Tracking the future: The Future Production Cluster
Trade fairs are considered to be the marketing instrument with the widest range of functions. This is also true of productronica: In addition to establishing and cultivating customer relations and searching for partners and personnel, the world's leading trade fair for electronics serves to comprehensively and uniquely present the entire value-added chain of electronics production and development and to raise awareness of new technologies, products and companies.
Future Production—Where is electronics manufacturing going?
Industry 4.0, the Smart Factory, 3D printing in electronics manufacturing: Things that sounded like science fiction a few years ago are now technically feasible and offer unlimited potential for the widest variety of applications. But what will actually prevail, and what will remain little more than an empty theory?
Due to the industrial Internet of Things, the prerequisites for production and manufacturing electronics are undergoing fundamental change. The “smart factory” is just around the corner: In the future, production facilities and value chains will be connected to one another digitally. Which poses some considerable challenges to companies: How can they prepare for this development? What opportunities and what risks are associated with this development? How can intelligent production planning further optimize the utilization rate of manufacturing facilities? What is important when it comes to infrastructure and security of industrial IT? How can existing systems be adapted for modern cloud, mobility and analysis functions? Within the scope of productronica, companies can exchange ideas and information about these questions and profit from the best-practice examples of others.
Printed Electronics Pavilion powered by LOPEC
Printed electronics is a key technology. It is thin, light, robust, cost effective, flexible and, at the very least, more sustainable due to the reduced use of resources.
These characteristics enable individual product solutions without compromising on design, making it a true enabler of new innovative applications and products for a wide range of major industries.
For the first time at the upcoming productronica, there will be a separate exhibition area for companies that develop and manufacture flexible and printed electronics solutions and products.
The Printed Electronics Pavilion is located on the east side of Hall B2, opposite the Career Area. The Future Production Cluster is also located in this hall. This is productronica's special area for IT to production, Industry 4.0, manufacturing technologies for batteries and electrical energy storage systems, organic and printed electronics, 3D printing and additive manufacturing.
Exhibitors in the Printed Electronics Pavilion also have the opportunity to participate in the productronica Forum in Hall A1 with a technical presentation.
Here you will find information about the booth package in the Printed Electronics Pavilion.
3D printing: expanding production possibilities
Among other things, 3D printing in the electronics industry plays an important role in the Future Production Cluster at this year's productronica. After all, this new technology will have a strong influence on the market in the future, particularly given the fact that it has almost unlimited potential for new products. The possibilities are practically endless. While plastic is currently the focus of the materials being used, there are also concepts that call for the use of metals or would even make electrically conductive connections possible. Future capabilities will increase the potential even further.
Even if high-end, professional-quality 3D printers are still relatively expensive right now, they will become increasing affordable as the use of this new technology continues to spread. Like mobile telephones, it is even conceivable that 3D printers could be an everyday product for normal consumers in the foreseeable future. Could this even cause innovation and production processes to shift to consumers in the long term? One thing is certain: 3D printing is advancing both in the private and professional industrial sectors and will change our living and working world's immensely. productronica's Future Production Cluster will provide insights into and a look at the prospects for the future.
The Smart Factory and the challenge for electronics companies
In addition to smart factoring, 3D printing in the electronics industry will also play an important role this year in the Future Production Cluster at productronica.
In addition to the wide range of printers available, the focus will also be on technical developments in the integration of raw and construction materials such as metals or electrically conductive compounds.
As this development continues, products will not only become more versatile and powerful, but also more affordable. It is conceivable that in the foreseeable future, 3D printers, like mobile phones, will become everyday products for ordinary consumers, and that the innovation and production processes will be transferred to the consumer in the long term.
What sectors does the Future Production Cluster cover?
- Cyber-physical systems
- Industry 4.0 in electronics manufacturing/the smart factory
- 3D printing in electronics manufacturing
- IT to Production
- Manufacturing technologies for batteries and electrical energy storage
- Organic and printed electronics
- Additive manufacturing
What awaits visitors and exhibitors in the Future Production Cluster ?
Where is electronics manufacturing going? What trends are shaping manufacturers and consumers? Visitors and exhibitors in productronica's Future Production Cluster gain insights because the world's leading trade fair has its own platform for particularly interesting innovations. Whether it's networked, organic or printed: Future Production covers the entire spectrum of current trends in electronics production. Visitors learn about exciting topics such as autonomously networked microsystems, sensor and actuator networks or cyber-physical systems. Future-oriented developments will also be on display in the sector for manufacturing technologies for batteries and electrical energy storage. New materials, new manufacturing techniques and test systems are driving these developments further. The range of new developments that could be significant to many sectors in the future will be rounded out by exhibits on the topics of organic and printed electronics, photovoltaics and 3D printing and/or additive manufacturing.
The exhibitor directory contains lists of all exhibitors, products and services.
Forums, live demonstrations and a variety of special shows offer in-depth insights into the latest trends and topics.