The first edition of today's SPS took place in Sindelfingen in 1990. Back then, still under the name SPS Drives, it attracted 63 exhibitors and 3,420 visitors. The second edition of the trade fair was held under the name SPS IPC Drives. This year, 29 years later for the 30th edition of the automation industry get-together, around 1,650 exhibitors from 45 countries will meet on an area of around 136,000 m² for the exhibition. Those responsible at Mesago Messe Frankfurt are expecting around 67,000 trade visitors from November 26 to 28.

Automation remains a growth market

At the pre-press conference, Mesago Managing Director Martin Roschkowski, Sylke Schulz-Metzner, Vice President SPS at Mesago, and Chairman of the Exhibitor Advisory Board Christian Wolf, Managing Director of Turck, gave an outlook on SPS and an assessment of the economic situation. Wolf is optimistic about the future despite the slowdown in the markets.

After the past few years of very good growth rates, he sees the slowdown more as an opportunity for companies to rethink their processes. For example, the digital transformation in companies could be driven forward and automation systems revised. With regard to the Industry 4.0 hype, Wolf has a clear opinion: "I can solve a lot technically, but not everything makes economic sense."

In his opinion, however, the economic situation is not a crisis like 2008 or 2009, but rather a prolonged slowdown in economic growth. He expects little or no growth in the next one to two years. From a technological and economic perspective, he continues to see automation as a growth market, albeit not necessarily in the area of hardware components, but rather in new technologies. He sees artificial intelligence and software as a great opportunity for automation technology. However, he warns that a business model still needs to be developed. Under no circumstances should software be seen as a free add-on to hardware, because software development is expensive. On the whole, Wolf predicts a "brilliant future" for automation technology.

The future of automation technology

And the SPS in Nuremberg gives an impression of this future. Visitors come here when they have a specific problem in their company and are looking for a solution. As an information platform for application industries, SPS covers the entire spectrum of automation technology - from control technology, electrical drive technology, interface technology, HMI, sensor technology, software and IT for production through to mechanical infrastructure and industrial communication. The trade fair organizers and the exhibitor advisory board are primarily concerned with presenting holistic solutions. In addition to automation, digitalization therefore also plays a central role at SPS.

To give visitors an orientation, this year the trade fair is offering guided tours on the topics of machine learning and AI, product and machine simulation, industrial security in manufacturing, cloud ecosystems and predictive maintenance. The guided tours provide visitors with an overview of the latest trends and developments. There is a clear focus on real use cases, their practical implementation and the economic benefits of the solution.

Extensive supporting program

The trade fair will be accompanied by four forums. Traditionally, the VDMA and ZVEI associations each organize a forum in Hall 5 and Hall 6 respectively, while two further forums in Hall 3 and 10.1 are organized by the trade fair. The Automation meets IT joint stand in Hall 6 is also being organized by Mesago. 25 companies are expected to take part by the start of the fair. Another joint stand is being organized by the AMA Center for Sensor, Measuring and Testing Technology. As of September 10, 11 exhibitors have registered here.

Conference "Automation 4.0 Summit"

Once again this year, our colleagues from the specialist medium Computer&AUTOMATION will be organizing the accompanying conference. This year's topics include

- 5G, TSN and OPC UA in the industry

- Securely connected - from the sensor to the cloud

- IOT platforms - best practices

- Flexible automation for little money - what can robotics do?

Further information on the Automation 4.0 Summit can be found at automation-40.de.