By May, 2,030 exhibitors from 47 countries will have registered for EMO, the world's leading metalworking trade fair. This year, it will once again take place in Hanover and thus in Germany, the third largest machine tool market in the world. "All the major manufacturers of production technology will be exhibiting in Hanover at the largest and most comprehensive showcase for industrial production. Nobody wants to miss out," says Christoph Miller, Head of Trade Fairs at EMO organizer VDW (German Machine Tool Builders' Association ) in Frankfurt. Market leaders from various technology sectors will be there, including DMG Mori, FFG, Siemens, Balluff, Stratasys and Kuka. They will all be showcasing solutions and products under the trade fair motto "Smart technologies driving tomorrow's production!".

Focus on IoT in production

"We are convinced that EMO Hannover 2019 will be a hotspot for new products and solutions for the smart factory," says Miller. For this reason, the "IoT in Production" exhibition area at EMO Hannover will be dedicated to the Internet of Things, or IoT for short. It will feature individual exhibitors in the fields of control technology, software and automation technology.

Back in 2017, traditional control system providers such as Beckhoff, Bosch, Fanuc, Heidenhain and Siemens, as well as mechanical engineering consortia such as Adamos and Axoom, presented their IT platforms at the trade fair. Miller: "We know that this exhibition area also offers a highly interesting environment for IT providers such as IBM, HP, GE, SAP, Microsoft Oracle, Telekom and others if they want to boost their business with production technology manufacturers." EMO Hannover is a good platform, as all decision-makers from production technology are represented there across the entire value chain, from product development to production and quality management to logistics. The classic control system manufacturers have also been won over for another VDW project - Umati, the interface standard for machine tools. The standard will now be presented at the trade fair. You can read more about Umati from page 26 onwards.

However, networked production also entails risks. In future, machine tools will also need to be protected against cyber attacks. Automation specialist Balluff knows how to do this. "Cyber criminals regularly use known security vulnerabilities or errors in outdated software to gain access to a system. The prompt installation of available updates and security patches significantly reduces the risk of cyber attacks," says Philipp Echteler, IIoT Strategy Manager at Balluff. The company will therefore not only be showcasing automation solutions in Hall 9, but also providing information on cybersecurity.

Forums, special shows and start-up area

Once again this year, the trade fair will be accompanied by an extensive supporting program. Trade visitors will be able to participate in numerous forums, congresses and special shows. For example, the VDW is cooperating with the VDMA Software Association, which will be organizing a forum on trends in Industry 4.0 and machine learning with presentations and panel discussions over the entire duration of the trade fair. There are also plans to focus on the future of work.

Young entrepreneurs will also be given their own platform with an exhibition, forums and pitches in the start-up area. This is because start-ups from the technology sector are definitely interesting partners for the mechanical and plant engineering industry: according to the VDW, more than half of all companies from the sector are already looking for proximity to the start-up scene - and the trend is still rising. International start-ups will be presenting themselves as potential business partners on 660 m² in Hall 9.

With documents from the VDW