Attendees Swarm Okuma’s IMTS Booth

IMTS 2012 is in full swing! Judging by the traffic in our booth, it’s proving to be an extremely successful show. Attendees are positive about the economic climate and there’s some serious shopping going on! Another interesting phenomenon is all the new faces, many of which are new shops tooling up with new CNC machine technology.

Stars of the Show

While Okuma’s huge IMTS booth truly covers the gamut of CNC machine tool solutions, there are a few stars of this year’s show:

The new MU-10000H 5-axis horizontal machining center takes center stage in our booth. This behemoth is so large you can barely see the back of the booth because the machine blocks the view. One Okuma member was overheard discussing it with an attendee and jokingly said, “We actually think a small family is living inside it.”

Our own, now-retired, former President, Larry Schwartz has been spending a lot of time showing off the MU-10000H. He’s made it a personal mission to find it a new home so it can go to work cutting parts.

The THINC Try It stations have been buzzing with activity and the attendees are having fun pushing the buttons. They continue to be amazed at how easy this CNC control is to use and the capabilities it has. We’ve seen a lot of jaws drop when a simulated machine alert goes right to the Try-ee’s mobile phone.

Our brand new THINC-OSP-P300 control opens doors in many other interesting ways. When skilled labor is at a premium (check!), it can be challenging and expensive to expand production. This new CNC control simplifies processes to a degree that true specialists are not required.

Speaking of a show exclusive, when an attendee walks into the Okuma booth, they also gain access to 40 other companies – the members of Partners in THINC – many of whom actually have representatives working in our booth. Visitors can meet with multiple companies in one location. And as of yesterday, they have an additional Partner to talk to – we announced yesterday that Velocity/Su-matic has joined Partners in THINC.

An inside view of the MU-10000H       

The THINC-OSP Control does double duty as a badge scanner

If you’ve been to IMTS, tell us what you think was the highlight of the show. What did you find most interesting or fascinating? If you haven’t made it here, there is still time (3 days) before the show ends. If you aren’t coming, tell us what you would have liked to see. We’ll do our best to report on it.

Julie Murphy is Marketing Manager, Okuma America Corporation.