National Manufacturing Week Lite
The talk of the show Monday was how much it had shrunk. No wonder the owners are moving it to a smaller venue next year--Rosemont Convention Center out in the Chicago suburbs. No more company sponsored events downtown, I guess. Once three pretty major shows (Design, Plant and Automation) with an added software show, NMW filled two halls. Now everything fits comfortably in the McCormick South Hall with lots of room to spare.
As far as automation presence, visitors are greeted by a sizable presence of Automationdirect (http://www.automationdirect.com) with their irresistable carmel popcorn. This is a significant event, in that the company has shunned trade shows. National Instruments (http://www.ni.com) and Wago (http://www.wago.com) have sizable exhibits, as well, while the show organizers stuck Advantech (http://www.advantech.com) in the back.
The typical manufacturing software vendors are gathered under the umbrella of Microsot's large booth, but Oracle and SAP have significant presences. Another newbie would be AVG (http://www.avg.net), which is lauching a Web-based business built on its operator interface products.
I had breakfast with Greg and Kimberly of Oriental Motors and learned that they are targeting the packaging machinery market with their stepper motor/drive line.
Meanwhile, I devoted almost an hour to Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com). That company has had a relatively low profile with the press over the past couple of years. It preferred to put the spotlight on partners with significant announcements. I can think of ABB (http://www.abb.com) and OSIsoft (http://www.osisoft.com) as a couple of examples recently. Now, however, the Manufacturing team has "realized" that customers have been asking for integration of the various manufacturing solutions with other Microsoft offerings, such as Office. So Microsoft is back telling its own story, while also promoting all its partners. The Microsoft story? It provides a platform upon which developers from product development to operations to supply chain management can build. Then it adds Visio, Word, Excel, SQL server, Sharepoint, etc. into the mix.
I'd have to say that my meeting with Oracle (http://www.oracle.com) was less than enlightening. While another ERP supplier, Infor (http://www.infor.com) touted its focus on manufacturing. It is also quietly buying up smaller players in an attempt to build some size and hopefully critical mass.
Siemens Energy and Automation (http://www.sea.siemens.com) was not exhibiting at the trade show, but it took advantage of the fact that all the industry editors were in town to shuttle us off downtown to look at its new line of variable frequency drives and motion. An integrated family, its the first drives presentation I've heard in a long time. I used to sell those things (for someone else) and I enjoy keeping up with advances. This was an important enough announcement that SEA president Aubert Martin was in town and made half of the presentation. I think that it is a good looking drive family.
6:24:35 AM 
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