The 2022 Converter Expo South was held this year on February 23rd in Charlotte, North Carolina, known as the textile capital of the US. The show highlights Converters which are defined as machines that process, paper as well as textiles, into finished products. The Exhibits were made up of Machine Builders, System Integrators, and Device Manufacturers. The attendees were mainly End Users, such as representatives from Georgia Pacific & Kimberly Clark, along with Automotive companies, such as Ford, which uses these machines to manufacture the seat textiles.
Slitters, winders, and rewinders (making up approx. 50% of the exhibitors). Mostly label makers and small printer applications were on display on the small machine side. In discussions with both large and small machine manufacturers, service and parts are the cash cows of the business. The large machine manufacturers have a remote access black-box tool in place, with some standardizing for every product. The lower-cost Printers and label makers rely on VPN through the factory floor.
Device Manufacturers made up 20% of the exhibitors. Web Controllers, Laser, and Pneumatic solutions were on display. The Device intelligence makeup was very consistent, with most solutions handling EtherNet/IP and Profinet. Asset Management protocols, such as OPC UA and MQTT were recognized, but no solution currently.
Overall, most companies saw 20% growth year over year in their business.