Spread the quality and potential of IKO products to the world at trade fairs

How do you convey the quality and unique advantages of carefully crafted IKO products? One of the valuable opportunities is exhibitions and trade fairs, which can raise face-to-face awareness with visitors with a strong interest in specific topics. The machine tool exhibition JIMTOF, which has a history of more than half a century, is a must-see event for domestic and foreign companies involved in industrial equipment. We will introduce you from careful preparation to the excitement of the day.

The most advanced machine tool technology gathered at Tokyo Big Sight

A machine tool is an indispensable tool for manufacturing various machines and an important tool to support “manufacturing”. Japan International Machine Tool Fair, commonly known as JIMTOF*, is one of the largest machine tool fairs in the world. It started in 1962 and then proceeded to the prospect of the Biennale. Various companies involved in measuring and testing equipment, control equipment and parts, related software and related information, and machine tools were exhibited. More than 140,000 people from Japan and overseas visited the first 28 days.

The 29th edition will be held at the Tokyo Big Sight International Exhibition Center (Koto-Ku, Tokyo) from November 1st to 6th, 2018, with the theme “Connecting the Future, the Tree of Technology”. 1085 companies from 21 countries around the world have participated in a record-breaking manner. Each company is calling for the latest technologies and products of the fourth industrial revolution. The Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, robots, etc., are changing the industry’s way.

JIMTOF is one of IKO’s most important exhibitions, providing bearings as important parts of machine tools since its second participation. The main purpose is to meet new customers and introduce new IKO products and new initiatives to everyone who visits the booth. The advanced technological capabilities of Japanese manufacturers are in the world’s leading position in machine tool manufacturing, and JIMTOF, which gathers the world’s most advanced technologies, is a valuable opportunity to understand the latest technological trends and grasp market needs.

　* JIMTOF (Japan International Machine Tool Fair) = Japan International Machine Tool Fair

Showcase the future success scenarios of IKO products

For more than a year, IKO’s preparations for the exhibition have been carefully prepared. This time, relevant departments such as product development, sales technology, and sales gathered and discussed repeatedly and studied the ideas that best reflect the reliable quality and various uses of IKO products. Among them, we decided to pay more attention to customers visiting the booth instead of only showing IKO products like the traditional exhibition style. The theme is to create and show a demonstration machine, which can imagine meeting customer requirements to improve the machine running on the actual production site.

One of the highlights is the promotional video demonstration machine, which depicts the future of IKO’s linear motion guidance device, which is further developed through IoT. This demonstration machine is a technical video that is said to be realized shortly, such as “using AI to analyze the state of the linear motion guide device, determine the life of the product, and prepare the repair parts in advance.”. Using CG, I can easily understand how IKO’s technical capabilities contribute to the society that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is advancing. By introducing the Internet of Things into the industrial machinery of the future, visitors can be impressed with the future potential of IKO’s linear motion guidance equipment.

Another major exhibit is a demonstration machine of the next-generation transmission system driven by a linear motor. The demonstration machine combines the control system “XTS” of German automatic control system manufacturer Beckhoff Automation and the linear motion guidance equipment of IKO.

XTS has many achievements in the packaging line process. It can control the operation of each stage of the linear motor without pulling the wire, and it can also go around so that the packaging line can complete the traditional in about half of the space. You can make up.

However, there is a disadvantage that heavy objects cannot be transported. Therefore, we recommend that Beckhoff Automation install IKO’s linear motion guidance equipment. We have formulated specifications that can transport goods that are about 5 times heavier than before. The scope of adoption has expanded to the packaging line and the electronic component assembly line. This demo machine also attracted the attention of designers from various fields at the exhibition.

It aims to bring more creativity to more “communication” exhibitions

The total number of visitors to the 6-day “JIMTOF 2018” exceeded 150,000, a record high. The number of visitors to the IKO booth was about 3,000, and many customers from overseas, mainly from Asia, visited the booth.

This IKO booth is a sharp exhibition, with demonstration machines and new products in front, while suppressing the product exhibition itself. We have received many positive responses to new attempts such as demonstration machines and movie screenings, such as “It is easy to imagine the use scene.” In the future, we will aim for more understandable exhibitions by producing demonstration machines closer to the production site.

In the future, trade fairs and exhibitions that IKO plans to participate in, such as Japan Mechatronics and International Robot Exhibition, will continue. In addition, we plan to participate in more than 30 overseas exhibitions such as the largest machine tool trade fair in the United States, “IMTS”, and the largest machine tool fair in ASEAN “, METAL EX”. Through these activities, IKO will successfully develop needle roller bearings for the first time in Japan and develop many unique linear motion guidance equipment products. IKO’s advanced quality and technical capabilities will work with everyone to develop and provide products that will become the axis of society. I will keep going. We hope you can come and visit us.