The MFG Meeting Opens in Arizona
History, style and springtime converge as a fitting backdrop for one of the most important gatherings of industry associations.
With the iconic Art Deco façade of the Arizona Biltmore in the background, AMT's 2014 IMTS and Smartforce Rally Fighter sports cars bask in the bright Southwest sunshine.
For many of us in manufacturing, it seems that the industry is enjoying a figurative springtime of renewed vitality and growth. So it is appropriate that The MFG Meeting, an important event that brings together machine builders, distributors and end users from all areas of the manufacturing technology industry, opens today at the Arizona Biltmore near Phoenix.
This setting represents a fitting convergence of history, style and flowery splendor that reminds visitors from wintry regions of the country that springtime (the warming season of the year, that is) is not far off. The MFG Meeting is a joint event for members of AMT-The Association For Manufacturing Technology, the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA) and the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA). Conference presentations, technical sessions and activities at the event are designed to help attending members maintain the momentum that has been propelling the manufacturing industry in recent years—a welcome turnaround that many pundits only a few years ago predicted would never happen.
The Arizona Biltmore is an historic resort hotel, the design of which was heavily influenced by America's most original architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, who helped oversee construction of the complex in the late 1920s. The hotel's bold, yet intricate, styling still seem fresh, hopeful and appealing—exactly the sort of image that manufacturing is projecting to a new generation of entrepreneurs, technicians, engineers and apprentices.
The hotel and its lush landscaping proved to be the ideal setting for a pair of the daringly different vehicles brought to the event by AMT. The 2014 International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) and Smartforce Rally Fighters are characterized as the world's first open-source production vehicles, designed and developed by a collaboration between Local Motors and a global community of designers, fabricators, engineers and auto enthusiasts. The vehicles represent a new era in manufacturing that is based on the latest advances in digital manufacturing, one of the trends being discussed and promoted at The MFG Meeting.
