Productivity Inc. PIT Pass to the 18th Biennial Oktoberfest Tool Show – Another Successful Finish!
MINNEAPOLIS — Productivity’s PIT Pass to the 2015 Oktoberfest Tool Show, gave metalworking shop owners, CEOs, engineers, machinists and employees in the Midwest area an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the finest in metalworking products and services. They were able to witness in person how the Productivity Improvement Team (PIT) Crew works at getting businesses on the fast track to success. From September 22nd through the 24th, Productivity Inc., Minnesota’s leading machine tool distributor, hosted its 18th biennial machine tool exhibition, the 2015 Oktoberfest Tool Show. Regarded as the largest distributor operated trade show event in the Midwest, if not the U.S., the show displayed 40 plus machine tools including Amada, Anca, BTM Bandsaws, Cincom Citizen and Miyano, Durma, FANUC, FOBA, Haas Automation, Hasegawa, Makino, Mighty Viper, Muratec, Okamoto, Omax, Scotchman, Statasys and TRUTECH. In addition, the show featured over 60 quality tooling & accessories suppliers, our Machinesused.com division, measurement solutions products, contact dimensional inspection services and software solutions.
Almost 3,200 attendees took the fast lane through machine tool speedway to get a glimpse of the latest metalworking products, services and related technologies. As they tandem drafted through the show, one could feel the horsepower and RPMs under the hood of the machine tools, witness live demonstrations, and take in the smells of burning metal and oil. They learned from experts in 12 informative seminars that included titles like Understanding Toolholder Dynamics and the Spindle Interface, Zero Downtime Initiative (ZDT) for Robotic Systems, End Milling for Greater Productivity and High Speed Tapping and Threadmilling, to name a few. There was the Haas #41 Nascar on display, revving its loud engine at designated times, robot air hockey, laser marking, pill sorting at the speed of light, small parts production, multi-tasking machining, water jet cutting, EDM machining and tool vending, just to name a few. As attendees accelerated through the speedway, there were plenty of experts on hand to answer questions and talk the latest in metalworking technologies. After a long day at the show, attendees were greeted in the food tent with brats, beer and polka music.
In addition to industry attendees being present, over 29 schools attended the show’s Student Day event. Productivity Inc. leads the way, not only by providing innovative solutions for manufacturing, but also by looking into the future of the machine tool industry – introducing tomorrow’s manufacturing professionals, to new technologies in the machining and tooling industries, is an important step in that journey. True to that commitment, Productivity sponsors a day just for students – to come in and see metalworking at its best. With a shortfall of manufacturing workers, this day allowed about 1000 high school and vo-tech students to discover the possibilities in manufacturing and see the abundance of jobs available in this industry. In addition, there were over a dozen manufacturing sector employers there to show graduating students the opportunities in this sector.
Productivity is a strong, long-time contributor and advocate for the manufacturing sector, and Oktoberfest is always a great venue to witness the strength of manufacturing in our great state and area. Since 1968, Productivity Inc. has been a catalyst for CNC advancements in the Minnesota machine tool industry with ties to local community and technical colleges and professional machine tool associations. Productivity provides machine tools, robots and related equipment for manufacturing in the Midwest and is committed to helping companies implement innovative solutions to meet manufacturing challenges and achieve a high standard of quality with superior results. For more information, go to www.productivity.com.