Automatica 2012 will take place slightly earlier than usual this year at the New Munich Trade Fair from Tuesday 22 May until Friday 25 May. This successful and growing industrial trade show will see the number of halls it occupies increasing from four to five
Automatica has become established as the leading innovation platform of the automation industry after only four events and is the world’s largest robotics fair. The number of current registrations is higher than the figures for the previous fair, including an increase of more than 15 per cent from foreign countries.
Automatica is one of the most important information forums for manufacturing companies and the only event that provides all topics of robotics, assembly and handling as well as industrial machine vision under one roof.
Supporting programme
The supporting programme of Automatica 2012 reflects the variety of the trade fair. For example, there will be an ‘Innovation Platform Service Robotics’ in tried and tested cooperation with the Fraunhofer IPA. At a joint stand, leading research institutes such as the Fraunhofer IPA and the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) will present the latest developments in service robotics in collaboration with leading robot manufacturers.
Automatica will be supported by the largest robotics conference in Germany. ROBOTIK 2012 (7th German Conference on Robotics) will take place in the International Congress Centre (ICM) on the grounds of the New Munich Trade Fair Centre on 21 and 22 May 2012. ROBOTIK takes place every two years, and its industry adviser and supporter is the German Society for Robotics (DGR). Speakers from research, science and industry present their results from the areas of industry and service robotics. The talks cover the areas of technological challenges, new solutions and automation potential.
Blue Competence
The initiative ‘Green Automation’ generated especially a lot of interest at the last event, which Automatica initiated together with VDMA Robotics + Automation and the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA). Because the topics of sustainability and energy efficiency are important throughout the complete industry in the meantime, ‘Green Automation’ has advanced to the new VDMA sustainability initiative ‘Blue Competence’, which combines all aspects of dedication to sustainable and resource-saving production as well as environmentally-friendly products of the complete mechanical and plant engineering sector. ‘Blue Competence’ will be among the main topics at Automatica 2012, so that numerous trade fair visitors can expect numerous Blue Competence highlights from exhibitors and in the supporting program.
Automated composite production
A special exhibition of the automated production of fibre-reinforced components will take place at Automatica 2012. Numerous advantages will be shown in examples, e.g., reduction of emissions and the reduction of operation and maintenance costs.
Fibre-reinforced composites are considered the material of the future. They enable industry-overlapping applications thanks to their properties. For example, they reduce weight considerably, have a high degree of stability and rigidity, outstanding fatigue performance, no corrosion and a long lifespan. Composites are also a prerequisite for the megatrend electromobility. In addition, their use ensures energy-saving movement of loads.
The special exhibition will deal with a growth trend. It wants to provide examples of economic lightweight construction solutions thanks to automated production of components as a key technology of the future. According to the estimates of experts, the turnover volume of fibre-reinforced composites will double to 14 billion euros by the year 2015. Starting from 2013, the German automobile industry is planning to enter the market with electric vehicles using composite series-produced parts. Additional growth sectors are wind energy, mechanical engineering, plant engineering and aviation. The complete value-added chain of automation of composite automation will be presented at Automatica.
Battery manufacturing
A second special exhibition focusing on battery manufacturing will also take place at Automatica. It is being held by Messe München in close collaboration with the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), special Productronic Division, and the Rhineland-Westphalia Technical University (RWTH) Aachen.
The special exhibition will present the workflow of battery manufacturing. Systems, virtual factory, posters and exhibits will explain the cost model of the production process. Live demonstrations of individual production steps, interactive 3-D models of the production structure and organisation as well as virtual factory tours will illustrate the production.
Parallel event – Ceramitec 2012
Ceramitec 2012, International Trade Fair for machinery, equipment, plant, processes and raw materials for ceramics and powder metallurgy will also take place on the grounds of the New Munich Trade Fair Centre at the same time, but will use the east entrance. Both these trade fairs were already held successfully together in 2006.
More information
Visit the exhibition website for more details at www.automatica-munich.com
