Digitalisation and sustainability are the focus of industrial production

3D-printed tools: „on a par with the steam engine“.

The slogan of this year‘s EMO Hannover is „Innovative Manufacturing“. Because production technology is not an insider event, the organiser emphasises; industry is making an important contribution to solving the pressing problems of our time – with innovative business models, the networking of people, machines and the Internet of Things, and also the sustainability of production technology. These mega-topics are the focus of the trade fair from 18 to 23 September in Hannover.

More than 1,750 exhibitors from 42 countries are currently expected at EMO Hannover 2023. They will present the entire spectrum of production technology from 18 to 23 September. Key areas include machining centres and lathes, cutting tools and clamping devices, measuring equipment and control systems. „The breadth of the technical range is unparalleled at international trade fairs for production technology,“ says Dr. Markus Heering, Managing Director of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders‘ Association). It shows, he says, what the challenges in production are: higher efficiency, more flexibility, better quality, greater precision, the integration of AI, comprehensive networking in the factory and much more.

Preview in July provides first insights into the innovations

At the beginning of July, the VDW, in its capacity as EMO Hannover organiser, had invited visitors to Frankfurt am Main for the big preview. A good ten weeks before the major event, 31 exhibitors at the EMO Hannover will be offering a glimpse behind the scenes of their new products.

„The EMO Hannover Preview is taking place in Frankfurt am Main for the first time. The event has a long tradition and is the highlight and conclusion of our EMO Hannover World Tour. Since the beginning of the year, we have presented the EMO Hannover 2023 to the EMO community at around 60 events in 40 countries from Japan to Mexico and from Finland to South Africa“, said Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Managing Director at the VDW, welcoming the guests.

Markus Heering: „Under the slogan Innovate Manufacturing we have focused on three megatopics for this year‘s EMO Hannover:

• The Future of Business,

• The Future of Connectivity and

• The Future of Sustainability in Production.

They are intended to show that production technology is not an insider event for experts, but that industry is making its contribution to solving the pressing problems of our time. And this is what

AT A GLANCE:

Joint booths:

• Additive Manufacturing

• Connectivity

• Cobots

• Sustainability in Production

Special booths:

• Education

• umati Forums (Halls 9 and 16):

• Business opportunities in the Indian market

• New Digital Work – opportunity or disenfranchisement?

• umati

• Energy efficiency through digitalisation

• E-mobility

• Climate-neutral production

• Potential of circular business models

• Best practices (sustainability) www.emo-hannover.de (all data: status July 2023) the exhibitors show with their technical solutions here at the Preview and in September at the fair in an impressive variety and depth.“

Joint booths make trends visible

To make trend themes even more visible, EMO Hannover offers various joint booths: Additive Manufacturing, Connectivity, Cobots and Sustainability in Production. „In particular, information opportunities on new topics, such as the Sustainability in Production Area, are attracting great interest because exhibitors want to reposition themselves in this field,“ reports Wilfried Schäfer. The booth is also used by research institutes, which present their sustainability projects there.

As the world‘s leading trade fair for production technology, the EMO Hannover aims to address all important topics relating to the industrial value chain, to present state-of-the-art developments and to show scenarios for future development.

„In addition to the aforementioned topics, the focus will be on recruiting skilled workers at the special Education booth, among other things. The range of services offered by the Foundation for Young Mechanical Engineers has been extended beyond vocational training to include advanced training,“ Markus Heering explains. The special umati stand will show the current status of the connectivity initiative of the mechanical and plant engineering industry as the basis for efficient networking in the factory with a large live demonstration. Finally, the Startup Area promotes forward-looking cooperation with young companies, says Schäfer, describing two further examples.

Forums: space for lectures and discussions

The joint booths are complemented by two forums in Hall 9 and Hall 16 of the Hannover Exhibition Centre. They offer space for exhibitors‘ presentations on technology topics and for in-depth presentations of special topics that are discussed in the context of Future Insights. The programme currently includes a conference on business opportunities in the Indian market and two halfdays entitled „New Digital Work – Opportunity or Disenfranchisement?“ Both will delve into individual aspects of the Future of Business. Further half-days on the topics of umati and energy efficiency through digitalisation represent the Future of Connectivity. Finally, lectures and discussions on e-mobility, climate-neutral production, potentials of circular business models and best practices with regard to sustainability in production will pick up aspects of Sustainability in Production.

