COMMENTARY
About a month from now, two established manufacturing-related events return from a long hiatus.
The first is IMTS (short for International Manufacturing Technology Show), which returns to Chicago’s McCormick Place after a four-year hiatus. IMTS is held every other year.
The second is the North American International Auto Show, also known as NAIAS, or Detroit Auto Show. It is, or was an annual event. Automakers would use the show to announce major vehicle announcements.
IMTS was last held in 2018. The show is scheduled every other year. The show was canceled in 2020 amid the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Four years later, the 2022 edition is scheduled for Sept. 12-17.
The Detroit Auto Show is more complicated.
At a show like IMTS, companies sell machine tools to customers. Auto shows provide a peek of future vehicles but sales orders aren’t being taken.
For many years, the Detroit Auto Show was held in January. But automakers, especially international automakers, became less enthusiastic about the Detroit venue. International automakers began to skip the Detroit event.
As a result, organizers of the Detroit Auto Show, opted to move the event to warmer months.
Unfortunately, the first year of this plan was 2020. The show would be relocated to September. The show was canceled.
Finally, this year, the media day of the Detroit show is scheduled for Sept. 14, right in the middle of IMTS. The public show is Sept. 17-25.
Of course, 2020 was the year the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The Detroit shows for both 2020 and 2021 would be canceled.
Next month’s IMTS will be much like previous editions of the event. Makers of machine tools will use the event as a chance to sell machine tools.
The September version of the Detroit Auto Show has been revamped. The event is intended to be even more oriented to consumers than earlier versions. Organizers hope that the better weather of September will support such efforts.
Regardless, both shows will go head-to-head, at least for a time.
The media that cover both are relatively limited. IMTS draws a more manufacturing-oriented crowd. The Detroit Auto Show draws a lot more of a marketing crowd. The Detroit Show has never been super-manufacturing focused. That will only increase this year.
Everybody must do what they have to do. Regardless, in 2022, two major shows are trying to seek out a new future.
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