15 Must-See Exhibitors At Pacific Design & Manufacturing 2020

Pacific Design & Manufacturing 2020 is coming to Anaheim, CA Feb. 11-13 and its bringing with it a crop of exhibitors who will be showcasing the latest in design technologies and services. From new AI technologies to CAD/CAM software, to 3D printing technologies and new components, we've rounded up a few companies not to be missed on the expo floor.

Altair provides software and cloud solutions for product development, high-performance computing (HPC), and data analytics.  The company recently acquired Polliwog Co. Ltd., and has expanded its solutions to include PCB design and analysis, with products that include a modeler, simulation solvers such as signal integrity (SI) and power integrity (PI) and thermal, and design verification tools that all integrate seamlessly into customer environments that use any of the leading ECAD PCB design solutions.

The company recently acquired newFASANT, which offers technology in computational and high-frequency electromagnetics.

Altair is also expected to launch a new design and simulation solution for additive manufacturing at Pacific Design & Manufacturing 2020.

(Image source: Altair)

Beckhhoff Automation will be demoing its portfolio of PC-based automation solutions. One of the company's latest offerings is the eXtended Transport System (XTS), a mechatronics solution that enables fast, flexible changeovers via software – facilitating flexible production in terms of format and processing down to lot size 1.

The XTS combines linear and rotary motion to transport products to individual processing stations and can handle product and format changes instantly during operation using the TwinCAT automation software.

(Image source: Beckoff Automation)

Bosch Rexroth will demonstrate advances in mechatronics, transport systems, and Industry 4.0 technology. The company will showcase its intelligent, step-by-step approach to building the “Factory of the Future.” Among its new product offering Bosch Rexroth will be displaying the Smart Function Kit – a modular mechatronics package consisting of mechanical and electrical components and software for use across a wide range of standardized pressing and joining applications. The kit aims to simplify product selection and configuration as well as commissioning.

(Image source: Bosch Rexroth)

Flexible electrode developer CorTec GmbH will be exhibiting its CorTec Brain Interchange ONE, a brain-computer interface solution for neurotherapies that is comprised of all components needed for electrically interconnecting a neural system to external software and utilizes artificial intelligence to enabling communication with the nervous system. Brain Interchange ONE allows 32 channels of recording and stimulation from cortical strip or grid electrodes and is currently validated for the use in clinical trials.

(Image source: CorTec GmbH)

Heraeus Medical Components, a specialist in biomaterials and components for medical devices, manufacturing technologies, and supply chains, recently entered into an exclusive partnership with textile computing company Myant Inc. to develop, test, prototype, and produce a solution leveraging Heraeus’ Tecticoat coating for electrical sensing applications in textiles. Tecticoat is a conductive polymer-based coating that can be applied to textiles to control electrical conductivity, electromagnetic shielding, and electrostatic dissipation. It overcomes the challenges presented by dry electrodes and electrolyte gels and can be implemented into textiles for bioelectrical on-skin sensing.

(Image source: Heraeus Medical Components)

Herrmann Ultrasonics will be introducing its new HiQ product line of ultrasonic welding tools. The company says its new HiQ G2 is the first series-produced premium ultrasonic welding system to also possess the flexibility of a customized machine. The controller software facilitates digital twin functionality and its modularity permits simple expansion and also adaptation to future tasks. The system can also incorporate auxiliary functions, sensors, and other tools to provide support to employees during the process sequence.

(Image source: Herrmann Ultrasonics)

Honest Sensor provides optical encoders and discs for applications that require position feedback such as stepping motors, servo motors, robotics, medical equipment, industrial automations, and LiDAR sensor systems. The company will be displaying its encoder discs for encoders for encoders, which are a new type of encoder discs that use a comparatively higher light permeable film coated with a metallic membrane, over which is spread a light inhibiting membrane.

(Image source: Honest Sensor)

Omron Automation will be displaying the latest upgrade to its MicroHAWK family of mobile robots. The MicroHAWK 2.0 adds new networking capabilities and improves upon the platform’s overall configurability and performance. The MicroHAWK series combines code reading and vision inspection into a single device,also on display will be a laser marker, additional vision products, and connected controllers – showcase a system that the company calls essential for transitioning to Industry 4.0.

(Image source: Omron)

Onshape provides a next-gen SaaS design platform designed to speed up product development. The company will be exhbiting its all-in-one system that combines CAD, release management, workflow, collaboration, analytics, admin tools, and an API with more than 50 engineering applications. The company recently announced a partnership with Sandvik through which Onshape's cloud-based CAD tools will be integrated with Sandvik's Prism CNC solution for CNC machine programming.

(Image source: Onshape)

Pleora Technologies

Pleora Technologies has introduced its embedded AI Gateway, an artificial intelligence platform that simplifies the deployment of advanced machine learning capabilities to improve the reliability and lower the cost of visual quality inspection. The company will be demonstrating the platform's plug-in machine learning skills for classification, sorting, and defect detection, and its flexibility to train and deploy open source or custom algorithms.

The Pleora AI Gateway is designed to work with existing inspection hardware and software. The gateway interfaces with GigE Vision, USB3 Vision, Camera Link, and MIPI cameras from any vendor, allowing designers to retain existing infrastructure while adding AI skills to their process.

(Image source: Pleora Technologies)

Roland DGA will be showcasing its latest laser engraving and UV printing technologies – the new LV series laser engraving machines and VersaUV LEF2 series UV flatbed printer. Incorporating CO2 laser technology, LV engravers can permanently mark a wide variety of parts and instruments – including those made of aluminum, stainless steel, Inconel, copper, titanium, and brass, and are also Class 1 compliant. The VersaUV LEF2 flatbed UV printers can print directly onto virtually any substrate or three-dimensional object up to 3.94 inches thick. The LEF2 employs UV-LED lamps to instantly cure ECO-UV inks on the surface of the material, allowing even detailed graphics and fine text to be printed.

(Image source: Roland DGA)

Stel Design is a full service design consultancy that assists companies with every stage of product development from concept sketch to fully-functional prototype. Among the projects it will be showcasing, is the Rokid standalone augmented reality glasses. The lightweight classes weigh only 50 grams, contain an RGB 12-megapixel camera, and MicroOLED high-resolution display.

(Image source: Stel Design / Rokid)

Tensor ID is a provider of industrial barcode scanners, barcode verification systems, robotics, and machine vision solutions. The company will be displaying some of its multiple machine vision product lines aimed at improving product quality, eliminating production errors, and meeting compliance mandates.

(Image source: Tensor ID)

TT Electronics will showcase its high-reliability sensors, specialist components, power supplies, and IoT solutions. Company experts will be onsite to share the features and benefits of both new and existing capabilities and products, including: connected IoT devices, human-machine interfaces, field generator coils, and the company's patented ultra-fine wire winding technology.

(Image source: TT Electronics)

Universal Robots will be showcasing several technologies and solutions around collaborative robots (cobots). On such product will be the miniPAL, a mobile palletizer product developed by Columbia/Okura that is powered by Universal Robots' UR10e cobot arm. The miniPAL has a footprint of 11 x 13 feet and can palletize at two pallet locations for optimized operation. On display will also be other partner-developed products including an augmented reality system for parts inspection and a cloud-based 3D CAD solution allows users to design, simulate, and commission a complete robot cell.

(Image source: Columbia/Okura)