The lectures are closely linked to EMO Hannover digital, which has already been launched in the run-up to the fair. „Some of the lectures, conferences and thematic focal points will be streamed live or recorded and will be available on demand via our website www.emo-hannover.de, as will this preview, by the way. In this way, we want to give our exhibitors greater reach and not deprive visitors who may not be able to take advantage of all the offers of in-depth information and discussions“, explains Wilfried Schäfer from the VDW.

Digital chats and pre-event meetings

The above-mentioned forums and events not only offer in-depth information, but also promote exchange and discussion among participants. After all, as the world‘s leading trade fair for production technology, the EMO Hannover is better suited than any other trade fair to expanding the international network with manufacturing experts on the supplier and customer side, as well as from the scientific community.

EMO Hannover digital is already contributing to this with EMO sessions, digital chats and video meetings in the runup, even across geographical borders. In addition, all visitors will receive a matchmaking offer when they register online at www.emo-hannover.de in the ticket shop. There they can deposit their profile and interests and arrange appointments with like-minded people after the match.

„After a four-year break, EMO is returning to Hannover – with a new concept, a new look and a fresh impetus,“ concludes Wilfried Schäfer. „The mood is good. The preview has shown that. Our exhibitors and we as organisers are very much looking forward to seeing our customers and business partners again.“

umati back at the EMO Hannover

At EMO Hannover 2023, it can be said that umati is back – bigger and more comprehensive than ever before. The community of now more than 300 umati partners will be demonstrating live in Hannover how easily decentralised communication between machines, components and software works – going far beyond the machine tool.

umati (universal machine technology interface) is the global initiative for open communication interfaces for the machine industry and its customers. Machine builders, software manufacturers, component suppliers and users are joining together to form a strong community to promote the use of open, standardised interfaces based on OPC UA Companion Specifications. umati ensures their identical implementation, provides a platform for sharing experience, creates visibility in the market and demonstrates the added value in a practical way.

There are now over 300 umati partners involved in the umati community. More than half of these partners are currently companies or institutions outside of Germany, and 80 % of the partners are companies. This makes umati truly a global initiative by companies for companies, and the only standard that provides a live demonstration of concrete data exchange in a shared, globally available data ecosystem.

The central point of contact at EMO Hannover will be the umati exhibition stand in Hall 9, F24. Meet-the-experts sessions will be held several times a day. Interested parties can obtain first-hand information from the umati team and representatives of umati partner companies about the background, technology and benefits of open, standardised data interfaces for mechanical engineering. With the help of various exhibits, they can also directly appreciate how mature the technical solutions have in the meantime become. In the immediate vicinity are the booths of the OPC Foundation and the Machine Information Interoperability (MII) department of the VDMA. This represents the strong trio of OPC UA as the basic technology, the Global Production Language promoted by the VDMA in the form of OPC UA Companion Specifications for the numerous technologies of machine and plant construction, and umati for implementation and marketing.

However, the actual framework for the live demonstration will be created by the numerous exhibiting partner companies participating with their machines, components and software solutions. For EMO Hannover, these include not only manufacturers of machine tools but also suppliers of geometric measuring technology, additive manufacturing, robotics, image processing and, of course, software manufacturers. Via a QR code on each device that is connected to the umati demonstrator, all visitors can see for themselves how its data flows directly into the demonstrator application umati.app. There they are displayed in a uniform format with data from other devices and are thus available to the user. Software providers will also be able to integrate themselves into this data flow and demonstrate the benefits of their products directly and live, based on real data from the machine pool at EMO Hannover.

Dr. Alexander Broos Head of Research and Technology at the VDW Managing Director VDW Research Institute Tel.

+49 69 756081-17 a.broos@vdw.de www.emo-hannover.de