Q+A CENTER

Another year has passed and it’s almost time for VISION 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany. Slated for Nov. 3-5, it again will be in the New Trade Fair Center, where exhibitors will greet attendees from around the world in the 80,500-square-foot hall. Despite the current economic crisis, VISION officials expect to match the 292 exhibitors (161 from Germany) and 6,236 visitors (4,490 from Germany) who attended last year’s show.

Exhibitors from 19 countries have already registered for the trade fair. They come primarily from Europe, but also from Switzerland, Israel, the United States, Canada, Japan and China.

VISION has two main exhibition areas: machine vision components (70 per cent of all exhibitors) and machine vision systems (44 per cent of exhibitors). Some exhibitors cover both areas. A third of the exhibitors present practical application examples on their stand. The range of exhibits includes cameras, frame grabbers, optics and lighting solutions, processors, software tools, identification systems and services.

In particular, there will be numerous innovations in the area of 3D machine vision. This is important, for example, in controlling sorting robots or performing 3D analyses that enable highly precise inter-camera synchronizations such as those required for automotive crash tests that are filmed simultaneously from different angles with different cameras. There also are some innovations in illumination technology, which has a major influence on the efficiency of a machine vision system.

The visitor target groups for VISION include managing directors, senior executives, production planners, technical managers, foremen and all production workers from the main user industries, such as mechanical engineering, automotive and electrical engineering. However, VISION also is aimed at users from countless other industries, including agricultural, biotechnology, chemical, printing, the precision mechanics and optical industries, glass manufacturing, the rubber/plastics/foil industries, wood processing, aerospace, medicine, microscopy, food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, security technology and biometrics, telecommunications, the textile and clothing, and transport and logistics. Some of the users of these products are based in the Stuttgart region, including Audi, Bosch, Daimler AG, and Porsche.