Q+A CENTER

What better way for VISION—the International Trade Fair for Machine Vision and Identification Technologies to celebrate its 20th anniversary from November 6-8 than by moving to the new Stuttgart Trade Centre?

Approximately 230 exhibitors and more than 5,000 attendees are expected to fill two halls of the massive center, which is right next to the Stuttgart Airport and the A8 Motorway that connects Munich and Frankfort. Those two halls alone have an exhibition area of 15,000 square meters (about 151,000 square feet).

Approximately two-thirds of the visitors will come from Germany. As this is written, exhibitors from more than 20 companies have registered. Some of those represented include Israel, Japan, Canada, Pakistan, Switzerland, Slovenia and the United States. About 60 percent of the exhibitors will be component manufacturers while the remainder specialize in complete machine vision systems.

The exhibits are aimed primarily at users from the electronics/electrical engineering industry, the automotive industry (DaimlerChrysler, Porsche and Audi have production plants in the Stuttgart area), the automotive component supply industry and the metalworking industry. Other industries of interest include plastics processing, aerospace, test measuring and control engineering, and information and communication technology. Non-industrial sectors of the economy also will find exhibits that apply to their work.

Last year almost 5,300 visitors attended. They came from 40 countries including, for the first time, Japan. About 30 members of the Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA) came to VISION to learn about the latest innovations and solutions in machine vision. They also exchanged information with the Automated Imaging Association (AIA), the American machine vision organization, and the Machine Vision Group of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA).