high-mix, low-volume applications. He visited the Hanwha Robotics booth to learn more about automation. “We wanted to keep up on automation trends and robotics trends in case our workflow or our work types evolve into requiring automation,” he said. “We want to know what’s out there and the different uses of it.”

First-time exhibitor Lights Out Mfg collaborated with Universal Robots to demonstrate the first robot system that can load a different part every time and clamp it in the company’s RoboWrench X5 pneumatic CNC vise.

Dave Killian and Chase Ridge from Ramsey Industries checked out the industry’s first explosion-proof cobot from Fanuc.

“IMTS is an adventure for us to learn about all the new technologies,” said Killion. He and other visitors were looking for automation solutions that offer repeatability and greater control over variables, perhaps enabling more work to be performed in-house.

The IMTS community will be able to further explore automation in a manufacturing environment at SPS – smart production solutions Atlanta, held Sept. 16-18, 2025, at the Georgia World Congress Center.

“Creating the Automation Sector at IMTS and SPS – smart production solutions in Atlanta reflects our commitment to helping manufacturers enhance and accelerate their productivity and support the expanding U.S. manufacturing market,” said AMT’s Woods.

An Additive Manufacturing Destination

The technology in the Additive Manufacturing Sector, accelerated by Formnext and educational opportunities on the Formnext Stage made IMTS an additive manufacturing (AM) destination.

Jon Cackler, the owner of Variety Vault, drove from Ames, Iowa, specifically to check out the new Form 4 printer from Formlabs. “One of the major reasons we came to IMTS is that we have been looking to step into bigger SLA technologies and more capable machinery for medical applications,” said Cackler.

Jupiter Machine Tool, a strategic integration partner in Meltio’s booth, unveiled its high-precision five-axis vertical mill integrated with Meltio’s 3D metal wire head.

“The industry has been waiting for a precision five-axis hybrid machine that would allow you to print a few layers, mill, and repeat to create internal passageways or other complex geometries,” said visitor Ryan Jaimes.

Michael Atkinson, president of Monarch Machinery, explored the EOS M 400-4 system with the Grenzebach Dual Setup Station. His company focuses on rebuilding and remanufacturing the production of woodworking machinery.

“We encounter machines where you can’t get parts. We have to make them somehow, and the additive manufacturing process is very interesting,” he said. “I didn’t come here to buy a machine, but I am thinking ahead.”

“One of the reasons we love exhibiting at IMTS is because the community is really focused on manufacturing and real-world applications, and AM equipment is a great tool to have in your toolbox,” said Melanie Lang, co-founder and CEO of FormAlloy Technologies. The company’s DEDSmart technology provides greater manufacturing flexibility and efficiency to build, enhance, repair, and join.

Lang notes that the IMTS community also has an opportunity to learn more about additive-focused resources for high-quality manufacturing solutions at Formnext Chicago, held April 8-10, 2025, at McCormick Place.

Student Summit

A total of 14,731 students and educators visited the Smartforce Student Summit to experience hands-on technologies and gain valuable insights into the future of manufacturing.

“It’s clear that the next generation is excited and ready to step into these careers, and we are proud to have played a role in inspiring that interest,” said Catherine “Cat” Ross, director of community engagement at AMT.

Misty Richmond, a middle school science teacher at James Ward Elementary School in Chicago, brought six students to participate in the FIRST Lego League Challenge at the Student Summit.

“I’m all about the fun experiences for students – anything that’s going to get them excited,” said Richmond, a first-time attendee. “They were so eager to get here that they arrived at school this morning even earlier than I did. There are several exhibitors here we can talk with to help us with our annual innovation project, and the hardest thing is finding an expert in the field. We’re very excited because one of the exhibitors builds submarine parts, and that’s one of the problems they’re looking to solve. The team is gathering information and will be reporting on what they saw to the rest of the team at school.”

Finding Success

“This has been a very productive week for us, including Friday and Saturday, because companies sent their decision-makers,” says Kevin Wigington, general manager for Select Production Technologies and outgoing chair of the IMTS Show Committee. “We connected with companies that were not on our radar. We had numerous occasions where existing customers looked at equipment for a new project, such as our Fausto Marinello FM 23 twin-spindle horizontal machining center.”

Contract manufacturer MetalQuest Unlimited sent 16 people to the show and purchased an Okuma MA-4000H machining center, which was launched at IMTS.

“The best provider is somebody that can help answer questions that we don’t know exist, and this machine is a good example,” said MetalQuest president Scott Harms. “With more rigidity, more spindle power, and the new OSP-P500 CNC control, it will improve our performance and keep us on the leading edge of technology.”

For continued reporting, photography, and video from IMTS 2024, visit the IMTS Media Center, IMTS+ on IMTS.com – the digital twin of IMTS for experiencing manufacturing content – and engage with IMTS on our social media sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube). #WEAREIMTS

Mark your calendar for IMTS 2026, Sept. 14-19, 2026, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Contacts for the U.S. Navy SIB Program for manufacturers:

Advanced Manufacturing: jesse.s.geisbert.civ@us.navy.mil
Supply Chain: teamsubsuppliers@us.navy.mil
Workforce: erica.h.logan@us.navy.mil

About IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show

IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show is where the creators, builders, sellers, and drivers of manufacturing technology come to connect and be inspired. Attendees discover advanced manufacturing solutions that include innovations in CNC machining, automation, robotics, additive, software, inspection, and transformative digital technologies that drive our future forward. Powered by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, IMTS is the largest manufacturing technology show and marketplace in the Western Hemisphere. With more than 1.2 million square feet of exhibit space, the show attracts visitors from more than 110 countries. IMTS 2024 had 89,020 registrants, featured 1,609 exhibiting companies, and included a Student Summit that attracted 14,713 visitors. Be the change at IMTS 2026, Sept.14-29, 2026. Inspiring the Extraordinary. IMTS.com.

About AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology

AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology represents U.S.-based providers of manufacturing technology – the advanced machinery, devices, and digital equipment that U.S. manufacturing relies on to be productive, innovative, and competitive. Located in McLean, Virginia, near the nation’s capital, AMT acts as the industry’s voice to speed the pace of innovation, increase global competitiveness, and develop manufacturing’s advanced workforce of tomorrow. With extensive expertise in industry data and intelligence, as well as a full complement of international business operations, AMT offers its members an unparalleled level of support. AMT also produces IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show, the premier manufacturing technology event in North America. AMTonline.org.