Sunday, October 31, 2010
When the CCAI board made a decision just about a year ago to become a partner with FABTECH, they did so because they believed that becoming a part of an event that focuses on the complete manufacturing process would be beneficial to all of our members. Many of our members who are responsible for finishing operations in their manufacturing facility now have responsibilities beyond finishing alone. Many also are involved in with or are responsible for fabricating, forming and/or welding. Providing them with the opportunity to attend one event where they can take in all manufacturing processes made a lot of sense.
After months of planning, set up at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta, GA has been underway for the past week. With more than 1,100 exhibiting company, some with fully operational stamping, laser cutting and punch presses to name a few, FABTECH set up takes several days.
I arrived on Saturday about noon. Getting into downtown from the airport is extremely easy using MARTA, the rapid transit system. It’s very inexpensive, too (just $2 per ride). With the MARTA station essentially part of the baggage claim area, the trip to downtown Atlanta took about 15 minutes. Upon arriving at the Georgia World Congress Center you are immediately reminded: This is a BIG show. Filling two of the Center’s three exhibit halls, booths fill more than 350,000 net square feet of exhibit space. That’s more than five times as big as the biggest finishing-only show our industry has ever seen (that show was in Dallas in 1999).
With pre-registration just shy of 25,000 people, this is by far the largest trade show and conference that our industry has been involved with.
Periodically this week, I’ll share what’s happening each day in Atlanta, talk about some new products being launched, provide reports from our members, and get feedback on the conference sessions. I’ll share some photos with you, too. Here are the first photos I took upon my arrival at the show.
ENTRANCE WAY
CCAI BOOTH GOING UP
CCAI FINISHING BOOTH PANEL
INTELLIFINISHING - BOOTH OPERATIONAL
FINISHING PAVILION WELCOME SIGN
Become a "Follower" of the blog and stop by to visit throughout the week. I’ll do my best to give you the highlights and get you excited to join us next year when FABTECH moves to Chicago!
