IMTEX FORMING 2018 & Tooltech 2018 : Focusing on Future Growth

Held with the aim to showcase the latest in the forming technologies, Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association’s (IMTMA) premier exhibition for South and South-East Asia, IMTEX FORMING 2018 & Tooltech 2018, turned out to be a raging success. A snapshot of the event.

IMTMA’s highly awaited flagship event for the Indian metal forming industry, IMTEX FORMING 2018 & Tooltech 2018 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), Bengaluru, was held from January 25-30, 2018.

The mega show brought together visitors from a wide spectrum of manufacturing and ancillary industries including key decision and policy makers as well as industry captains keen to source latest technologies and manufacturing solutions for their product lines.

Inaugural ceremony

The six-day mega affair on the metal forming sector was inaugurated by Shri RV Deshpande, Hon’ble Minister for Large & Medium Scale Industries and Infrastructure Development, Government of Karnataka. Other dignitaries present were Jamshyd N Godrej, Chairman - Exhibitions, IMTMA & Chairman, Board of Godrej & Boyce Mfg Ltd;
P Ramadas, President, IMTMA & Managing Director, AMS Ltd;
V Anbu, Director General & CEO, IMTMA; Indradev Babu, Vice President, IMTMA & Managing Director, UCAM Pvt Ltd;
Nirmal K Minda, President, ACMA & Chairman & Managing Director, Minda Industries Ltd; and AS Kiran Kumar, Vikram Sarabhai Distinguished Professor & Former Chairman, ISRO.

Addressing the gathering of manufacturers, end-users, and experts in the Indian metal forming industry, Godrej stressed on the importance of IMTEX and other exhibitions: “Exhibitions have a huge role to play in the industrial growth. It is through such trade fairs that the industrial strength of a nation is gauged, and the windows of opportunity opened for further progress.” Providing statistics, Ramadas highlighted the success of the machine tool industry, “Indian machine tool industry registered an impressive growth rate of 23 percent during
2016-17. The Indian machine tool industry is expected to grow by around 20 percent during 2017-18 and Indian metal forming industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 15 percent in the next 3 years.” Making a case for investing in the state of Karnataka, Shri Deshpande said, “Karnataka remains committed to supporting growth with infrastructure, like quality roads and Namma Metro which will soon extend up to BIEC.” He emphasized on the industry’s responsibility to create local jobs and allow MSMEs to thrive.

Minda lauded the contribution of the machine tool industry to the growth and development of engineering industry of the nation. True to his academic roots, Kiran Kumar reminded the gathering of the vital role of innovation, “As metal forming and tool technology keeps improving, it is for the industry captains to make sure that they spend some more money in R&D and really go ahead of the global market.”

At the ceremony, Babu was honored with the IMTMA - Vinod Doshi Outstanding Entrepreneur Award. The award has been instituted in memory of Vinod Doshi, Chairman of Premier Ltd, an outstanding industrialist and one of the founding fathers of IMTMA.

Stats speak

The exhibition featured over 500 exhibitors in 3 halls covering a gross exhibition area of around 33,000 sq mt. Twenty-three countries including India participated in the show with group participations from three country-group pavilions: China, Taiwan and Germany.

Opinions that matter

IMTEX 2018 welcomed visitors from varied industries and had something to offer to all. “It was a wonderful experience to have all the machine tools manufacturers under one roof. IMTEX FORMING 2018 displayed several innovative ways of manufacturing. It covered everything from material handling to robotics,” said SN Dileep, Unit Head, Apollo Tyres Ltd. The delegates also held IMTEX in high regard. “We are on an expansion drive and need to install some additional sheet metal machines such as bending machines, plasma cutting machines etc. Our purpose in visiting IMTEX 2018 was to find prospective suppliers or manufacturers of those machines and also to check their prices. The event, therefore, played crucial for us at this stage,” revealed B Saravana Sridhar, General Manager – Operations, Sieger Spintech Equipments Pvt Ltd.

Parallel events

Coinciding with IMTEX FORMING 2018 & Tooltech 2018, IMTMA organized a one-day International Seminar on Forming Technology. Running concurrent to the event was i2 Academia Pavilion, another IMTMA initiative that provided an opportunity for Indian Academic / R&D Institutions to showcase their R&D capabilities in metal working field. 44 institutes presented their projects that were appreciated by the industry fraternity and the best ones were awarded. Marathwada Institute of Technology was announced the winner. PPDM IIT DM won the second prize and IIT Bombay came third.

There were other initiatives such as CONNECT and Reverse Buyer Seller Meet (RBSM).

IMTEX soon to turn 50

IMTEX has come a long way from its humble beginnings in Mumbai, and the 2019 edition of IMTEX CUTTING will mark the 50^th anniversary of its first ever exhibition. IMTMA’s flagship event IMTEX 2019 will happen from January 24-30, 2019 in Bengaluru at BIEC. Mark your calendar and join in the celebration.

HIGHLIGHT:The Indian machine tool industry is expected to grow by around 20 percent during 2017- 18 and Indian metal forming industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 15 percent in the next 3 years.

HIGHLIGHT 2:Running concurrent to the event was i2 Academia Pavilion, another IMTMA initiative that provided an opportunity for Indian Academic / R&D Institutions to showcase their R&D capabilities in metal working field.

Poonam Pednekar
Chief Copy Editor
Magic Wand Media Inc

poonam.pednekar@magicwandmedia.in