Speciale_EMO_Hannover

SPECIAL EMO 2023 9 development, smaller batch sizes, and more flexible production. Processes be- come more efficient and sustainable, processing cycles become more flex- ible, new value-added strategies and business models emerge. Furthermore, the industry must operate in a changing overall context due to new political priori- ties, laws, or agreements such as the Eu- ropean Green Deal. That is why the slo- gan of EMO Hannover is ‘Innovate Man- ufacturing’: on one hand, an invitation for customers to invest in new technologies, and on the other hand, a stimulus for manufacturers to present their latest in- novations and solutions. Future Insights Production technology is at the heart of the industrial change process and is al- so part of the solution. EMO Hannover aligns with this perspective through its ‘Future Insights’ and detailed analyses of the future. ‘The Future of Business’ focuses on new markets, new business models, possibilities, and potentials of an innovation culture within companies, the adoption of agile procedures, the creation of know-how through methods, and changes in structures and ways of working. EMO Hannover is an important platform for knowledge sharing, not only in technical aspects but also in terms of organizational strategies and methods. The area ‘The Future of Connectivity’ will address trends related to Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), digi- tal business models, predictive mainte- nance, machine learning, connectivity, interoperability, artificial intelligence, and applications in virtual and augmented reality. Today, IT and software engineer- ing are key factors for production tech- nology, and data extraction represents an opportunity for new business mod- els. Connectivity is the foundation for vertical interconnection within the fac- tory and horizontal interconnection with suppliers and customers along the value chain. EMO 2023 will present both real- ities through the new exhibition sector ‘IoT in Production.’ Interconnection relies on essential inter- face standards that are open for commu- nication between machines, devices, and different types of software. In Germany, work has been underway for years to develop a universal production language based on OPC UA, already known and promoted internationally under the brand name ‘umati’, which is garnering great interest worldwide. EMO Hannover 2023 will demonstrate, with the contribution of various manufacturers and systems, how interconnection between production de- partments and IT infrastructure occurs and how production can be optimized through the use of data. The ‘Future of Sustainability in Produc- tion’ area, finally, will address the inte- gration of sustainability solutions, one of the most urgent problems of our time, already in the investment planning phase. The fair will present proactive approach- es, solutions, and projects aimed at var- ious objectives: resource-efficient and environmentally friendly factory planning and production, circular economy in the production sector, circular value creation, energy-efficient production, sustaina- ble supply chains, and the configuration of safe workstations. In addition to the solutions offered by numerous individual exhibitors, this area will also provide in- depth exploration of production topics by combining scientific proposals with their practical implementations. In this regard, particular attention will be paid to energy efficiency, a topic that has been some- what neglected so far but holds enor- mous potential. Innovative 3D printing Whether it is aircraft construction, medi- cal engineering, or the hydrogen econo- my, 3D printing methods are gaining im- portance in production. And the business prospects are good: this was recently confirmed by a survey conducted among approximately 200 member companies of the Additive Manufacturing Work- ing Group within the VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, or German Engineering Federation). Al- most three quarters of these companies expect a positive trend in their industry in Germany in the next 24 months. Howev- er, the technology can fully unleash its po- tential only when successfully integrated into highly automated industrial process chains. How this works is demonstrated in the 3D Printing Area. Here, companies will present innovative concepts for the entire range of additive printing process- es, whether direct and indirect 3D print- ing technologies, engineering materials, or rapid product development (RPD).