MT Magazine May/June 2026

FEATURE STORY

20

THE STATE OF AUTOMATION ISSUE

American Manufacturing Spirit To appreciate just how deeply automation and innovation are ingrained in American manufacturing, recall Season 1, Episode 1 of “Road Trippin’ with Steve” and our visit to the American Precision Museum. The museum’s home, the former Robbins & Lawrence Armory in Windsor, Vermont, is widely recognized as one of the birthplaces of machining, repeatable precision, and interchangeable-part manufacturing. Entrepreneurs took technologies developed for the mass production of colonial firearms and quickly adapted them for making consumer products, spurring the Industrial Revolution. To succeed in the digital era, we need to expand our vision. We’ve somehow narrowed our concept of automation to purely physical movement; yet, as Merriam-Webster defines it, automation is “the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically.” By focusing solely on the physical apparatuses and movements of a manufacturing workflow, we miss part of the opportunity automation offers. In other words, if we address a factory’s processes and systems – like data flow, decision-making, and anything else that creates a bottleneck – we can achieve greater manufacturing efficiency and growth to address the challenges outlined above. Here are some areas that can benefit from automation: • Concept and product design • Estimating and quoting • Manufacturing and process engineering • Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and manufacturing execution systems (MES) • Material procurement, scheduling, and inventory management • Machining, production, assembly, finishing • Inspection, quality control (QC), quality assurance (QA) • Packaging and shipping • Customer service (Caution! Bad chatbots drive customers away) • Part performance, maintenance, and life-cycle management • Continuous improvement • Closing the loop between all systems (model-based engineering) Approaching Automation at IMTS 2026 Searching for automation at IMTS starts by identifying your bottlenecks, problems, and goals and mapping them to the corresponding “apparatus, process, or system” in the 10 Technology Sectors at IMTS 2026. Next, rely on your traditional relationships and build new ones, because those who know your business will help you the most. To prime you for finding automation, here are just a few examples of automation successes visitors to IMTS have discovered and implemented – and what they may expect at this year’s show.

1. Automation The Automation Sector, launched at IMTS 2024, features more than 260 exhibitors, including global automation giants, software and digital manufacturing leaders, established providers, and innovators of all sizes. After a demonstration at IMTS 2024, Mindrum Precision acquired three machine-tending systems from Hurco/ ProCobots (IMTS booth #338319), featuring arms from Universal Robots (IMTS booth #236744). Machine uptime jumped to more than 160 hours per week (a 41% production boost) and lowered cost-per-part by up to 55%.

Hands-on demonstration of a ProCobots Profeeder Tray system in the Hurco booth at IMTS 2024.

2. Additive Manufacturing AM is inherently automated; how far you can automate it is up to your imagination. AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology’s Emerging Technology Center (ETC) (IMTS booth #236700) featured a convergent manufacturing platform that combines AM, 5-axis machining, robots, pallet pools, heat treatment, and more for a “done-in-one” system to create more robust supply chains, reduce energy consumption, and bring new efficiencies to tooling and mold production and metal part repair. At contract manufacturers such as Incodema3D, AM plays a central role in parts production, and automation further enhances throughput. EOS (IMTS booth #338450) Smart Monitoring software combines real-time process monitoring with automated process correction, enabling data-driven, closed-loop additive manufacturing.

The convergent manufacturing platform featured in AMT’s Emerging Technology Center (ETC) at IMTS 2024.